Conscious Choice Seattle: Fuel for Conversation

July 2006 | From the Editor

Fuel for Conversation

By Bob Condor

The questions have been out there for more than two decades, in plain view, like someone leaving their gas-tank flap in the open position.

Just why haven’t we come up with American vehicles that free us from oil dependence? Does our economy have to directly link to how much is paid for a barrel of crude oil? Just what is taking so long for the electric car? Or the hydrogen car? How much is too much for a gallon of unleaded?

Ritzy Ryciak, one of our mainstay writers, discovered one answer while test-driving the Smart Car for her story “Drive Time.” One curious guy told Ritzy six bucks, that was his limit before he goes hybrid or electric or french-fry fuel or you name it.

Six bucks? Talk to parents who scaling back on planned summer driving vacations because filling up their tanks has become a plus-$50 experience.

The time for conversation is now. Funny enough for Ritzy, the conversation turned to more than the oil crisis or the cute size of the Smart Car. She was asked out to dinner during her daylong test drive.

Her story has a serious side, of course, providing practical insights into whether you can effectively and safely move around town in the Smart Car, and where to buy it.

We pride ourselves on practical details at Seattle Conscious Choice. We’re all about showing you how to improve the quality of your life, not just talking about it.

To that end, we are introducing the Consumer Consumer pages this month. As it happens, this month those pages are part of Ritzy’s Smart Car feature. Each month, we will consider products that can enhance our lives and, why not, boost consciousness. In this case, we have reported on the Terra Pass (with which you can offset the carbon emissions of your car, even a SUV), Honda scooters and the Birdy electric and foldable bike. Back to the oil crisis and our summer of discontent about pump prices. Regular SCC contributor and Seattle-based author Paul Rogat Loeb (www.paulloeb.org) posted a recent email about local initiatives related to global warming and overconsumption of fuel and other energy sources.

“As the evidence of global warming becomes inescapable,” Paul writers, “I fear Americans will switch instead to a fatalistic pessimism. Maybe it’s real and maybe it’s our fault, this sentiment goes, but at this point there’s nothing we can do, so we’re off the hook.

Yet Paul add that there “people beginning to act, sometimes from unexpected places.” He cites strong statements about the urgent dangers of global warming by the heads of BP Amoco and the world’s largest reinsurance companies, Swiss Re and Munich Re.

Here in Seattle, Paul gives props to Mayor Greg Nickels, who recognized that “even though the Bush administration was still denying the consequences of global warming, local mayors could still take a stand. Nickels committed Seattle to meet or exceed the Kyoto standards of greenhouse gas reduction and 238 cities have followed, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

Paul also mentioned the Mayor’s Green Ribbon committee and the great energy-saving strides made big energy gobblers such as the University of Washington, Starbucks, REI and the Port of Seattle.

“It’s tempting to dismiss these initiatives as insignificant, given the magnitude of the challenge,” writes Paul Loeb. “But efforts like Seattle’s and some of the other cities and businesses offer a path forward, a way to act. Each city inspires the next.”

And each of us who pursue driving a more fuel-efficient car can do the same.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: