Did someone say ‘graph’?: Taras Grescoe’s carbon emissions

Carbon emissions for kerosene-fueled jet, diesel-fueled car and electric train
Source of data: Taras Grescoe, citing the Deutsche Bahn website

Straphanger by Taras Grescoe (Times Books, 2012) has accompanied me this week on my daily Lake Transit commute.

Grescoe, like me, is a “straphanger,” defined as “somebody who, by choice or necessity, relies on public transport, rather than a privately owned automobile.” His book argues for greater investment in public transportation and less dependence upon automobiles.

During last night’s reading, I encountered a comparison of Grescoe’s 1,000-mile journey by train from Paris to Copenhagen with other forms of travel.

Bottled water labeling

From the Ashland Food Co-op website:
Reuseable water bottles are environmentally-responsible
alternative to single-serving bottled water

 ConsumerReports.org has compiled a glossary of bottled-water labeling terms and what they say about the water’s origins. The essay cites a finding by SymphonyIRI Group: that sales of bottled water increased 2 percent, to $7.8 billion, from August 2010 to August 2011.

Terms include Artesian, Distilled, Mineral, Purified, Sparkling and Spring. Among the terms is P.W.S., which stands for “Public water source” or municipal water supply.

“Whatever the bottle says, don’t be misled by crisp blue labels and pictures of mountains,” the essay states: “Forty-seven percent of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is tap water that’s been purified, according to data from the Beverage Marketing Association, a trade group.”

Given the cost of purchasing something that I could get free from the tap, especially since the likelihood is that it was bottled from tap water anyway, I think it much more attractive -- and environmentally sustainable -- to use a refillable water bottle.

Read the complete essay at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/07/do-you-know-where-your-bottled-water-comes-from/index.htm.

My thanks to TapItWater for bringing attention to this essay, assisted by a re-tweet on Twitter by Matt Weiser of the Sacramento Bee.

Next steps for AFC climate-friendly transportation

From its Facebook page: on April 10, the Ashand Food Co-op promoted
an opportunity to win a bike offered by Honest Tea

The highlight for me reading the Ashland Food Co-op’s 2011 Annual Report that arrived in the mail this week was the annual report upon its social responsibility. From a portion that addresses climate-friendly transportation:

“We have a number of programs in place to encourage climate-friendly transportation. We provide secure parking for bicycle commuters and shoppers, and we give weekly prizes to employees who walk, bike, and carpool. We have a program to collect bikes from the community, repair them, and give them to employees for free. In 2011 six employees received free refurbished bicycles, and several others received free bicycle repairs and parts.”

I appreciate this emphasis upon alternatives to single-occupant auto use but would like to suggest additional objectives for the sustainability committee:

• Promote commuting by bus with the Rogue Valley Transportation District’s new employer bus pass program. “By providing transit options to your employees, your business will be rewarded by a reduction in parking requirements, a healthier staff, and by improved employee and community relations.” According to the RVTD, the monthly price of bus fare is $3.85 per employee for companies that buy the pass for all of their employees. It invites businesses to call  RVTD Employer Services at 541-608-2411 or email n.broom@rvtd.org.
• Devote outreach and education toward changing consumer behavior. Offer to be a sales outlet for RVTD bus passes, which are currently available at the RVTD Front Street station, 200 S. Front St. in Medford; at the administration offices, located at 3200 Crater Lake Ave. in Medford; and at the  City of Ashland Utlities Office at 20 E. Main St. In addition, encourage ride-share among AFC customers.

The co-op’s ongoing problem with a “jam-packed” parking lot will not go away simply by adding more spaces. Single-occupant auto use will perpetuate this problem, particularly as the annual report notes 7.5 percent sales growth.

Ashland co-op should emphasize auto alternatives

As related by Vickie Aldous on June 4 on the Medford Mail Tribune and Ashland Daily Tidings websites, the Ashland Food Co-op proposes that Ashland change a law limiting drive-through windows in its historic downtown.

Cover that Klean Kanteen

The more successfully we convince our friends to carry reusable water bottles instead of single-serving plastic, the more necessary it becomes to tell each other’s bottles apart.

Water bottle slipcover

A cloth slipcover serves the purpose of differentiating between bottles. It also helps provide insulation but I have found that with the double-walled Klean Kanteens, extra insulation is unnecessary.

For a friend’s bottle I created this cozy out of T-shirt material. She cut letters freehand and I stitched them centered onto a rectangular piece of fabric about 10 inches wide and 3 inches high. I folded the fabric lengthwise with the letters inside and stitched the 3-inch sides together. I gave myself a six-eighths-of-an-inch seam allowance.

I then turned the resulting tube inside out and, voila, a personalized bottle slipcover.

Jersey knit is tremendously stretchy and these are approximations. If the cozy is at first too loose or its fit loosens afterward, you can try taking the seam in.

‘We are on the same bus’

Jonathan and I use via RVTD's Route 10 when we're in Ashland, Ore.
Photo by rickie22 on Flickr. Reused under terms of Creative Commons

On the Medford Mail Tribune website, I found a great commentary by Julie Akins, news director of KOBI TV Channel 5 based in Medford, Ore.

Akins, like me, commutes to work by bus. In her case, it’s via the Rogue Valley Transportation District and in mine it’s on Lake Transit. For both of us, it’s a matter of choice. She says:

“I coyly gave away my parking space and invested in more rubber-soled shoes to see what I could gain from the experiences of walking to and from bus stops and taking time to look out the window and watch the world go by each morning and evening.”

Akins offers the observation that most people who ride the bus are not there by choice:

“I have not done a formal or even informal poll of bus riders, but I’m clear the regulars are there by necessity. The seats in the back are crowded as people talk in animated detail about getting licenses pulled for various infractions and no longer being able to drive as a condition of parole. 

“The talk of trying to save up for a car on disability or TANF, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and then watching the bare reality of people in wheelchairs who rely on the bus to get to the store or the doctor convinces me choice is a rare occasion for many on the bus. I am glad there is a bus for them and for me.”

My impressions of Lake Transit ridership suggest that reasons vary for why people are riding the bus. There are people in circumstances similar to what Akins describes: licenses lost and unable to drive.

Other riders are licensed drivers who simply choose not to drive.

More and more frequently, I hear passengers say they’ve started riding the bus because gas prices became too high. Given that it can take $40 or more to fill the tank each week, the $40 that a person spends for a month-long pass is a real bargain in comparison.

I could not afford to live and work at near-opposite ends of Lake County if I had to drive.

One of the things I like best about the bus is the stress relief. There is so much stimuli to process when a person drives a car and even when I’m a passenger in an auto, the other cars in close proximity can be a source of anxiety.

I prefer to ride a bus; it is elevated from the roadway and it reduces the impressions that register. Thus my anxieties are reduced. I can also bring my travel pillow with me and take down-time when I need it.

I feel confident in my personal fleet of drivers who get me where I need to go.

Akins decides that it doesn’t really matter why anyone is on the bus:

“[T]he fact is we are there coming and going and through the ride we are learning more about what it is to be in a community. I have not had an unpleasant encounter, no one has threatened me in any way and the protocol is to yell ‘thank you’ to the bus driver when leaving. The regulars know that we are on the same bus and share a culture. We are generally good to each other. It’s nice.”

Who knows, when Jonathan and I move to Ashland, Ore., we may even meet Akins on a bus.

Transit grant application top-trending

Screen capture: Most-viewed stories on Record-Bee website as of April 10, 2012
www.record-bee.com

News that the Lake Transit Authority has submitted a grant application to fund increased commuter services drew a lot of viewer interest on Tuesday on the Lake County Record-Bee website.