Satan's Drink- Maurice's brain farterer

[sasquatch2]

I just read Maurice's excellent article about anti-car culture, I'm in a similar boat (or should I say- I'm on a similar bike.) I commute by bike 4-5 days per week and bike for simple errands around town but when I drive, my Jeep Wrangler gets gallons per mile not miles per gallon. I live in the burbs and have 3 kids and a nanny so I can't sell the jeep + van and tell 'em they have to bike!! I should get a hybrid but then why would I bike anywhere???

-Sasquatch

[MrTits]

well, if you have a hybrid, the times you do need to drive, your impact will be lower....

plus you get a nice little tax credit ($2010 for an '07 vehicle)

[rockhound]

well, if you have a hybrid, the times you do need to drive, your impact will be lower....


Not if you take into account all of the mining that had to be done to create all of those batteries for that new vehicle.

Recycle by restoring an old car. ;)

[HoodRN]

A 3/4 ton pick-up truck is more ecologically friendly than a hybrid. The manufacturing process for a hybrid burns more oil than the truck will burn in it's lifetime. It has to be true...I saw it on CNN :p

[davkatreb]

So how much pollution does that restored shitmobile spew into my air, compared with, say, my Honda Element?

[longhaultruker2]

so what about those of us that hafta drive for a livin to support our kidz?yea,we could move,but other than goin under ground to mine coal (and now-a-dayz,ya bout hafta kill someone to get that job anyways),thas bout the only thing in our area that payz enuff ta eat on.don't wanna move,we can sleep at night w/ the doors open safely if we want,and have great neighbors:cool:

for the record,tho,i'm tired of drivin,and agree

[bikertrash]

I really don't dig the anti car stuff. Now don't get me wrong, I've only driven my car three times since June, but come November when it gets real cold, I'll be driving it to work until things warm up. Naturally I'll be punished with three dollar a gallon gasoline.
Amazingly, it seems I'm the only one at work that lives in my town, everyone else commutes atleast 10 miles. One of my co workers decided he wanted to move to another apartment. I told him there's lots of nice places right here in town. Whats he do? Ends up living even farther away.
I figure if people want to spend a hundred dollars a week on gas, that's their choice. No since punishing people who choose to drive, let's just enjoy our reward for not driving.

[jonzinmj]

I guess I fall somewhere in between the anti-car sentiment. My car sucks, but student teaching, I can't show up to the classroom covered in mud and road muck for the two weeks after a snowfall. If I were committed I would ride in early shower in the lockerrooms and change before class, or I could get into my car that gets 30mpg. I guess this is an easy decision to make until we run out of gas; then we'll forgive all those gross bastards that biked in the muck all those years.

[bdee]

I'm tired of driving to work, but love driving to ride new trails. Am I going to burn in hell? ;)

I honestly love riding to work, but I rarely do it before April or after September due to the distance and daylight.

After reading some of the stronger anti - car ramblings I get real nervous, feel guilty and start to ponder questions like: Should I only ride the nearest trails (6 miles away) and never drive? Should I make the 43 mile bike commute everyday and never ride my bike for recreation? Should I sell my MTBs and just ride a fixed gear in the city purely to get from place to place and run errands. Is this somehow, in some way more honest and is it going to redeem all my past transgressions in life and make me a better person? Can I too cop the surly attitude of the many RISD and Brown students with whom I share my local roads? (Not sure but I think this might require a significantly dirtier wardrobe than I can actually afford, ironically much like the well to do kids attending the aforementioned uber pricy schools). What to do, what to do....

Usually it's about then that I remember the days when Mr. "Cars R Coffins" himself was a wrench for the Cadillac Catera cycling team.

(Note for the humour imparied: lots of implied sarcasm here!)