My Heavy Foot Leaves A Big Carbon Footprint

Furious! That’s what I was. I had been “stood up” for a date by the boy with whom I was “going steady.” Now, what’s the point of “going steady” if you aren’t going to go anywhere? I hopped into my little Toyota and drove like a bat out of you-know-where into town to find that fellow and make him take me out. Did I obey the speed limit? Heck no. Speed limits are for sissies! In 1972, we didn’t care about carbon emissions.

I found that boy and, with hands on hips, I sassed him out good and told him to follow me back home and take me out. As I was cussing a blue streak and speeding down the highway at about 85 mph, with him following me to my house, I glanced in my rear view mirror and my blood turned to ice! There was a car bearing down on my tail. Nope. It wasn’t the highway patrol. There were no flashing lights (I only wished it had been the police) — it was my Daddy! Busted!

To my chagrin, he pulled me over and read me the riot act about my driving (with that boy sitting in his car behind us, trying not to grin at my discomfort). You would think that this experience would have slowed me down. That’s what you would get for thinking! You see, I learned to drive from my Daddy. That he would fuss at me about driving fast didn’t make much impression, since he was guilty of the same. It was the pot calling the kettle “black.”

Oh, sure, for awhile I drove more slowly, but I have what my Daddy called “a heavy foot.” I can’t help myself. Yes, I know that driving fast burns more fuel, releasing more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. I am feeling guilty about that, now that we are becoming aware of the damage that those gasses do to our environment and I have been trying to mend my ways so that I can “go green.” That’s not easy for a Texas gal to do!

Part of making my living as a professional storyteller involves traveling across the state, and that isn’t anything I can change. I don’t want to change it, either! I like going on the road occasionally (because it means that I can sleep at night without a neurotic cat on my neck). I just don’t like spending a lot of time driving. I’m can’t sit behind the wheel for hours on end … if I sit for that long, my feet begin to swell.

I can’t fly to the places where I tell stories, because I carry too much stuff with me. My luggage almost always includes a spinning wheel and a big old weaving loom. I have to take my computer with me, because I don’t want to miss out on blogging. And, because this is Texas (which means the weather changes faster than a baseball player spits) I have to take nearly every dadgum outfit in my closet! It might be a tad on the cool side in the morning so that I need a sweater, but by the time I get back to the hotel I”ll need to put on shorts and a wife beater shirt t-shirt! If I tried to check that much luggage, no one could afford to pay my salary.

I don’t drive a Hummer, but I don’t drive a hybrid vehicle, either. My Honda Element gets about 25 miles to the gallon on the highway — but I do burn up the highway.

When I get to stay at home, I have reduced the amount of driving that I do. Although I have wished for a long time that I lived in a “walkable neighborhood,” it isn’t going to happen soon. Where I live now, I don’t have many stores or shops nearby.

I’ve begun to plan my trips to town and map my errands before I go. That way, I don’t find myself criss-crossing the town several times. I’ve also discovered that I really don’t have to go to my post office box every day, because all I’m going to find is bills or junk mail (although I do know how to stop the junk mail).

On a PBS station, I saw a short program about changing our driving habits in order to save fuel, so I searched the internet for tips to help me. At We Test the Tips I discovered pretty much what I already knew :

• Don’t exceed the speed limit, in fact perhaps drive a bit slower. On long trips, you can have a savings of 14%. Obviously, those folks have never driven on a Texas highway! If you drive slowly, the idiots behind you will run you down!
• Don’t drive like a maniac. By slowly accelerating and by not stomping hard on the brake pedal, you can have major fuel savings (yeah, but I can’t race that kid at the light if I do that!). The group at Edmonds.com discovered that you can realize up to 37% savings on fuel.
• Using cruise control on the highway can cause a 14% savings in fuel.
• Don’t sit in the line at Starbucks with your car idling. Turn off the car if you have to sit for longer than a minute (and of course you do at Starbucks!). That can save up to 19%!

Now, I’m going to admit to y’all that I am not a mathmetician! But, I darned sure learned how to add. If I do all of those things … lemme see … that looks like I will realize an 84% savings on fuel! Doesn’t it look like that to you?

OK, maybe not, but I know they are right. All kidding aside, I think we are going to have to drastically change our driving habits in this country. When I told that to my husband he informed me, “In Japan, the highway speed limit is only about 37 mph.”

I said, “Sure, Honey, because if they get any faster than that they won’t have time to stop before they hit the ocean.” That place isn’t big enough for people to drive fast. On Texas highways, though, with the wide open spaces, the temptation to zooooom is overwhelming!

That’s the hardest part for me — slowing down on the highway. In the past month, I’ve driven across Texas and back twice and that’s a long time in the car. I tell you whut! After that much driving, I had a “heavy foot” alright. I had two heavy feet! They swelled up so big that my toes looked like Vienna sausages! I guess that’s a small price to pay for doing my part to save the environment. As long as my toes don’t “go green,” I’m going to have to learn to live with it.

Related posts:

1. An Apology to That Driver
2. Back Issues
3. I Love It When He Talks Dirty
4. Hurricane Ike Affected You, Whether You Know It Or Not
5. Jelly Vendor

Tagged as: carbon footprint, driving tips, environment, going green, saving fuel, Storytelling