I don't want my website to turn into a linkfest, but since it is also supposed to serve as a personal reference journal, I do occasionally post links to websites that I don't want to forget about when I need them.
Hence, I am linking to Freeze/Frost Dates at Davesgarden.com. It is a pretty awesome reference for average last frost dates down to the zipcode, and I know I'll find it useful. Hopefully anyone reading this will as well.
Finally, my short preview for tomorrow. I've hiked quite a bit the last couple of days, and I'm planning on going a lot more in the coming weeks. I'll be sharing my thoughts on the Tucson spring, hiking, foraging, moving to Portland soon, and maybe something else if it comes to mind.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
A Quick Update
I have been more than neglectful of my blog recently, and to anyone who considers themselves a regular reader, I sincerely apologize. I have unfortunately been focusing so fully on making ends meet that I have been unable to do any permaculture or homesteading type work. I hate to post blogs like this one too often, because then I feel like I'm just posting for the sake of it, and I don't have any substance. I do promise to make a more concerted effort in the near future to have more posts.
On a better note, I'd like to mention a new-ish website that is currently undergoing development. Save Our Skills is a website about the importance of society recapturing traditional skills that have mostly been lost or forgotten about in the previous couple of generations. The website is very new and somewhat beta, but it looks like it will prove to be a valuable resource for anyone trying to learn or relearn traditional skills that helped build self-sufficiency. I encourage all of my readers to check it out and pass along your thoughts to the webmaster of that site.
I will be back soon with more posts... I promise!!
On a better note, I'd like to mention a new-ish website that is currently undergoing development. Save Our Skills is a website about the importance of society recapturing traditional skills that have mostly been lost or forgotten about in the previous couple of generations. The website is very new and somewhat beta, but it looks like it will prove to be a valuable resource for anyone trying to learn or relearn traditional skills that helped build self-sufficiency. I encourage all of my readers to check it out and pass along your thoughts to the webmaster of that site.
I will be back soon with more posts... I promise!!
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Eco-Friendliness of Restoring Used Vehicles
My roommate and I had quite an adventure over the last two days. Brian won a vehicle in a public surplus auction in Holbrook, AZ. The vehicle had been seized by Arizona State Highway Patrol because of drugs found hidden in the engine manifold (yes, the engine!). For about half of the Kelly Blue Book value, Brian has a "new" used vehicle that will require only about $200 in new parts to be running like new.
We left on Wednesday night around 5pm so we could get an early start on Thursday. The drive was long but fun, and we ended up in Snowflake, AZ for the night, which is only about a 30 minute drive south of Holbrook. Thursday (yesterday) we woke up and hit the road about 8am so we could be ready at the Navajo County government center when they opened at 9am. After paying for the vehicle and transferring the title, Brian and I drove around to the car lot and picked up the vehicle. Thus started our crazy drive home. The truck he purchased was a bit too large for the towing dolly he rented from U-Haul, so we decided to drive home on the I-40 to Flagstaff, then down the I-17 through Phoenix to the I-10 for the home stretch into Tucson. Several times we had to stop because we were worried about the truck slipping off of the dolly, and in general it was pretty nerve-racking. But we got home safe last night at about 5pm, and it was a success.
So what does this have to do with eco-friendliness? Why would my roommate need two trucks? Well, he hasn't yet decided whether or not he's going to sell this truck after fixing it up, but if he does sell it, that is one less new car that needs to be sold. If he keeps it, this truck will probably run better and last longer than the truck he has now, so either way it wasn't a bad purchase. And if he spreads his driving out amongst both vehicles, both will last longer and neither will need to be serviced as often.
I am a firm believer in buying and maintaining used cars rather than just buying a new one. The materials in a used car have already been manufactured, mined, etc., and so the only impact a used car has from this day forward is the cost of the gasoline and fluids and the here-and-there parts that are needed to maintain it.
A new car, on the other hand, has a very long tail as far as environmental impact. The metals from that car have to be mined from somewhere, and that mine has environmental impacts which the car is ultimately (at least in part) responsible for. The other materials from that car have to be manufactured, and the factory that makes them is pumping pollutants and other toxins into the environment as well, which also add to the impact the car is having. And don't forget the money spent on advertising... which you might not think of as an environmental impact until you remember how many car billboards you see everywhere, or car advertisments in magazines, newspapers, etc. That paper and glue and everything else associated with advertising has to come from somewhere, and ultimately the environmental impact gets tacked onto the car because their purpose is to sell the new car every year. Everything in and about a new car is causing some kind of NEW damage that must take place within the environment where a lot of damage has already occurred. So it is my staunch belief that a working used car on the road potentially means one less new car on the road. Sure, it isn't as fuel efficient as a new car might be, but burning gasoline isn't the only impact a car has during its lifetime. In fact, the environmental impact of manufacturing a new car probably far outweighs the impact of keeping an older used car on the road.
I believe that a thought experiment can prove my point. Imagine a scenario where there was a 10 year long ban on the manufacturing of new vehicles, and it started today. All of the new vehicles that rolled off of the assembly line yesterday were the last ones that would be manufactured anywhere on Earth until January 15th, 2020. All of the environmental costs associated with the manufacturing of a car would drop to near zero (not all the way to zero, there would still have to be some manufacturing of parts for the used vehicles, but not nearly as much as with pumping out a new line of cars every year). So now the only environmental impacts you have personally associated with your car are for gasoline and maintenance parts/fluids. You might be thinking "well that's still a lot. Cars pump out a lot of CO2, more so if they're older, so how does this help the environment?" Well, ask yourself this now. How would you treat your car if you knew it had to last 10 years? Even if you replace it, it's going to be replaced by another car that will have to last until January 15th, 2020, no matter what. Wouldn't you drive it a little less aggressively? Wouldn't you drive it less in general, to save on the wear-and-tear of consistent use? I think the answer is yes. My vehicle turns 10 years old this year, and I drive it ever more carefully each year because I know that it has to last me because I don't have the money to buy a new car.
I think there are other benefits to getting into a used-car mentality. I think it encourages people to bike places, or use public transportation. When you're worried about how long your own vehicle might last, you're more likely to want to "put the miles" on someone else's vehicle. More people would ride the bus, or take some other form of public transportation, or even carpool, just to avoid the wear and tear on their own vehicles.
So the next time you're in the market for a car (especially if you have any kind of knowledge about servicing a vehicle), instead of buying the consumerist hype about how good that brand new Prius is for the environment, maybe you should take a spin around the used car lot to see what might work for you. And no matter what you end up buying, try to go into it thinking "what would I do if this car had to last me for 10 years, and I couldn't just buy a new one in 3 or 5 years?" Not only will you be easier on your car, you'll be easier on the environment as well.
We left on Wednesday night around 5pm so we could get an early start on Thursday. The drive was long but fun, and we ended up in Snowflake, AZ for the night, which is only about a 30 minute drive south of Holbrook. Thursday (yesterday) we woke up and hit the road about 8am so we could be ready at the Navajo County government center when they opened at 9am. After paying for the vehicle and transferring the title, Brian and I drove around to the car lot and picked up the vehicle. Thus started our crazy drive home. The truck he purchased was a bit too large for the towing dolly he rented from U-Haul, so we decided to drive home on the I-40 to Flagstaff, then down the I-17 through Phoenix to the I-10 for the home stretch into Tucson. Several times we had to stop because we were worried about the truck slipping off of the dolly, and in general it was pretty nerve-racking. But we got home safe last night at about 5pm, and it was a success.
So what does this have to do with eco-friendliness? Why would my roommate need two trucks? Well, he hasn't yet decided whether or not he's going to sell this truck after fixing it up, but if he does sell it, that is one less new car that needs to be sold. If he keeps it, this truck will probably run better and last longer than the truck he has now, so either way it wasn't a bad purchase. And if he spreads his driving out amongst both vehicles, both will last longer and neither will need to be serviced as often.
I am a firm believer in buying and maintaining used cars rather than just buying a new one. The materials in a used car have already been manufactured, mined, etc., and so the only impact a used car has from this day forward is the cost of the gasoline and fluids and the here-and-there parts that are needed to maintain it.
A new car, on the other hand, has a very long tail as far as environmental impact. The metals from that car have to be mined from somewhere, and that mine has environmental impacts which the car is ultimately (at least in part) responsible for. The other materials from that car have to be manufactured, and the factory that makes them is pumping pollutants and other toxins into the environment as well, which also add to the impact the car is having. And don't forget the money spent on advertising... which you might not think of as an environmental impact until you remember how many car billboards you see everywhere, or car advertisments in magazines, newspapers, etc. That paper and glue and everything else associated with advertising has to come from somewhere, and ultimately the environmental impact gets tacked onto the car because their purpose is to sell the new car every year. Everything in and about a new car is causing some kind of NEW damage that must take place within the environment where a lot of damage has already occurred. So it is my staunch belief that a working used car on the road potentially means one less new car on the road. Sure, it isn't as fuel efficient as a new car might be, but burning gasoline isn't the only impact a car has during its lifetime. In fact, the environmental impact of manufacturing a new car probably far outweighs the impact of keeping an older used car on the road.
I believe that a thought experiment can prove my point. Imagine a scenario where there was a 10 year long ban on the manufacturing of new vehicles, and it started today. All of the new vehicles that rolled off of the assembly line yesterday were the last ones that would be manufactured anywhere on Earth until January 15th, 2020. All of the environmental costs associated with the manufacturing of a car would drop to near zero (not all the way to zero, there would still have to be some manufacturing of parts for the used vehicles, but not nearly as much as with pumping out a new line of cars every year). So now the only environmental impacts you have personally associated with your car are for gasoline and maintenance parts/fluids. You might be thinking "well that's still a lot. Cars pump out a lot of CO2, more so if they're older, so how does this help the environment?" Well, ask yourself this now. How would you treat your car if you knew it had to last 10 years? Even if you replace it, it's going to be replaced by another car that will have to last until January 15th, 2020, no matter what. Wouldn't you drive it a little less aggressively? Wouldn't you drive it less in general, to save on the wear-and-tear of consistent use? I think the answer is yes. My vehicle turns 10 years old this year, and I drive it ever more carefully each year because I know that it has to last me because I don't have the money to buy a new car.
I think there are other benefits to getting into a used-car mentality. I think it encourages people to bike places, or use public transportation. When you're worried about how long your own vehicle might last, you're more likely to want to "put the miles" on someone else's vehicle. More people would ride the bus, or take some other form of public transportation, or even carpool, just to avoid the wear and tear on their own vehicles.
So the next time you're in the market for a car (especially if you have any kind of knowledge about servicing a vehicle), instead of buying the consumerist hype about how good that brand new Prius is for the environment, maybe you should take a spin around the used car lot to see what might work for you. And no matter what you end up buying, try to go into it thinking "what would I do if this car had to last me for 10 years, and I couldn't just buy a new one in 3 or 5 years?" Not only will you be easier on your car, you'll be easier on the environment as well.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Trouble with Money
I am writing today a bit frustrated. This is more of a journal entry than a blog post, so please feel free to skip it if you're not interested. An incident occurred with some income I was expecting to get. I don't want to go into too many details, but let's just leave it at the fact that someone who owes me a significant amount of money isn't paying me back on the timeline I was promised. Since I found this out on the 5th, money has been very tight and it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to see how I might accomplish some of my goals for this year if my income continues the way it is going now. As it stands I still do not have enough soil in my beds to plant a garden, and I have no seeds to plant either. Visiting Portland anytime soon is completely out of the question, and it is even hard to eat healthy foods as they tend to be more expensive.
One of the reasons I want to homestead has always been to liberate myself from the monetary system, mostly if not completely. It is curious to me that in order to do so I must play the game and take part in the monetary system so fully for quite some time. Permaculture courses are expensive, natural building courses are expensive, and of course buying land is expensive. Even just getting the proper soil to grow a backyard garden in is expensive in my current financial situation. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere. The economy will get better, I'll find a job I'm better suited for, and I'll make the money I'm worth. But I'm anxious to start my big project, to journey into homesteading and see what kind of liberty I can grow for myself. I know it will happen someday, I just wish that day seemed sooner than it does today.
If you happen to be in the Tucson area, and you have any extra soil/compost/mulch/seeds that you would like to donate to my garden, that would be awesome! That is the project I most care about in the coming months, because it is the most attainable, and will also be the most encouraging if I am successful. As always, thanks for reading!
One of the reasons I want to homestead has always been to liberate myself from the monetary system, mostly if not completely. It is curious to me that in order to do so I must play the game and take part in the monetary system so fully for quite some time. Permaculture courses are expensive, natural building courses are expensive, and of course buying land is expensive. Even just getting the proper soil to grow a backyard garden in is expensive in my current financial situation. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere. The economy will get better, I'll find a job I'm better suited for, and I'll make the money I'm worth. But I'm anxious to start my big project, to journey into homesteading and see what kind of liberty I can grow for myself. I know it will happen someday, I just wish that day seemed sooner than it does today.
If you happen to be in the Tucson area, and you have any extra soil/compost/mulch/seeds that you would like to donate to my garden, that would be awesome! That is the project I most care about in the coming months, because it is the most attainable, and will also be the most encouraging if I am successful. As always, thanks for reading!
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