Earth Day - turn off your engine!

Earth Day is this Saturday, April 22. My current pet peeve is motorists who let their vehicles idle unnecessarily. Good God, way back in the 1970s, in GRADE SCHOOL, I learned that letting your vehicle idle was a bad thing! In fact, I wrote and presented a whole speech on "ecology" in 1973 and won a school award for it.

And here with we are, over 30 years later, whining about astronomical gas prices, driving huge vehicles, with global warming now a fact, and still I see vehicle after vehicle idling away, pouring out the fumes and burning up fossil fuel for no good reason. (I'm not talking about vehicles in traffic; I mean the ones in drive-through line-ups, parking lots, driveways, etc., etc.) For the earth's sake, turn off your damn engine if you're going to sit there for more than 30 seconds.

As for the drive-through, we all need more exercise. Park the car and walk inside for your drink. I bet it will be faster than waiting in a long car line-up anyway!

And what kills me is how many mothers and fathers I see letting their cars idle. Here I am, child-free, and I'm doing all I can to protect the environment, yet it's the children and grandchildren of these idlers that will suffer from the effects of global warming and the waste of fossil fuels. Kids, tell your parents to GET WITH THE DAMN PROGRAMME!

In fact, most of the people I see speeding through Clayburn Village, doing 90 kmph in a 30-kmph zone are MOTHERS IN MINI-VANS!!! It just kills me. #1, speeding wastes gas, and #2, I don't think any parents would like it if I sped down their street, where their children were trying to play. Sometimes it's all I can do to cross the Clayburn Road with my dog without getting run down. Slow down, save gas, and save lives, both animal and human. I am tired of seeing roadkill in a 30-kmph zone! No one should be hitting an animal at that speed.

If you ask me, gas prices aren't high enough if people can afford to waste so much gas just idling. Start charging $2.50/litre for fuel and maybe people will learn to turn off the frigging ignition key. Don't even get me started on monster vehicles. Even if you own an SUV, there are things you can do to conserve fuel.

Here's a good article about Earth Day and how little we really do for the environment. It's an American article, but it applies to Canadians as well. Last I heard, Canadians produced more garbage than any country in the world, including the USA. Smarten up, people!! Here in Canada, the new Conservative government is hardly environmentally friendly. In fact, they intended to pull us out of the Kyoto Protocol. Not surprising, given that our PM is a good old boy from Alberta, oil capital of Canada. Read on:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/conws/3802307.html

My favourite quote? "Live simply so that others may simply live." Keep that in mind on Saturday. And go pick up some garbage from the side of the road!