1. Friday Favorites: Caves Reveal Climate, Amazon Sighting, Eco-Tourism, Soaring Solar and More (A perennial favorite)
2. Those Kicks Aren’t Done Kicking – Reuse Those Shoes! (mentioned in BestHealthMag.ca. Nice!)
3. Five Reasons Being Green Is Good for My Mental Health (by guest blogger Alicia from Mental Health Notes)
4. Is $4 Gas a Good Thing?
5. How is My Green Sunscreen Holding Up?
6. Green Giveaway – Learn to Create a Healthy Home CD (check here for the winner)
7. How Does Your Garden Grow?
8. Do You Know What You’re Putting on Your Face?
9. Why There is an Environmental Blog on the Health and Wellness Channel
10. Seems $4 Gas Might Be a Good Thing in NYC

Post from: Blisstree

Top Ten Posts at Daily Tomorrow This Month

BUT,  had we known about the Better World Club, we may have signed up with them instead. What’s the difference? The Better World Club is the:

Nation’s Only environmentally friendly auto club. Membership Includes eco-travel Services, Discounts on hybrid car rental, insurance Services, Free Maps, Auto Maintenance discounts and bicycle roadside assistance. We donate 1% of annual revenues toward environmental cleanup and advocacy.

If you’re thinking about making the switch, BWC will actually waive their sign up fee if you are transferring over from another club. Why would you do that? They give a few reasons. And they promise they won’t leave you stranded. Should you need roadside assistance:

Our Arrival Goal is 30 minutes in urban environments and 60 in rural environments. We currently respond in 38 minutes.

Nice!

And if Click and Clack like them, that’s good enough reason for me.

Post from: Blisstree

“Improve Your Car-Ma” with the Better World Club

An article in today’s New York Times actually adds stats and graphs to support the argument that escalating gas prices are doing more to enhance usage of public transportation and reduce traffic and pollution than policies:

“We’re at the point where people really are changing habits,” said Sam Schwartz, a transportation consultant. He said that if gas prices stayed high, the result could be close to the goal set by [Mayor] Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which, if it had been approved, was expected to reduce traffic in much of Manhattan by 6.3 percent”

Earlier this year Mayor Bloomberg announced a plan that would close a large piece of Manhattan to cars on certain Saturdays in the summer. If more and more people are walking, bicycling and taking the subway, I wonder if there will even be a need.

Post from: Blisstree

Seems $4+ Gas Might Be a Good Thing in NYC

Sure, gas priced above $4 a gallon broke some pumps here in Pennsylvania, but if something’s not broke, we usually don’t fix it. Maybe more expensive gas will fix some things?

An article at Time.com entitled, “Ten Things You Can Like About $4 Gas,” explores this question. Among the benefits are increased use of public transportation (hey, maybe that will mean improved public transportation and more realistic routes and times? hint, hint, Mayor Reed…); a reduction in suburban sprawl; businesses that look to options like telecommuting or 4-day workweeks; less traffic, less pollution and, dare to dream, healthier Americans? Could higher gas prices make us get out of our cars and walk?

The arguments are compelling, but I’m not sure I am won over just yet. Why? Because my pleas for a weekend hike last weekend were nixed by my significant other. Why? Because he didn’t want to drive any where. Phooey. I don’t want to walk around my neighborhood – I already know what that looks like!

And as someone who had the opportunity to spend two years driving across the United States, learning about my country and the people in it, I am 1.) so grateful that we did it when we did, yet, 2.) very, very sad when I think that folks won’t easily have the chance to take an affordable road trip any time soon.

I am torn. How do you feel about this?

Image: Newscom.

Post from: Blisstree

Is $4 Gas a Good Thing?