Our World and Everything in It

I heard these facts on the news this morning. Carpooling with just one extra person in each driver’s car would save the U.S. 32 millions gallons of gas per day.

Baby Boomers remember all the stuff from the 70’s. I don’t know why those same coping mechanisms aren’t automatically kicking in now anyway. It’s a no brainer. Can’t afford gas money and insurance, take on a rider. I picked my girlfriend up in Dearborn Hts. everyday from Flat Rock to travel to Farmington Hills.  She paid me gas money. Sharing the driving was not an option. She had an old station wagon with no heat. She actually drove it a short distance in the winter and had to scrape the inside of her windows! I had a old Ford Grenada with heat but no A/C.

The economy was horrible in 1974 too. There was a war, and an oil crunch. Unemployment lines were horrible. This is how we coped. Everyone seemed to have more than one job, and second hand furniture to include crates for end tables and the ever lovin tapestries on the walls, ceiling, as throws, and bedcovers. Being picky about a roomate wasn’t an option. It was about survival. So of course we carpooled, usually in ratty can’t-believe-it’s-still-running cars. And vans, well they could really haul a bunch of people around.

Now it’s like pulling teeth to get people to carpool. People comment that they love their cars. They really enjoy driving alone. I hope they like them well enough because if things get worse for the economy and housing, plenty of people will be calling his/her car ”Home” as many have admittedly done.  

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 2:00 pm and is filed under CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Fuel Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.