Our Green Choices Blog
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Our Green Choices
Who drives a hybrid?
We have had a Prius since August of 2007 and are quite happy with it.
Nevertheless I would love to hear other opinions to get a more well rounded view of what we spent our money on.
First of all, my average gas mileage depends heavily on how many hills my Prius has to climb. If we were driving in a straight line, we'd get some pretty good numbers but my hometown, St. Louis, MO is still an up and down drive. I didn't realize this until we bought a hybrid!
So, on average within the city, depending on the roads and weather, we get an average of 35 - 38 mpg in the city and up to 43 mpg on the highway. If we turn off A/C, the Radio etc. our mileage is better. What is your experience? We would love to hear about your hybrid stories.
Hunger and ethanol
At Our Green Choices we are not only interested in renewable energy but also in how global warming threatens our food sources and therefore increases hunger and poverty.
Recent headlines leave no doubt that we have reached the first stage in the climate change dilemma: food shortages.
According to George Monbiot's commentary in the UK Guardian:
"Price of rice has risen by 75% and that of wheat by 130% but the most compelling statistic is that last year's global grain harvest has been at a record high at 2.1 billion tons."
So, we have enough food but where is it going?
Of those 2.1 billion tons, only 1 bn, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will feed people. It is sad but true that with the growing number of vehicles using ethanol....the grain required to fill the tank of a SUV....could feed one person for a year.
I don't know about you, but if the production of biofuels this year will already consume almost 100 million tons I cannot help but think that this is the direct connection to our food crisis. Another 760 million tons is used to feed animals. Vegetarians rejoice! The richest countries of the world are asked to contribute an extra amount in immediate help towards the hunger stricken areas. Find out, what these countries haven given and how you can have an impact on their giving by visiting:
http://www.poverty.com/internationalaid.html
Please send us your comments and help your local food banks by donating canned goods now.
Recent headlines leave no doubt that we have reached the first stage in the climate change dilemma: food shortages.
According to George Monbiot's commentary in the UK Guardian:
"Price of rice has risen by 75% and that of wheat by 130% but the most compelling statistic is that last year's global grain harvest has been at a record high at 2.1 billion tons."
So, we have enough food but where is it going?
Of those 2.1 billion tons, only 1 bn, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will feed people. It is sad but true that with the growing number of vehicles using ethanol....the grain required to fill the tank of a SUV....could feed one person for a year.
I don't know about you, but if the production of biofuels this year will already consume almost 100 million tons I cannot help but think that this is the direct connection to our food crisis. Another 760 million tons is used to feed animals. Vegetarians rejoice! The richest countries of the world are asked to contribute an extra amount in immediate help towards the hunger stricken areas. Find out, what these countries haven given and how you can have an impact on their giving by visiting:
http://www.poverty.com/internationalaid.html
Please send us your comments and help your local food banks by donating canned goods now.