Consumer Activism

Saturday is Earth Day.  Earth Day kind of pisses me off, because it seems like an excuse for everyone to feel good about considering the environment for one day.  Of course, everything kind of pisses me off these days, so it's no surprise. 

 

Regardless of my recently-ever-present-irritation, a recent email tag from a friend suggested that I buy a TerraPass to offset my car emissions to celebrate Earth Day. 

 

That website tells me the following about my car, a 1996 Toyota Corolla (which, for the record, has over 270,000 miles on it):

 

Your car emits 5,595 lbs of CO2 per year.

You should get a Hybrid Terrapass.

A Hybrid TerraPass offsets 6,000 lbs of CO2,
enough to balance one year of your driving.

Vehicle:

1996 Toyota Corolla automatic transmission

 

Mileage:

26 mpg (city), 30 mpg (highway)

 

Distance:

8,000 miles per year

 

Fuel use:

286 gallons per year

 

Emissions:

5,595 lbs CO2 per year

 

While I think that the destruction of every car on the planet might be a better activity on Earth Day, if the TerraPass is real, it's not a bad idea.  As long as that's not all you do.

 

Another thing you can do without doing too much is buy electricity from Maine Renewable Energy, which provides renewable, emission-free electricity generation.

 

One more thing you can do is destroy all the cars on the planet... but maybe we're not quite ready for The Revolution yet.