Green thoughts

Finally, after six months, my copy of an Inconvenient Truth was ready for pickup at the library. As I folded mountains of warm laundry, I listened to Al's soothing voiceover and watched his famous powerpoint demonstration. My husband did not even bother to join me on the couch, but remained glued to his computer. I think both of us are smug because we feel that we are already sensitive to green issues. I thought I was immune, but instead I just became more guilty about not doing more.



My husband has threatened to buy a minivan to accommodate the butts of any visiting or local grandparents who may happen to need a ride while in town. I've always believed that you should buy a vehicle for its main use, not for the 10% of the time, or the 36.5 days of the year, that you have secondary use for the vehicle. Why buy a SUV when you have never left a paved road in your life, or a minivan when most of the time it's only your family of four, or even worse, just you alone driving the bus?



I do admit, however, that cramming my butt between two child car seats has been an excruciating experience, whenever we are taking a fifth passenger. The problem is that I can't justify driving around a behemoth of a vehicle on a daily basis when the majority of the time, there are only three passengers during the week and four on weekends (and two of them under 40 pounds).



All this made me look into hybrid minivans. Toyota, which has been producing a hybrid minivan since 2001, has not provided any clear indications of when they will be exporting such a vehicle to the North American market. I am guessing as long as people continue to buy the Toyota Sienna, why bother shooting yourself in the foot and sell a model to compete with it, with a lower profit margin. Either that, or some Toyota executive is under a death threat from some hitman for an oil company to stop exporting the hybrids or else... Many people writing in on the issue who propose that with the elevated cost for hybrids, that they are not worth the financial savings, fail to see the reason why some of us want to buy a hybrid. It is not to save money. It is out of environmental awareness. How about a greener planet for our children?



Already, this year I invested in buying a Chariot XL bicycle trailer. In it I can take both of my children up until the age of 7, rain or shine, and pull them behind my mighty mountain bike. Two days of the week, I don't even use my car, thanks to the Chariot. My husband commutes to work on his bicycle, rain or shine, year round. When I'm lugging almost 100 pounds of trailer and fruit of my flesh, I'm getting fit and keeping my conscience clear.



It would be so much easier to be on my bicycle all the time if I didn't have the temptation of a car hulking in my garage, at my disposal, ready to follow my every command. Why can't I drive the three blocks to the library like everyone else without feeling guilty that the bicycle trailer is watching me, ready to swallow up the 95 books I am returning if I would only give it a chance? So what if my children whine and fight in the trailer when it's hot outside, especially when I'm taking waaaaaay too long to climb the hill back from preschool to home? A 5-minute drive easily turns into a 15-minute sweat fest on the bicycle. Being green is inconvenient, that's the truth.