Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Rush Hour

When you think of L.A. many things come to mind, one in particular: traffic. Los Angeles has practically become synonymous with traffic. We’ve all been there: it’s 3pm, you’ve got places to go and people to see, but what is this?? You’re going a whole 7 mph down the 405?! Ugh! Traffic is such a pain. According to a study discussed by Daily News, Los Angeles, L.A. has the most congested streets and freeways in the nation. Not to mention, the negative impact it has on our earth/city is outrageous. To cope with the traffic and the deterioration of our air quality I have listed some information and suggestions below:

1) Instead of burning CDs invest in an iPod®/MP3 player/etc. and put all of your songs on there. If you don’t have an iPod connector, look into purchasing a Cassette adapter. In addition, you can prevent waste and help out our troops by donating your old CDs (and DVDs) to http://www.tunes4thetroops.org/ a website dedicated to providing some much needed entertainment to our soldiers!

2) You’ve heard it before, but I will say it again: CARPOOL! Say you have 500 people in your company and every person decided to carpool with at least one other person to and from work: that would be 250 less cars on the road! Another benefit: you’ll save gas money too! Less driving = less cash. Cha Ching!

3) Ride your bike to work or school: you can get a tan, tone up and save the environment all at one time!

4) Aim to drive 10 miles less per week. Whether that means walking down the street to your local grocery store instead of hopping in your car for a 2 minute drive, or eating in one night instead of driving out to the city for an overpriced meal at Katsuyah – just do it. In doing so, you’ll personally prevent 500 pounds of carbon dioxide from polluting the atmosphere (check out the “Green List” application on your iPhone®).

5) Get your car into the doctor STAT! For every 100,000 people that get a tune up this year, 60 tons of CO2 will be eliminated.

6) Finally, help reduce the greenhouse impact of your driving by joining Greenfleet. For a fee, they will plant enough trees to absorb the annual greenhouse emissions from the average car. For more information or to join, visit the Greenfleet website.

As you can see, it’s the small changes to everyday living that will have a HUGE impact on our environment.

Now, buckle up and drive safely :)