Author: Richard

I am a retired obstetrician-gynecologist who has been fortunate to live and work in the wonderful community of Durango, Colorado for 40 years.

Categories
Action Durango Herald Environment Global Climate Change

Get the Best Mileage

The article below may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald” accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.

 

Get the Best Mileage

 

© Richard Grossman MD, 2008

 

            The cost of gasoline is over four bucks a gallon and diesel is getting close to five—what a horror! So what did I do? I went out and bought a macho four wheel drive turbo diesel truck!

            Can you imagine all the grief that I got from friends about increasing my carbon footprint? Well, most of the time this truck (which already has almost a quarter million miles on its odometer) will stay parked while I drive my Prius. The truck’s former owner told me that it gets 19 miles to the gallon, but I know that a gallon will take the hybrid 52 miles.

            I think that a hybrid is a nice gimmick, but it is not the solution to the petroleum crisis. It is too complicated. Furthermore, there is a lot of lithium in a hybrid’s battery, which is toxic to mine and process.

            The future holds small, efficient vehicles. Europeans have already recognized this. You’ll find Smart cars and similar vehicles everywhere in Europe. The price of gas there is much higher there—over seven dollars a gallon in many countries.

            We have been slow to change our driving habits in the USA. Domestic car manufactures are finally catching on that fuel efficiency is vital, although they have fought this for years. Fortunately, many imported vehicles are quite efficient. My current favorite (not a carefully researched opinion) is the Honda Fit. Two friends have bought these cars and rave about their flexibility and performance. Although it is predicted to get 34 miles to the gallon on the highway, one friend gets over 40!

            There are ways to optimalize your car’s efficiency. You probably know that it is important to check tire pressure every month, but let that gauge rest for several months at a time. Try increasing the pressure two pounds above the recommended level when you finally do check the tires—but not above the maximum pressure on the tires’ sidewall. Buying gas in the morning when it is colder and more dense will get you a few more drops per fill up, but the savings sure won’t make a significant difference.

            Leave jack rabbit starts for the really rich; they significantly reduce mileage. You know to use your air conditioner when necessary rather than leaving the windows open—especially when going fast. The cruise control is also a big saver of gas since it is smoother than most people’s accelerator foot. A gas engine doesn’t need to be warmed up more than a few seconds; any longer is just a waste of fuel.

            My big trick for increasing mileage is to drive so I don’t have to use the brakes—much. I learned this from my driving teacher when I was 16. Whenever you apply the brakes you turn energy into heat and it is wasted. Judicious driving can harvest more of your momentum.

To lay off the brakes safely I leave a little extra space behind the car ahead of mine. That space allows my car to slow down gradually if the one ahead stops, so my momentum is used effectively. I pay attention to the stop lights of vehicles ahead. If one flashes red, I immediately take my foot off the accelerator. Likewise with traffic lights; if I see amber, I start coasting.

Idling is a big fuel waster. One of the tricks my Prius uses to optimalize mileage is to turn off the engine when it is not being used. If you are going to be sitting for more than a minute or so, switch off the ignition.

All of these tricks help to save money. They are also important for the planet’s future. Although we concentrate on the cost of the fuel going into our vehicles, perhaps what comes out of them is even more important. Greenhouse gas emissions released by humans appear to be causing permanent changes to our climate. Storms, floods, forest fires and drought all seem to be worsened by climate change. These natural disasters already have had grave effects on people, but predictions are that the worst is yet to come. It helps that Americans are driving less since the cost of fuel has skyrocketed. Fewer people driving would also help.

What about that diesel-guzzling truck? We bought it to occasionally pull a horse trailer short distances and to share with our neighbors for agricultural work.

Our progeny will appreciate whatever we can do to slow global climate change, including driving less and more efficiently.

Categories
Population

Educate with These Projects

The article below may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald” accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.

 

Educate with These Projects

© Richard Grossman MD, 2008

 

            This month the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) publicized their report “Climate Change and Water”. It says that there is “…abundant evidence that freshwater resources are vulnerable and have the potential to be strongly impacted by climate change, with wide-ranging consequences on human societies and ecosystems.”

            The report goes on to state that our current freshwater control technology is likely to be inadequate to deal with events in the future. The intersection of decreasing supplies of petroleum, increasing human population and climate change is liable to be calamitous. “Climate change challenges the traditional assumption that past hydrological experience provides a good guide to future conditions.”

            Life is impossible without water! How can we prepare the next generation to deal with this huge problem? What can we do to help our kids and grandkids get ready for their future?

            A series of programs teaches students not what to think about water and other environmental issues, but how to think about them. They have been carefully developed by teams of educators and scientists from all over the country. The projects succeed in helping kids from kindergarten to twelfth grade learn about the world they live in.

            Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) is taught all over the country, and in many other countries, too. Project WET promotes appreciation, knowledge and stewardship of water resources by making classroom-ready teaching aids available to teachers.

            The WET guidebook includes over ninety activities. Each is labeled for an age range, if it is best indoors or outside, for a large or small group, etc. Each has a teacher-friendly introduction as well as a detailed description of how to guide the activity.

            “Dust Bowls and Failed Levees” is an example of one of these activities. Designed for high school students, its subtitle is “Witness, through literature, the effects of droughts and floods on human populations.” Students read passages from Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, and try to imagine how a modern author might document the tragedy of Katrina.

            The activity “Where Are the Frogs?” is aimed at middle school students. It shows the effect of acid rain on the growth of plants such as marigolds or beans. (Frogs are also affected by acid rain but it is better to observe the effects on plants in the classroom). First, the lesson explains what an acid is. Students then prepare solutions of weak and stronger acid that are used to water the plants. They observe growth over a month. The experimental procedure is given in an activity sheet that includes a data collection page. (These activity sheets, but not complete lessons, may be found on internet at: www.projectwet.org).

            The water cycle is illustrated for younger kids by “The Incredible Journey,” an activity for a large room or playing field. Skills involved include organizing (mapping); analyzing (identifying components and relationships) and interpreting (describing). Students (or chance) determine the movement of water within the hydrosphere.

            What about other environmental issues? They are dealt with in the other Projects: Learning Tree (www.PLT.org, dealing with plants, trees and forests), WILD (www.projectWILD.org, concerning wildlife) and Project Food, Land & People (www.foodlandpeople.org, focusing on the interdependence of agriculture, human needs and the environment). Although similar in basic structure, each has its own history, literature and website.

            Too many kids in the USA spend too little time outside nowadays. They grow up neither understanding nor respecting the great web of nature. As adults they will be much more likely to destroy our planet than people who appreciate its intricate workings. This is why I feel that quality nature education is so important. The Projects offer superior learning opportunities.

            Recently I was one of several people from Durango who attended a facilitator training. Our goal is to prepare teachers all over the state so they will be comfortable teaching the Projects. Most of the others at the training are professional educators, including two professors from Fort Lewis College, so it took intensive concentration (and my wife’s help) to get me up to speed.

            Here in southwestern Colorado we are lucky to have an employee of the Colorado Division of Wildlife who oversees these Projects. As Southwest Regional education coordinator, Leigh Gillette added a big spark of enthusiasm to our training. If you would like to learn more or to teach from these resources, call her at 375-6709.

          Unless kids learn to value the natural world, they will not be willing to protect it when they are adults. These four Projects help children understand the complexities of nature.