David Suzuki - Nature Challange

[Teabag]

To answer Kus question "How about you" ???

My answer is:

- I'll never have any kids!!! (by doing so I beat anybody that has kids on protecting the environment no matter what I do) This is a big sacrifice but some people have to do it!!!

- Grocery shopping with these green bags 85% of the time (rarely forget these bags now)
- Live 5 minute from work (walking to work obviously)
- Diminish meat eating

If you didn’t see "Home" yet, take an hour to watch it, very good documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

Reading more on the subject and trying to change bad habits

[Mattdog]

Kitesurf. you only need a Honda civic for two or three dudes. averaging about 6.5 L/100km. Grow own food, own our own cows, try to buy a lot of local food. make the house more energy efficient ... limit air travel.

[KUS]

yeah, I plan to get into using a bike trailer like our buddy Tom to get to the beach in my suit using either my bicycle or motorbike

thx for keeping this thread alive. My anti plastic crusade has again crumbled.....I am amazed that wherever you look, whatever you buy is packaged that way now....even cold cuts....I must say getting a glass jar of mayo of the wrong kind, diet , of the wrong size just to set a precedent and example for the kids has seriously backfired.....am the only one still eating it and it will be years before it's empty

Yes, it would be nice to have inflatable windsurf boards..... will view the utube vid shortly, thanks for the link. Subaru/Honda/Smart/Prius is in the works

[JL]

Your W/S board fit's a fit !!!

[JL]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le1288762/

[nanmoo]

Subaru/Honda/Smart/Prius is in the works

Smart car, best economical local wind vehicle. I can fit my board, three sails, two booms, two masts plus all the accesories inside it and just about completely shut the hatch. If I was a kiter it would be even easier. 4.0l/100km.

[KUS]

yeah, partial to the Subaru or Honda, so I can close the door, maybe survive a small crash AND not replace all parts (like a Ford) in the Mercedes product

GARDENING TIP: Hey, my driveway sealer and concrete sealer all latex products, nice change and plastic buckets completely recyclable. And now I have some buckets for gardening. Black plastic makes for nice tomato heaters and conserves water, handles permit moving them around.

Just saw miniature horses the other day at a farm in Mill Bay. http://www.miniaturehorsesbc.com/viclubinfo.htm



These little guys can pull a buggy with two adults no probs, take less feed, are obviously easier to care for and may be our very cool alternative way of going shopping in the next 20 years. They hang around in the backyard and mow the lawn, are people friendly (don't kick) and make a great pet to boot.

[JL]

Hey !!! Don't boot your pet.

[downwind dave]

a great pet to boot.

that would kick ass!

[ozy]

A great book to read by Suzuki is Good times for a change . I'ts 6 years old but still very valid . It covers history of our major enviromental problems and also all the solutions . A very positive book !

[ozy]

If anyone is interested in buying a deisel vehicle and converting it to run on veggie oil then feel free to email me or phone . I've done it and it works great , hell you can buy a ten ton truck and fill it with gear and a bachelor suite and still drive around for free and be enviromentally sound !

[GWIND]

Mentally sound, Is that like the ringing in my skull ?

[Geoffy]

If you're thinking Honda Kus - this came across the desk from EV World:

"There's been talk for a year now that Honda will be introducing a hybrid version of the Fit, though there's been precious little official information to be had. Presumably, it will bow sometime next year. The speculation is that it'll have an EPA fuel economy rating of 67 mpg (520Wh/mi) and sell for under $16,000."

Prius has been fantastic, 5 years on it so far, 5 road trips to Oregon coast/gorge this year, 3 boards, 5 sails, masts and booms, etc, bicycle, tent, cooler and cooking gear, can still sleep inside at Florence, averaged 38.1 mpg, and the hatch closed! Was a little overloaded when I brought back the glass shower stall and a full bathroom worth of tile from Portland though. Cheapest vehicle I've ever owned, service costs negligible, which I could never say for the rabbit diesel (52 mpg lifetime average, but killer on the routine service on high-pressure injectors, etc.)

[nanmoo]

I can't speak to ongoing maintenence for our Jetta TDI Clean Diesel Wagon since we have only about 10,000 kms on it. But I slept in the back a few times at the lake this summer, two boards, all my sails, masts and booms and camping gear in tote. Driving it not so easy, mixed highway & city, still attains 5.7L/100km (41mpg) and pure highway more like 5.0 even (47mpg).

[more force 4]

Took a Prius taxi to the airport the other day that had well over 500,000 km on it - you'd never know, it seemed near-new condition, no rattles or odd swerves from suspension/steering components going like most high-mileage vehicles. The owner said he'd done very little repair over all that time.

That battery replacement is baddddddd environmentally though, although it should almost all be recyclable.

There are Sprinter hybrids in Europe, though mostly test vehicles I think. I'm happy to get less than 10l per hundred km averaged over the tank - thats as good as the real-world for most mid-sized and compact cars. But the 4-cyl diesel they put in Sprinters in Europe, with a std. transmission, get 6-7 l per hundred - awesome for a vehicle that must be 8 times or more the physical size of a Smart car! Wish we could buy them here!