Thursday, December 13, 2007

But What If I Want to go Home?

Part of the reason I consider myself affiliated with the Democrat party is because of their stance on Environmental issues. In VERY general terms, I think we should stop pollution, save the animals, and prevent waste. I don't care if people think global warming isn't real or Al Gore is a crack-up, it can't hurt to stop relying on foreigners for oil and it can't hurt to use greener resources for energy. And it's just unnecessary to risk wildlife for drilling.


In my own life I try to do what I can to prevent waste; I try to recycle, keep my power bill low, turn off lights, save water, etc. But lately I've come to terms with the fact that I detest most forms of carpooling. Carpooling makes me feel stuck. If I ride with someone else, I have to go when they want to go and leave when they want to leave. If I drive, I feel bad going when I want to go and leaving when I want to leave. Yes, we may be going to the same party, but what if the party turns out to be a dud but what if they want to stay at that dud? And then I'm stuck. When I could be elsewhere, quite unstuck.

I feel like such a hypocrite thinking of myself all environmentally friendly and then spreading unnecessary CO2 into the atmosphere, but the phobia wins out every time. Raise your hand (or comment) if you have this fear or believe in one thing but do another :)

6 comments:

Sarakastic said...

yup & yup, but at least you try to do somethings, you're not a hypocrite just because you can't do everything. not our fault that some parties are just lame.

Kelley said...

I hate carpooling as well. I only do it if I have no gas money and that is crazy. As long as you are doing "Something" you are probably better than most people.

Unknown said...

I'm so not a great carpooler... It's alright if I'm driving, and all other carpoolees are ok with the fact that my rules are the only rules. ...does that make me a carpool dictator?

xox

Diane said...

I agree. I couldn't carpool. I'd never make it to the gym, get to appointments or get my son to and from school. Public transportation never seems that dependable or easy.

If I lived in Europe, I could easily see myself without a car as transportation is so easy there.

LEstes65 said...

Oh my goodness. Have a kid. Or TWO. Then watch all your best intentions go flying out the window. Well not ALL. But I have found that my love of convenience and saving time can far outweigh what is best of the global community.

And here's a funny example. Back in 1996 or so, the first of my close friends in Boston was preggo. She was - as I call it - a "Cambridge preggo". She was politically correct and eco-friendly as possible. If it was trendy in a way that supposedly saved the world, she had it on her registry. She told anyone who would listen not to get her any evil disposable diapers. She would use cloth. She didn't want the Diaper Genie from hell. They're evil, too. Nothing related to disposable diapers. We all got lectures on their evils and how many rainforests were cut down to create just one diaper.

Two weeks into the newborn life? She called me and said she had tossed all the cloth diapers and had gotten cases of Pampers.

Reality is an interesting bringer of perspective.

Having said all that? I still don't know why Texas and the entire tornado alley hasn't erected a million windmills. What kind of stupid oversight is that? And if someone could invent a hybrid car I could afford? I'd have one. I recycle but would love to get my town to take GLASS. Yes GLASS. They won't take it. And they have so many restrictions on the types of paper they'll take, I tend to just toss it. What kind of recycling program is THAT?

Sorry. I've left a rather large tome here.

Smooches...

SpyderWeiss said...

Agreed, carpooling has serious drawbacks, then again, you can just leave people at the party to find their own way home. You get used to that after a while :)