You can find the song Gasoline on Sheryl Crow’s latest cd Detours.  I have always liked her music and I got to see her play live back in the mid 90’s, opening for John Hiatt at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park.  She has certainly come a long way since then.

I picked this song to feature this week since it accurately represents many of the problems we face with our current oil imports.  She picks a date in the future to show how foolish we may look when we review the incredible dependence we have today on gasoline.  In her clever lyrics, she touches on climate change, peak oil and the mistakes made by our government.

Give this song a listen and let me know what you think.  There are also several interesting live versions of this song on YouTube where she nicely segues into “Gimme Shelter”.

Way back in the year of 2017
The sun was growing hotter
And oil was way beyond its peak
When crazy Hector Johnson broke into a refinery
And the black gold started flowing
Just like Boston tea

It was the summer of the riots
And London sat in sweltering heat
And the gangs of Mini Coopers
Took the battle to the streets
But when the creed was handed down
For no more trucks and no more cars
They threw cans of petrol through the windows at Scotland Yard

Gasoline
Will be free, will be free
Gasoline
Will be free, will be free

There were two stories in Time Magazine that caught my attention last week.  One is about living longer and the other is about dying, but they have one key thing in common: reducing our air pollution.

In the first story, “Want to Live Longer? Cut the Pollution”, they cite a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine.  The study details increased life spans for people who live in areas where pollution has been curbed.  Now this should not come as a surprise to anyone, but it is reassuring to see statistics to back it up.

In the second story, “Study: U.S. Trees Dying at Alarming Rate”, they look at the findings of a thirty-year study published in the journal Science.  The study finds that the death rate of trees in the western U.S. has more than doubled in the last few decades.  These are trees of all sizes and types in healthy, well-established forests.

We have already lost millions of tress to beetle infestations, but these are apparently healthy trees without evidence of infestation that have been weakened by global warming.  The real irony is that trees soak up large quantities of carbon dioxide and are critically important in slowing climate change.  So these trees will not be around to help clean the air and their dying actually releases carbon dioxide back into the air as a kind of global warming double whammy.

As temperatures slowly rise, this problem will worsen since the summer season will be longer which causes trees to be stressed and vulnerable to drought conditions.  More trees dying will have a direct effect on our air quality and ultimately our own longevity.

Aggressively reducing our auto emissions is a huge step in slowing the current rate of climate change.  Pay4Rides would help trees live longer, which improves the health of the planet and the air we breathe.  Now aren’t those a couple of great reasons to share rides?

photo credit: *PaysImaginaire*

Here is a very thought provoking story, “What if Climate Change is Not an Energy Problem?”.  Alex’s basic premise is that while burning fossil fuels greatly contributes to greenhouse gases, our consumption habits can have an even greater impact.  So just switching to alternative energy without increasing conservation will have much less of an impact on the environment

He raises three important considerations

1. Whether we use the energy we create
2. How we use it
3. How we live

The first point describes the waste in many of our current energy systems.  Not all energy that is generated is consumed; much of it is lost in the process and distribution.  The second point addresses how our current inefficiencies are wasting large amounts of energy.  Point three goes to the heart of the problem with over consumption.  We can all have an immediate impact by just increasing our conservation efforts.

I strongly agree with the basic premise of this article and applaud Alex for presenting this idea.  Regarding suburban sprawl, I don’t think we can undo our current housing situation.  Smart construction and compact communities are great for some, but not for all.  I live in a quiet neighborhood and consider our suburban setting a wonderful enviroment for raising children.

Pay4Rides would directly address 2 of the 3 major points in this article.  It is up to the energy producers to gain more efficiency in their production process, but we can help elsewhere.  How we use energy could be greatly improved by tapping into unused passenger capacity with many of today’s single occupancy drivers.  How we live could be enhanced by people working together to better utilize our existing resources.  As we go into the New Year and people start diets, remember that it is always easier to just eat less than it is to burn extra calories.  The same could be said for energy, consume less and conserve more.  The choice is yours.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Over the next two weeks, the UN Climate Summit is taking place in Poznan, Poland.  The nations of the world are meeting to discuss how to prevent dangerous climate change.  This is an opportunity to push forward on the first draft of a new global agreement to address global warming.  The draft will then be debated and worked over the following 12 months before coming up for review at next years’ conference.

On the web site ItsGettingHotInHere.org, they list Five Things to Watch in Poznan.  In the post, they run down of some of the key issues and players at the climate summit.

In a Wall Street Journal blog they discuss how the current recession of the global economy is a major problem.  Due to the current economic woes, rich countries are not in a strong position to commit to specific targets for greenhouse-gas reductions.

I think this summit is a great opportunity for the world’s nations to discuss this important issue, but what about action?  Passenger Energy is an incredible opportunity to tap unused energy and reduce our carbon output.

photo credit: greenpeace.italia

Earlier this week at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit, President elect Obama talked about Global Warming and the need for clean energy.  He said we would invest $15 billion each year for the next 10 years to support alternative energy.

Time magazine states that this won’t be enough and looks at the international costs.

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual World Energy Outlook, released Nov. 12, projects that global energy demand will increase by 45% between 2006 and 2030 — and that $26 trillion in power-supply investments will be necessary simply to meet those needs.

Obama’s plan for $150 billion is a step in the right direction, but more action is needed.  If you read the Time article, you know we must invest in wind and solar power, but why not Passenger Energy too?  Maybe we would not have to invest so much, if we could simply conserve more.

On Tuesday, California hosted the Governors’ Global Climate Summit.  Attendees from Europe, Asia, South and North America met to share ideas on how to combat climate change.  They discussed strategies to cut greenhouse emissions and ways to get their national governments to join the effort.

According to the press release:

“The Governors’ Summit brings together U.S. and international leaders to develop cooperative partnerships and promote collaborative actions needed to combat climate change.”

This is great to have a meeting to find ways to combat climate change.  The leaders in attendance said the problems that global warming present to the world are too big not to do everything possible to address it.  I believe that Pay4Rides is not only possible, but could be easily implemented with support from our leaders.

photo credit: kevindooley

Do you ever get that helpless feeling and think to yourself, what can I do to help?  Live Earth gives many suggestions on how we can all help reduce our carbon footprint.  Here are a few:

• Switching to fluorescent light bulbs
• Planting tress in our yard
• Turn off our computers when not in use
• Recycle
• Go solar

These are all wonderful suggestions and everyone should try their best to follow these guidelines.  Unfortunately, it just does not seem like enough and it can be hard to get excited about small savings.  Pay4Rides is everyone’s chance to make a big difference, every day.

What if we could reduce daily gas consumption by 25%?  Without spending any money?  Too good to be true?  Maybe not …

All it would take is a trust in our fellow US citizens.  We trust taxi drivers, why not a stranger?

* These savings are based on just 1 in 4 sharing a ride instead of driving themselves.

photo credit: azrainman

Is the planet heating up?

Global Warming is a hotly debated topic.  Some believe that the planet is truly heating up and we are headed for a climate catastrophe.  They blame everything from raging wildfires, megadroughts and widespread flooding on temperature change.  Others say that the planet has always experienced fluctuations in temperature and we are just going through a cycle.  Either way, everyone agrees that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a good thing.

Passenger Energy could significantly reduce the current level of emissions and result in a more stable climate.

photo credit: openDemocracy