Earlier this week I sat at work extremely upset, venting on Facebook about the continuing flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. As I asked friends to join me in a virtual protest of off-shore drilling, and took part in an on-line debate about the need for fossil fuels I thought "What can I do in real life to reduce my dependency on oil and further protest drilling off the coast of my beloved Florida beaches?" I've never been one to sit back and complain about a problem without trying to find a solution so I set out to take some personal action.
And at 541,483,280 gallons of gas saved per year, at $2.90 per gallon average = $1,570,301,512.00 per year
If only 1/2 of the people in Orlando participate...just think if everyone in Orange County did it. Then Central Florida. Then Florida. The numbers just keep getting larger!
My conclusion was to retire my car for one week and try riding the city of Orlando's much criticized Lynx Bus system to and from work. In addition to busing it I'll be walking, riding my bike or carpooling anywhere else I need to go thus saving between 10 and 15 gallons of gas in a week. If this experiment goes well and I am able to make it to my weekly responsibilities safely and on time I intend to retire my car for one week out of every month.
The impact of this "experiment" may seem trival however if it inspires others to follow my lead it could produce huge results. Consider this:
The Greater Orlando metropolitan area has a population of 2,082,628. If only half of these people (1,041,314)participated in my plan, which may seem trivial at 10 gallons of gas per week in savings, that would be a total of 10,413,140 gallons of gas saved per week! And at approximately $2.90 per gallon, equals $30,198,106 in savings per week!!!
If only 1/2 of the people in Orlando participate...just think if everyone in Orange County did it. Then Central Florida. Then Florida. The numbers just keep getting larger!
In the oil business money talks. If all residents in the state of Florida who wish to protest future off-shore drilling were to join in my experiment the oil companies would surely feel the impact and have to listen. For now, it begins with me.
I'm very interested in your results! To give some perspective, can you post details about where you live and work, so that we can compare against our own routes and see if it's viable?
ReplyDeleteSure Miss Copy! I'll include those details in an upcoming blog, probably tomorrow. Thanks for your interest and thank you for reading (riding) along!
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