Green Living

Stimulus Money for High-Speed Rail Service a Good Sign

I took a 600-mile (each way) road trip with two young children. I seriously considered the train — honest — but it meant spending more than I would for airline tickets, giving up 40 hours of time to travel, and changing trains twice (once in the middle of the night). Instead, I copped out and burned up two-thirds ton of CO2 emissions, according to carbon offset site www.nativeenergy.com). Even a $14 carbon offset through the site did little to assuage my guilt.

So you can imagine how heartened I am that one of President Obama’s key stimulus commitments is to fund high-speed rail service with $13 billion. Train travel is by far a more energy-efficient mode of transportation than either driving or flying — traveling by rail, we’d have reduced our carbon footprint to less than half of what generated. Check out comparisons in the Native Energy site.

While $13 billion is not enough to fuel the realization of a nationwide high-speed rail, it’s one more drop than we had before-and already it’s sparking dialogue and furthering the re-thinking of transportation as we know it.

The stimulus money may not carry us to the end of our journey to a more sustainable transportation system. But maybe, just maybe, it could be enough to push us past the tipping point and power the little engine that could.

Driving up your car’s fuel efficiency

A nearby community converted more than 50 four-way-stop-sign intersections into roundabouts-you know, those circular drive-arounds that you merge into? Most people say they take some getting-used-to. But it’s apparently well worth the effort. The town has experienced a reduction in accidents by 80 percent, and a decrease in fuel consumption by 24,000 gallons-per roundabout per year!

This got me to thinking about all the time we spend in our cars not moving. Warming up on cold winter mornings. Waiting in long drive-thru lines. Even slowed to virtual standstills at busy lights during rush hour. 

Turning off your car saves gas, even if you’re only stopped for a couple of minutes. You may not want to turn off your car at every stoplight, but steer clear of fast-food and bank drive-thrus.