50 Simple Steps to Kick Our Oil Habit

By The Green Patriot Working Group

With "50 Simple Steps to Kick America's Oil Habit", the goal of the Green Patriot Working Group is to initiate the next oil boycott--when America tells the world that it doesn't need oil anymore from unfriendly, hostile or unstable governments because its citizens have been empowered to do their share to kick our extreme addiction to petroleum. Following in the footsteps of the very successful "50 Simple Steps to Save the Earth from Global Warming", the Green Patriot Working Group's newest consumer handbook provides easy and practical steps anybody can take to reduce their personal dependency on petrochemicals. From the cosmetics and household cleaning products we purchase to the foods we eat, our choice of transportation, how we heat our homes and even the clothing we wear, Americans can make choices that will make a tremendous difference for our future national security. "50 Simple Steps" also looks at the many side benefits of abandoning petroleum products including improved public health (from reduced carcinogens, toxins and pollution), a healthier environment (due to reduced greenhouse gases and global warming) and a healthier economy (due to keeping billions of U.S. dollars in our own country). "50 Simple Steps" challenges and inspires its readers to be leaders-each person, each Green Patriot-and to do their fair share for America. "50 Simple Steps" makes it easy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Freedom Press
• Release date: Mar 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781893910508

Book preview

www.greenpatriotposters.org.

STEP #1

Be a Green Patriot

We may never completely eliminate all oil from commerce and that’s probably not necessary. Heck, we’re so addicted to oil, we’ve got a lot of low-hanging fruit to pick first—and that’s great.

In this book, we give you some really simple things to think about and then put into action when you have a chance. Our individual actions can have a huge collective impact. Imagine what would happen if we:

Said no to petro-poisons in shampoo

Said yes to healthy, tasty foods

Said yes to a nation with greater wealth for US

Shopped for oil-free products.

Breaking our oil addiction will spread the wealth in America. Our current addiction to foreign oil threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties our hands as a nation and a people. We can, however, make a change.

Little things, as we said, add up. We just picked up soy-based (instead of petroleum-made) candles from the Pottery Barn (www.potterybarn.com), for example. Strike another blow against the Evil Empire!

Read and discuss these following ideas and lifestyle tips with your friends and families. Let’s spread the word about how we can be truly energy independent!

STEP #2

Make Smart Transportation Choices

For better or worse, our society is dependent on motor vehicles. Most ofus depend on our vehicles for just about every out-of-home need and activity we undertake. As the exhaust from vehicles is rich with carbon monoxide, our trips to school, work, the grocery store and the beach all contribute to global warming. The good news is that there are fast-developing new alternatives for meeting our transportation needs without imperiling polar bears or jeopardizing our future with our insane oil addiction.

One 42-gallon barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about 20 gallons of gasoline and 7 gallons of diesel, not to mention jet and military uses. In other words, more than half of every barrel of oil goes to fuel our cars and other forms of transportation. So we can really kick our oil habit quickly by realizing our biggest reduction in oil use starts with our cars, trucks, buses, trains and planes. Driving less also reduces global greenhouse gas emissions. As you probably know, many scientists have linked these emissions with global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps.

As if right on time, the auto industry is undergoing tumultuous times of change. General Motors and Chrysler asked Congress for just enough bridge cash to survive. Ford said the company could make it through the end of 2008, but wasn’t so sure about surviving through 2009. Toyota also experienced declining earnings in 2008.

Alternatively, auto manufacturers like Fisker, Tesla and Tati specializing in electric cars are creating new markets and emerging as global players.

The high price of fuel in 2008 also took its toll on the friendly skies of the airline industry. And even now, at the time of this writing, although fuel prices have dropped by more than half of what they were, people are not traveling as much and so airlines’ troubles persist. On the bright side, breakthroughs on the horizon—thanks to scientists and entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Branson—involve jet fuel made from renewable sources like algae and agricultural waste.

Similarly, fuel costs for trucking were exorbitant throughout most of 2008, but when prices finally dropped, so did the demand to ship products. Again, though, good news offers hope: a newly recognized source of diesel fuel in the form of a non-edible salt-tolerant crop.

There’s no more of an economical way today to pull a huge load than by train, making it a wonderful form of smart transportation. General Electric is one company developing the next evolution of fuel-efficient train engines that may not even need the usual polluting fuels of the past.

And what about walking?

The nations with the healthiest people are also the most physically active!

It is up to people like us to make intelligent choices about transportation—which includes using our own two legs at times. Our transportation energy concepts are changing, making it possible to wean ourselves from fossil fuels like petroleum and coal much more quickly than anybody imagined.

Frankly, our transportation choices could move us toward energy independence faster than anything else we do!

So let’s be smart and get energy independent!

STEP #3

Give Thy Car a Rest

Giving your petrochemical steed a rest in the stable—a day in the sun and a time of quiet—does a lot of good for you, our world and your car.

There’s a time and a place for long drives, definitely, say to visit Big Sur or Vermont, to go to the Alps, but for those trips to the video store or to the convenience store for a Twinkie-run, consider riding your bike or taking a walk while giving your chariot some downtime in the garage.

One of the best things about walking instead of driving in your own neighborhood is meeting and talking with neighbors, which does your spirit and soul a world of good too.

So take a walk, or carpool with a friend and visit while you do your shopping and errands. And one day a week, do something that doesn’t involve driving. Ride a bike. Stay home and work in your garden. Read. Just give your car a rest.

One day a week. That’s all. It’s simple. Do it on a blue Sunday.

Really, if we all give our cars the equivalent of one day of rest each week, the quality of our lives will improve, as will our air quality. Our roads will also be less crowded, making driving more pleasant. And you might even find that the extra exercise you get by walking more improves your health and emotional well-being, which is also good for our public health.

So save some gas and park your car: experience moving through this world without a car at least once a week!

STEP #4

Carpool

Get to know someone and save money. Carpooling is another quick and easy way to cut down on our oil consumption and contribute to kicking the country’s oil addiction.

If more of us carpooled, we would be significantly reducing our oil usage, improving the flow of traffic on our highways and increasing our air quality.

Currently millions of us engage in solitary travel to and from work; driving billions of miles each year, spending a stack of cash on gas and pumping tons of emissions into the atmosphere, say the experts at www.greenlivingtips.com, adding:

A small car emits around .59 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile.

A medium car emits around 1.1 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile.

An SUV/4 wheel emits around 1.57 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile.

In addition to cutting down the carbon emissions, carpooling can save us thousands, according to www.partnc.org, a ride sharing site in North Carolina: Taking into account gas, upkeep, repairs and parking, you can save $3,000 or more a year by carpooling.

At a cost of 49 cents per mile to own and operate an automobile and .122 cents per mile for gas, oil, maintenance and tires, according to AAA Motor Club 2000 statistics, a 40-mile round trip costs $4.88. Multiply this by the number of times you make the trip, and it’s easy to see how carpooling can easily save you $6,000.00 a year or more!

Many states also encourage carpools with designated freeway lanes reserved for vehicles carrying two or more people. The more people who carpool, the less crowded our freeways will be.

Also ask if your company offers carpool incentives and opportunities. If not, you could be the one to initiate a program! Post information at the usual sites: bulletin boards, online intranet sites, online and via email. Sites like www.pickuppal.com and www.matchcommuter.com help connect you with commuters in your area.

And www.erideshare.com helps people who want to carpool on longer and cross country trips. At the time we visited, more than 6,000 people had posted ads for longdistance ride shares.

Other helpful sites are www.carpoolconnect.com, www.carpoolworld.com and www.commutesmart.com. A Google search for carpool will yield many results.

Taking this simple step will save wear and tear on your car, keep thousands of dollars in your pocket rather than in the gas tank and possibly spark new friendships.

STEP #5

Use Public Transportation

If you were in the rock and roll city of Cleveland, Ohio, in July of 2008, you would most likely have seen the advertisements on buses that read, This bus is an ASSAULT VEHICLE on global warming. Inspired by the Canary Project and the City of Cleveland, the George Gund Foundation, Timberland and the Green Patriot Working Group, this campaign’s goal was to draw attention to public transportation; and it’s true: public transportation cuts our carbon emissions by 37