New Moon Risings

Our Great Gas Challenge has come to a close. We made it 43 days for a total 216 miles on 7 gallons of gas. Roughly 25 mpg!

During those 6 weeks, we still managed to do our daily and weekly chores, we managed to get where we needed to be by foot or by pedal but more importantly we managed to get plenty of healthy exercise.

Now that the initial experiment has come to a close, we find that the price of gas has risen to 3.02/gallon and of course will only rise during the summer driving season. Filling the car from E to F cost an astounding 32$. That being the case and considering the enjoyment of exercise and knowing that we are reducing our footprint on the planet, we are embarking on the Great Gas Challenge Part II.

After I received 3 credit offers from the same company in a two day period, yes two of the exact same offer actually arrived on the very same day, I had enough.

In red ink, I crossed out the application portion of the offers and wrote “Remove This Address from Your Mailing List” across the top. I then stuffed every piece of paper, glossy inserts, the offer itself, even the envelope it came in, into their respective “Postage Paid Envelopes” and mailed them right back.

I continued the process every day for about 2-3 weeks, at which time I noticed a significant decrease in the junk mail arriving in our mailbox. After 6 weeks, days would go by without us receiving a single piece of trash masquerading as mail.

It was so simple I couldn’t believe it!

The draw back to this system is, as soon as you move or order something through the mail or donate to a cherished cause, you’re right back on the lists and the process starts all over again.

Note that if you donate to a cause, write on the original donation form or note on an online form that you do not wish to receive further solicitations but will donate again when you are financially able to do so. This saves the org the money and resources required for direct mailing and saves you the hassle and guilt of the solicitations arriving in your mailbox.

Other ideas to Jail Junk Mail

For our second official issue headlines are positive in nature once again. Sure, I could have made a headline (and lengthy tirade) about Falcon star Michael Vick’s most recent debacle in which his Virginia home was raided and found to be the center of a dog fighting ring in which more than 60 dogs were mistreated and forced to fight to the death (Vick claims to have no knowledge of what went on at his house which was occupied by family members), but I decided to focus on what we could do, rather than things to complain about.
First, stop to take the pledge to live a One Planet Life, we did. Part of the pledge asks you to fill out exactly what you will do, what commitment you will make. Think about this for a second, decide what is reasonable for you and stick to your resolution!

Junk mail is my #3 pet peeve (#1 litter, #2 people who leave their shopping carts behind your car instead of taking them back Grrrr..) so I researched methods to stop or at least slow down paper junk mail. Where we live, we do not have curbside recycling and so must take our paper to an outlet to have it recycled, which is fine by me but I’d rather make one trip per month than 4. I’ll post my own method for doing away with annoying bulk mail soon, so keep an eye out.

I stumbled onto Planet Pals and had to make it a headline. It’s the first kid-oriented eco-education site I’ve seen and I was so excited about it that I had to share. Hope all the wee ones out there get a kick out of it.

Air pollution is a pressing issue here, so I dug up methods to offset personal carbon emissions. Do sign up, the amount of donation is surprisingly minimal and is based on your personal habits. As an aside, it seems that our local gov’t here in Phoenix has decided to finally do something about the brown dust cloud that hangs ominously over our entire city. What are they going to do? Study what they should do!

Increase car pooling initiatives, turn to green public transportation options, outlaw leaf blowers, encourage energy conservation among gov’t buildings as well as businesses and the general public, finance solar power initiatives and tax breaks rather than restoring the nuclear power plant…these common sense ideas apparently need to be studied by a commission before they are seen as valid.

Talkin’ Trash & Suckin’ Gas is our new article, written by a friend who has a bit of a cranky perspective on life. Her quick wit and sarcastic outlook may sound like barking, but we assure you her bite is much worse than her bark.

And, to keep you clicking…10 new links have been added in 4 categories.

Enjoy Activ8 May 07

The Great Gas Challenge is well underway. Today marks exactly 4 weeks since we last purchased gas for our little Escort and we are still going strong with over 1/4 tank left (we started with almost 3/4 of a tank).

In that 4 weeks, we estimate that we have substituted over 125 miles of walking or biking for driving to accomplish our normal household chores.

I love walking or biking past people filling up at the gas station for over $3/per gallon and laughing, sometimes out loud, sometimes quietly to myself, depending on whether they are driving an SUV or not.

We’ve also substituted biking for enjoyment purposes for more traditional leisure activities like movies since the theater is just a bit out of non-driving range, so we’re saving money too!

I’ve also noticed a funny thing popping out of my lower leg…my husband says its a muscle?!

Our original goal was to make it to Earth Day, which would have been almost 3 weeks without buying gasoline, but since we’ve made it this far and things are looking so good, we are now shooting for Memorial Day weekend!