Planet DFW

What's the biggest obstacle to buying a hybrid? Finding one

So you have finally reached the "tipping point" when it comes to your mode of transportation. You're spending way too much to fill up your gas tank each week. And it seems like every time you drive past your favorite gas station the price has jumped another 10 cents a gallon. You've done all the calculations and you're ready to spend a little more to buy a hybrid. There's just one problem: When you got to your local auto dealer to test drive a hybrid, they don't have any.

I usually don't link to television stories (too sensationalistic and not enough depth), but this one by an NBC affiliate in Chicago entitled "Who's Hiding the Hybrids?" is very interesting.

The television station went to 12 dealerships in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Each time they were met with responses from dealers like this: "We do not have any hybrids." "They're going to be hard to find." "I really can't help you out."

Some of the reason are that the manufacturers aren't making enough, or the ones that are available sell out almost as soon as they hit the showroom floor. Some lawmakers are getting involved. In Illinois they have proposed legislation called the Illinois Clean Cars Act, which is similiar to a law on the books in California and 13 other states. The legislation calls for stricter tailpipe standards in air and global-warming pollution emitted by passenger cars. The theory is that dealers in states that have the law get cleaner cars for sale. The auto industry vigorously opposes it.

-- Scott Streater

Mirror mirror on the wall, who are the greenest consumers of them all?

The answer is Brazil and India, according to a new global survey conducted by the National Geographic Society and the international polling firm GlobeScan.

While consumers in Brazil and India tied as most "green," those in the U.S. -- gulp! -- scored as the most wasteful.

Click here to find the full report. Or just look at the graphic below.

The methodology, as explained by a magazine press release, is interesting. To create the survey, GlobeScan conducted Internet surveys of consumers in 14 countries, which together represent more than half of the world's population and use about 75 percent of its energy. Rather than measuring each nation's environmental impact, the Greendex compares the behaviors of individuals in four key areas: housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods, according to the release. For example, housing factors included dwelling size; energy use for heating, cooling, and appliances; and water needs.

You can make all the jokes you want about how the quality of life in India and Brazil is not close to what we enjoy here. I'm just passing this along.

-- Scott Streater

Kroger's plastic bag recycling program is proving successful

It seems that so many companies these days are green. Or at least they say they are. They want to be seen as an environmentally friendly business because you, the consumer, have demonstrated a real concern for all things green. This has resulted in a multibillion-dollar market for green products. And in the pursuit of that money, there's a lot of green advertising. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the veracity of some of these green marketing claims.

But within the green mist, there is some substance. Example: Kroger's Bag 2 Bag recycling program. Since it started the program in November, Kroger store customers in Texas and Louisiana have recycled 113 tons of plastic shopping bags, plastic dry cleaner wraps and other items -- equivalent to eight truckloads of plastics that will not end up in a landfill, or blown into a tree or waterway. Included in that 113 tons, the company says, is 5.5 million plastic shopping bags. The program works like this: when you load up your shopping cart with plastic bags full of groceries, bring the bags back to the store and they recycle them. Kroger's stores also accept plastic bags from competing stores. You can also bring the plastic wraps from your dry cleaner, and the plastic wraps around your water bottles.

Anyway, it's a modest program that's had a lot of impact with not a lot of publicity.

-- Scott Streater

Here are some truly green household cleaning tools

I understand how the woman in this photograph feels. Nothing bites more than cleaning the house. I hate scrubbing sinks and toilets, vacuuming up dog hair from the floor, doing laundry. And if that wasn't enough, there's the possibility that the cleaners you're using may contain some harsh chemicals that might not be good for you. I can't help you on the house cleaning stuff, but I can point you to information that can help you be truly green when you clean.

Yahoo! has an interesting article highlighting six (mostly) natural cleaners for the home. Basically, the article notes that you need little more than the following six ingredients -- baking soda, borax, lemon juice, salt, olive oil and white vinegar -- to clean just about anything in your home. (Kind of confusing that the article includes this link to another story detailing the 18 things you need for the clean home, but whatever.) All this means you don't have to spend more at the grocery store for items billed as "eco-friendly" cleaning products. That is if you're willing to clean with vinegar.

-- Scott Streater

A little Earth Day humor

Today is Earth Day, and that means there will be a lot of gloom-and-doom talk about how we're all on the verge of environmental catastrophe. Certainly the issues are serious. But in an attempt to lighten things up, these cartoons were sent to me by a colleague. They're pretty funny. Anyway, happy Earth Day.

 

-- Scott Streater

Everybody's an environmentalist on Earth Day -- not!

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and if you had access to my e-mail you would think that everybody was green. I'm overwhelmed with e-mail after e-mail after e-mail from companies and groups that want to tell you about some green product or initiative they think my readers might be interested in reading about. In most cases it's little more than marketing. In fact, most of the e-mails on sent by public relations firms -- everybody say it with me -- from New York!

Some of these are sent by people who, well, they have a tenuous hold on reality. Example: Richard H. Schwartz, professor emeritus of the College of Staten Island. He pitches "a possible Earth Day sidebar" about the environmental messages related to Passover and the events and concepts related to the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt." As if today's environmental concerns aren't scary enough, Schwartz says they "can be compared in many ways to the biblical 10 plagues."

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

In the spirit of emptying my notebook, here's a sampling of e-mails received the past seven days, all related to Earth Day.

* It tastes great, is less filling -- and environmentally friendly. Yes folks, when you pop open a cold one this Earth Day you can feel proud that brewers are leading American industry in the areas of recycling, water conservation and treatment, energy management, and wildlife and habitat conservation. Anheuser-Busch is the world’s largest operator of Bio-Energy Recovery Systems. Coors Brewing Co. refines a byproduct of the brewing process to produce 1.5 million gallons of ethanol annually. And Miller Brewing Co. recently partnered with local authorities to transform an area of its Milwaukee brewery into a rain garden. Beer, is there nothing it can't do?

* Ed Norton has a challenge for you. Who the heck is Ed Norton? He's a former A-list Hollywood celebrity who hasn't appeared in any movie you've heard of in years. But he wants you to quit using those gosh-awful plastic bags when you go to the grocery store. At least on Earth Day for goodness sakes. Ed and his friends at National Geographic have put together this public service announcement video "challenging eco-conscious people everywhere to BAG THE BAG and consider carrying reusable bags on shopping trips." And they want me to write about it. I'm so honored.

* Need an energy-efficient way to travel? "This Earth Day, we would like to remind you that Segway remains one of the most energy-efficient vehicles, the best choice for short-distance, single-occupancy car journeys," reads the press release. So why are you still in that Ford Explorer?

* "With the new attraction to all things green, your readers may be interested in products that they can use in their daily lives to help create healthier surroundings," read the cheerful e-mail from Brian Saunders with the Alpaytac PR firm in Chicago. This was part of a long-winded windup to introduce the Shark Steam Mop, which turns ordinary tap water into steam, eliminating the need for harsh chemicals, they claim. "I thought this may be a fit for an upcoming Earth Day article or follow up," he wrote. I'll bet he did. You can find it at Target. How's that for a shameless plug?

Anyway, have a happy Earth Day tomorrow.

-- Scott Streater

Achoo! If you can't stop sneezing, blame it on spring allergies

"There is no place safe from allergies in America." Thus sobering line comes from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, which each year identifies what it calls “the 100 most challenging places to live with allergies” in the spring and fall seasons. These hundred metro areas are the Allergy Capitals of the country.

And wouldn't you know it, one of the worst places to live with allergies is Dallas-Fort Worth, which the group ranked as the 22nd worst allergy city in America. McAllen in South Texas ranked No. 1 in the state, and No. 16 overall.

What's the worst city in the country? Lexington, Ky.

Click here for the full list.

The rankings are based on the amount of pollen sources known to be in the area (such as the yellow pollen on this ragweed pictured here in Fort Worth), as well as the ratio of board certified allergists per patient and the ratio of allergy relief prescriptions per patient.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, more Americans than ever (an estimated 50 million people) say they are suffering from allergies -- defined as diseases of the immune system. The group says it is among the country's most often overlooked diseases, despite annual costs of dealing with allergies estimated to be nearly $7 billion.

Anyway, grab some tissues, because if you live on Planet DFW you're going to need them.

-- Scott Streater

Can reusing your old coins save the world?

File this one under "Everything we do is killing the environment."

Comes now a new campaign urging all you people who are saving your quarters and dimes in a big glass jar to help the environment and put those coins back into circulation by buying something. Follow with me here for minute. If Americans put back into circulation just 10 percent of the estimated $10 billion in change sitting idle in homes, that would equal about 15 billion coins. This would reduce the number of new coins that need to be produced, which in turn would help the environment because manufacturing coins consumes a lot of natural resources.

This according to Coinstar Inc., the company that has those machines you sometimes see in the mall and outside stores that spits out cash for all your loose change. They're serious about this, and have launched a campaign to promote the reuse of the proud and noble coin.

Wait a minute, I thought everyone was just swiping their Visa debit cards at the mall.

But seriously, doesn't this just show how everything we do has some kind of a negative impact on the environment. I mean, let's take the 15 billion coins they're talking about wanting all of us to reintroduce into circulation instead of hording. If the government has to replace those coins, it will produce carbon emissions equivalent to 12,610 cars, water consumption equivalent to 82 million showers, and energy consumption equivalent to the burning of 4.1 million 60-watt light bulbs.

-- Scott Streater

Are moms and dads really worried about the environment?

Nine out of 10 parents say environmental quality is very important to them because they want to ensure a good future for their children, and they want to ensure they're children's health, according to a new survey by DisneyFamily.com.

If this is accurate, why is there so much resistance in this country to addressing global warming, the one environmental issue that is guaranteed to impact the future of your children and their children? I mean even Cindy Crawford gets it (see earlier post). Yet our government leaders for years have resisted addressing taking meaningful steps to address the issue.

Major findings of the online survey (which included 8,000 parents) include:

· Nearly three of every four Americans recycles cans, paper and plastics at home

· Nearly two in three Americans turn out lights when leaving a room and say they are using high efficiency bulbs

· Nearly one in three Americans who drive a conventional car today plan to make their next vehicle a hybrid

· The top two reasons parents are concerned about the environment are looking out for the future of their children and because the health of their family is important to them.

Click here for tips and ideas from Disney about how your family can go green.

-- Scott Streater

Saving the planet, one step at a time

Paul Simon once sang that there must be 50 ways to leave your lover.

Fortunately for all of us, it takes only 12 steps to save the planet.

That's according to Earth Day Network, a collection of more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. Earth Day begins a week from Tuesday, and the network says these 12 steps will save the planet this year.

Some of the steps are obvious, such as turning down your thermostat, recycling more, participating in a carpool and using more eco-friendly household cleaning products. Others are more interesting. Such as paying your bills online instead of by the mail. If every adult in the U.S. did this just once, we’d save almost 218 million paper sheets, according to the group. Others include using a low-flow shower head to conserve water, and planting a tree to help capture and store carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas linked to global warming.

The most interesting, however, is the first of the 12 steps. It suggests calling Congress on Earth Day (with apologies to the switchboard operator, the number is 202-224-3121) and demanding federal lawmakers pass regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. The network says its goal is for a million people to call. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, good luck with all that.

-- Scott Streater