Archive for the 'Environmentalist Ramblings' Category

Not Green, Just Cranky

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

The other day a clerk at the grocery store praised me for being “green” and bringing in my own bags. I was a little startled, and just hoped he didn’t think I was also one of those types of people who drives around in a hybrid car with ECOLOVR license plates on it. The fact [...]

Exploring our Auto Alternatives

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

With gas prices soon to reach $4 a gallon, Peter and I are happy to explore alternatives to driving. Peter’s move to offices downtown has certainly helped. This morning, he biked to work on a route that’s mostly car-free and only took him 35 minutes. Biking is absolutely the best way to go, but unfortunately, [...]

Zipcar: the new urban transport

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

I saw my first Zipcar on Saturday, as I pulled into the Trader Joe’s in Daly City. It instantly struck me as a brilliant service: a car you can borrow (that is, rent) quickly in urban areas for all those tasks you miss a car for: such as buying up groceries or other supplies, taking [...]

Does Getting a Hybrid Make You A Smug Bastard?

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

I’ll say it right up front: I love hybrid cars, and if any one person is guilty for turning hybrid car owners into smug bastards, I could take some of the responsibility. Back when hybrid cars were still fairly rare (that is, before California gave hybrid owners carpool permit stickers), I would approach hybrid car [...]

Car Saves Trees

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Peter and I considered it almost immoral to sell my old car to someone else. Sure, it still ran, but I’m convinced it ran mostly out of loyalty to me, and my almost constant praying and urging for it to go on. I had this confirmed this morning when I wanted to use to for [...]

Ringing in the Year with a Brand New Car

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Loretta was the first of my friends to tell me I need a new car. But then, she’d also been my navigator on a trip to the San Diego Comic-Con during which my car’s thermostat malfunctioned and we had to manage by turning the heater on full blast driving through Los Angeles in the middle [...]

A Car Dies on 101

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Peter called me this morning as I was writing about Green Gulch Farms. “Did you get my picture?” he asked. I’d received nothing by phone or email. He’d sent me a picture of his now-crushed car, and asked me to pick him up on the freeway with the possessions he’d been able to salvage from [...]

Real Food

Friday, August 24th, 2007

Lately, as we’ve been enjoying a fairly comfortable existence, at least compared to most of the world, and all of history, there’s been sort of a nutritional nostalgia for eating old food, the old way, whether that means slow food, pesticide free farming, or the Neanderthal diet. The latest entry to this line is the [...]

My Medieval Garden

Friday, June 1st, 2007

I did a very daring thing yesterday: I dug up a patch of dirt behind our spa and planted vegetables. If plants were people, I’d be in jail for all the plants that have died in my neglectful, inept care. If I brought every plant that has died on my watch back to OSH, I’d [...]

The Too Smug Bicyclist

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

I’ll admit that I am smug about my bicycling instead of driving. I like the exercise, I love never having to hunt for parking, and most of all, I’m having fun. But the smugness can go too far. To wit, here is a letter from today’s Mr. Roadshow column in the San Jose Mercury News: [...]

by Carolyn Bickford