Thrifty or "green"?

[Ryland]

I'm lazy, so I guess that makes me cheap? but I don't like wasting things so that makes me an environmentalist, but not because I care about future generations because I don't want to have kids.

[user removed]

I hate OPEC because it is a monopoly.

The money I save on gas is available for other investments.

Every dollar not sent overseas, becomes something like 10 dollars floating around in the US economy.

Figure 300 billion not sent overseas becomes 3 trillion floating around in the US economy.

Every year.

With the US national net worth at 60 trillion, elimination of the oil import deficit, as I see it, is the solution to our current economic troubles.

It would also (if applied globally) starve the extremists of the funding to threaten our security.

I did not respond to the poll, but I would guess that would make me a 10, but y'all can tell the "ole redneck" where that puts me and I will fill in the appropriate number.

I looked at the poll again and realized that 10 was free gas, which addresses my real concerns. Although I do not consider myself a liberal environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, the benefits of dramatic increases in mileage in vehicles (at least 100 MPG per vehicle) would be fantastic.

regards
Mech

[luvit]

ah ha. i voted 1.
i;m the only one so far. lol.

[bgd73]

I went right down the middle.
by the time valid arguments are done, that is where reality ends up.

too green is an extreme.
live in bad terrain, or aggressive areas, or any vehicle challenged locale..take it down the middle, it is as good as I can get personally.

a fantastic reality would be no thoughts of small or slow with superior green, and that needs engineering without extremists.

[Bicycle Bob]

I think waste is not much different than an attack on our descendants. If my time is worth anything, I'm not saving much money by working on just one old car at a time.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob

I think waste is not much different than an attack on our descendants. If my time is worth anything, I'm not saving much money by working on just one old car at a time.

Agree re: waste!

And yet, doesn't it seem that the people who "are all about the children" are the same ones that have more than two of them, and cart them all over creation in Suburbans?

Disagree re: old car. I work on old cars, drive them, and my costs/mile are practically all for fuel... unlike the typical American motorist who spends more on financing costs, insurance, depreciation, and mechanic bills than anything.

Haven't quantified the value of my time though. Afraid to do that, as I waste 98% of it.

[cfg83]

5speed5 -

I put 8. If I was as close to work as I used to be (less than 2 miles), I don't think I would have ever found this site because I wouldn't consider myself to be "the problem". That's why I can't put 10.

There is only one mod I have done that has cost "a lot" of money, the taller 5th gear, and that cost is actually from me not doing it myself (no skillzz). I don't count the bigger diameter tires because I have to buy new tires at some point anyway. The rest of the mods that have helped are not big cost items.

If they had aftermarket aero-mod kits that met my offbeat aesthetics (aka it ain't gonna happen, especially for my Saturn), I think I would be willing to invest upwards of $1000, so I am *not* doing this to save money. I'm just trying to make my nightmare-commute into a meaningful(?) hobby. [EDIT]: I could afford to take on an auto loan and get a hybrid, but I like proving that my Saturn S-Series is a great MPG platform, and I hate that most new hybrids are automatics.

CarloSW2

[thatguitarguy]

I believe that being economically responsible and being ecologically responsible go hand in hand, and are equally important. Being in the middle just moves me equally far from both goals - not where I want to be, and not something I agree with.

[alohaspirit]

Originally Posted by Ryland

I'm lazy, so I guess that makes me cheap? but I don't like wasting things so that makes me an environmentalist, but not because I care about future generations because I don't want to have kids.

i do it for me as i intend to live forever, but im still doing it for our future generations too

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I commute on $1/day of fuel. Gas isn't free, but it's close enough.

never thought of that before

hmmm...

current HI gas price at 3.15, i spend 45 cents a day for my commute


but i still wish i got better gas mileage

[gone-ot]

...it's "atonement time"

...in my "younger days," I wasted gasoline at stop lights and drag races...because I could!

...now, in my "elder days,"I save gasoline because I'm CHEAP...because I can!

...hopefully, the two "extremes" will balance-out when I go either: UP to the big Derrick-in-the-Sky for judgement...or DOWN to the bigger "Hotter-than-Hades" resort for retirement (ha,ha)