New Dilemma: Commitment vs. Cost

Recently, I’ve found myself trying to balance my desire to cut my carbon footprint with the harsh reality that I can’t continue to choose more expensive carbon-free options for daily commuting.

This sudden change is necessary because my job status has changed from full-time to part time. While that’s given me more time for blogging, I’ve had to make some difficult decisions regarding my sustainability options. That means I’ll be commuting to work by car instead of using public transportation.

A round trip using the preferred rail/bus option costs $4. 95. The same trip by car, even when adding maintenance and insurance costs, is just over $2. Normally, that’s not a big deal. Across an entire month, that adds up, and in the current environment, I simply can’t afford to ignore the additional cost. And unfortunately, there are no known carpooling options available.

I started taking public transit a few weeks ago. Montgomery County has a very good public transportation infrastructure, and Washington Metro is one of the nation’s best urban transportation networks. I can reach most of my travel destinations by bus or rail, even though it requires a bit more planning. And the longer trips offer a great opportunity for reading, one of my passions.

The other major snag is that there is no transit service to the church I attend in Centreville (a 31-mile trip); the same is true for another church in Vienna where I participate in men’s retreats (22 miles). Those also happen to be my longest weekly trips However, when gasoline prices return to mid-2007 levels; I may have to revisit those decisions if my job status doesn’t change.

This is probably an indication that my commitment to reduce my footprint will be severely tested, as my budget now dictates that cost will trump carbon commitment for now. Then again, times like these offer opportunities to employ creative cost-saving methods. And, as always, I’ll gladly accept suggestions anyone who has found useful ways to overcome this dilemma.

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Long Commute and a Hybrid Car vs. Moving Closer to Work

For the last few weeks, I’ve been pondering a weighty decision. It’s the first lifestyle-changing decision of my new journey to personal sustainability.Should I join the legions of environmentally-friendly people who have bought a Prius or another hybrid vehicle? Or should I cut my daily commute by moving from my current residence in Northern Virginia to Montgomery County, Maryland?  What may seem to be a simple decision isn’t.

In a previous post, I described my 32-mile drive from Centreville to  Rockville, my twice-a-day weekday interface with thousands of my fellow D.C. area commuters. For people who like congested highways, aggressive drivers and never knowing when you’re going to arrive at work, it’s ideal. Sarcasm aside, thousands of people actually make a tradeoff — long commutes in exchange for less expensive housing.

For the uninitiated, starting prices for a modest-sized home within a 10 mile radius of the Capitol are around $400,000, and that’s not accounting for preferred neighborhoods.As a result, you see legions of people driving hybrid cars that flood the HOV lanes of I-66 and I-495, aka the Capitol Beltway in an attempt to cut their average commute times by about 10 minutes.

For a while I considered that alternative. All of my D.C. area friends are in Virginia. So I’d have to start all over building friends and professional colleagues, no small matter around here. But frankly, after a year of this routine, decided to look into moving across the Potomac. I figure that eventually, I can make new friends, and there’ll be more time to be social if I move to a place where my commute drops from an average one hour, 15 minutes to 10 minutes…fifteen in heavy traffic. Plus, there are abundant public transportation options, so I will drive less and burn less gasoline. I figure that will reduce my carbon footprint by 60-70 percent. And there are plenty of options for shopping, eating and recreation within walking distance.

So I started a serious search, and found a place in Rockville. It’s a one-bedroom condo about 4 miles from my workplace, and 12 miles from downtown D.C. However, the cost is…well, in my hometown, 4-bedroom suburban home with a back yard would cost less. In D.C., the price of sustainability is high. Further complicating matters is the fact that lending qualifications these days are much more stringent. During the past two weeks, I’ve been juggling phone calls from my realtor, the building developer and various lenders while trying to keep up at a demanding job. Makes this a very difficult choice.

But, it’s no secret that hybrid cars aren’t cheap, either. As investments go, it’s not a good idea. We still don’t know how durable hybrid engines will be over the long term. And although they are more fuel efficient than most, that attribute seems to encourage owners to drive more miles, or at least not encourage people to conserve on mileage.  At the end of the day, that was the factor that led me to jump into the breach and pursue a condo.

Thankfully, that process is slowly coming to a conclusion; a closing date has been set, I’m living like a monk to make sure I have the needed cash to complete my end of this complicated purchase. I’ve begun packing up my belongings.  And I’m looking forward to establishing a solid foundation from which to move closer to a sustainable lifestyle.

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Airlines Offer Programs to Offset Air Travel Emissions

Last week, I wrote a post about concerns about the rapidly increasing carbon emissions attributed to the growth in airline travel.

Perhaps airline industry executives have heard those concerns, too. About 24 hours after I wrote my post, Robert Johnson, president and CEO of ESS (the company where I’m employed) published a post on his, Governance, Risk and Compliance blog about Qantas Airways, the Australian airline carrier, launching a program that offers carbon offsets to passengers who are concerned about emissions generated during their flights.

Carbon offsets are most commonly used in European Union nations to regulate industrial emissions. Companies that generate emission levels lower than national or regional regulatory limits are allowed to sell “offsets” – privileges to generate higher than allowed emission levels – to organizations whose processes create higher emission levels.

In industry, carbon offseting is a simple transaction. Big polluters pay. Small polluters get paid.

That isn’t the case for airline consumers. There’s no authorized trading scheme that lets me buy credits from my Aunt Maybelline in Memphis who has vowed never to set foot on an airplane. However, several enterprising environmental organizations will, for a fee, enable airline passengers to consider themselves absolved from enlarging their carbon footprints in exchange for supporting conservation programs.

Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines have adopted similar carbon offset programs for their passengers. Delta allows passengers to make direct donations to The Conservation Fund, a Washington-based environmental organization.

The Conservation Fund is one of several organizations that have developed equations that can calculate the cost  to reduce the impact of your airline travel or  your entire environmental footprint.

There’s one hitch: the Conservation Fund and Continental’s preferred nonprofit environmental partner, Sustainable Travel International, have assigned different values for ecological sins. One organization obviously thinks that I need to plant more trees to offset my next flight to Seattle to hike at Mt. Rainier. There’s no accepted industry standard, or standard equasion used by the environmental advocacy groups. Other bloggers report that offset costs can vary significantly between organizations.

Is offsetting going to help me reach my goal of reaching a more carbon-neutral lifestyle? Not likely. I’m more likely to take the option of making donations to allow myself to feel better about flying. Ultimately, if I really want to make a difference, I have to cut back on air travel.

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Airline Travel: A No-Fly Zone for Environmentalists?

I’ve just returned from a business trip to California. For those of you who are keeping score, that’s a rather large footprint that extends from the nation’s capitol to the Pacific coast. A 3,000 mile greenhouse gas trail that enlarges my personal footprint.  If there’s an upside, it’s that I shared my guilty pleasure with about 100 others on my flight. 

Unlike most forms of urban mass transit, airline travel isn’t regarded as an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation.This is one of those lifestyle dilemmas that represents a significant challenge for me.

One of my favorite hobbies is nature photography, and most of my favorite venues for hiking and photography are located west of the Mississippi River. Mt. St. Helen and Mt. Rainier.  Alaska. Grand Canyon. Pacific coastline in Oregon and northern California. And several more must-see sites where I’ve not been like Yosemite National Park and the Grand Tetons.I can’t imagine doing without frequent visits to commune with these awesome gems of nature. Yet my Zerofootprint.net carbon tracker clearly recommends that I consider reducing long haul airplane trips.

My internal debate is being played out in the blogosphere, too. There are powerful voices on both sides of a debate about air travel and its effect on the environment. Justin Frances writes in his blog, Sustainable Travel, that airline travel only represents an estimate 3 to 5 percent of all carbon emissions. He doesn’t condone GHG producing activities, but argues that everyday lifestyle changes at home can make a much more substantial impact on your personal footprint. Meanwhile, an article published by the Sierra Club said that air travel is the fastest growing source for GHG emissions, increasing 70 percent between 1990 and 2002. And most travel experts say that the growth of airline travel is expected to accelerate for years to come.

Plus, a significant number of business executives log thousands of miles in air travel. If it helps businesses meet their objectives – and it does – then that is unlikely to change. I log fewer airline miles for business than 5 years ago.  On balance, that’s good, but if I’m committed to reducing my carbon emissions, less airline travel has to be a consideration.

What an irony. I love the outdoors, and have a profound love for many of this country’s spectacular destinations. But if I travel by air to see them, I may be damaging the environment as a whole.  What a heartbreaking choice!

In the coming months, I’ll be revisiting this issue, so I can decide whether I should include western hiking in my travel plans for next summer.   

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Supressing the Need for Speed, Part I

 

It’s about 6:45 am, time to begin my morning commute to work. Actually, commute isn’t nearly descriptive enough for this trip. A better word might be odyssey. Fortunately, the sun is coming up over the horizon, and Aretha Franklin is serenading: 

“At work, I just take time 

And all through my coffee break time

 

 

I say a little prayer for you…”

Burt Bacharach/Hal David 

It’s a nice sentiment, and I’m dedicating this classic tune to the earth, the beneficiary of my efforts to cut my carbon footprint. It’s ironic that my thoughts turn in that direction as I’m driving a 1999 Ford Mustang, the ultimate muscle car…not exactly a high mileage vehicle.

And to make matters worse, my destination in Rockville, Maryland, is 32 miles from home. For those of you who are unacquainted with D.C. traffic, that means my man toy and I spend an average of 75 to 90 minutes together traversing suburban interstates during the height of the rush hour. Generally the trip home is about 20-30 minutes longer. And yes, that means I leave behind one heckuva carbon footprint every day. It’s easily my biggest environmental violation.

But I’m not thinking about that as I approach a traffic intersection, waiting for a green light. In the next lane is a black Mazda, its owner peering over at me and revving his feeble little engine, clearly issuing a challenge to see who can be the first to the next intersection, a mere 200 feet away. The light turns green, and he quickly darts from the intersection, tires screeching.

“Ha” I think to myself. You just wasted gas and tire tread for your simple little testosterone-fueled thrill. If I wanted to challenge you, my Mustang’s 3.5 liter engine would have blown you off the street. But I’ve got more important priorities now. 

Chain, chain, chain

Chain, chain, chain

Chain of  fools 

About 20 minutes later, I’m northbound on the Capitol Beltway, crawling at a 15 mile an hour clip. The commute is approaching 45 minutes and I’ve traveled all of 12 miles. But Aretha’s still belting out great music, and I’m still groovin’. Suddenly. there’s another interruption. There’s a gentleman – okay I’m not actually thinking “gentleman” but this is a G-rated blog – driving sleek silver BMW. I can see him in my rear mirror, aggressively charging in front of some poor motorist. Then, in an instant, as my lane finally begins to clear, he darts in front of me and zooms off. I look at my speedometer…I’m going about 35 mph…and he’s now going about 60. “Fool!”, I think to myself. A light tap on the accelerator and this powerful machine, based on testimony from other proud Mustang owners, could go from zero to 60 mph in under 5 seconds. A few weeks ago, he’d be eating my dust. But thoughts of preserving the earth prevailed. While the Beemer continued darting in and out of traffic lanes, and I continued toward the office,  with my environmental conscience and my manhood still intact.

If I can’t drive a Prius, Civic or other gas-saver, at least I can drive green. Which means I am now committed to maintaining moderate speeds, avoiding fast starts and leaving early enough so I don’t have to rush. Some day, I’ll be able to cut my footprint and gas consumption even further, but for now, green driving habits are the key to becoming more eco-friendly.

Oh wait…traffic is clearing. I’m yielding to temptation…and the speedometer needle reaches, then passes 40…50….60…  with the retractable roof down, it’s an awesome feeling, a light breeze in my face and the invigorating feeling of my powerful V6 engine pushing ever faster, and then…

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha brings me back to earth (pun intended). I’ve tamed the need for speed one more time…at least until the evening commute.

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