The whole thing makes me want to not own a car anymore. I did happen to fill up my Civic today, and I paid $41 for the cheap stuff.

But does that mean I want to go out and mess up ecosystems on US shores in hopes that it might save me a few bucks at the pump? I think you know.

Even if there were enough untapped oil in the US to lower prices, it’s a very finite resource. And the first drop of oil wouldn’t come for three to five years after drilling starts. We obviously can’t continue our serious dependence on oil of any kind — foreign or otherwise. The big answers should not come from politicians making unfounded promises to lower our gas bills.

I don’t have all the answers, but I’m smart enough to know that it’s not more oil and pollution that we need. I would have hoped the Presidential candidate on a major ticket would have known that too.

Until the the technology for gasoline-free cars is out there and affordable for everyone, there are a few other things you can do. I know, you’ve heard them all before, but repetition is the old school way of learning, after all.

• Walk or bike instead of drive, at least two days a week

• Carpool

• Live closer to work

• Use public transportation if available

So, you may be wondering why I’m disappointed in McCain when Bush is actually the one in power who’s actively trying to lift the ban on offshore drilling. It’s because I already knew what Bush is all about. Naive me thought that just maybe McCain was serious about his environmental concerns. Well, I guess I have my answer to Would John McCain be a Green President.

Please let McCain know what you think about his decision to support coastal drilling.

Image via flickr.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

So, what to do in November if you live in the United States?

I believe that the most important thing you can do is educate yourself about your choices. And vote!

While I’m not 100% convinced that John McCain would be a green President, I think he’s paying more attention than others in his party have in the past. McCain opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and he’s been very critical of Bush’s lack of environmental leadership.

Here’s an excerpt from McCain’s recent speech on climate change in Portland, Oregon. You can read the whole speech with the link, but I picked this part because I think it shows that he does believe global warming is real.

“Some of the most compelling evidence of global warming comes to us from NASA. No longer do we need to rely on guesswork and computer modeling, because satellite images reveal a dramatic disappearance of glaciers, Antarctic ice shelves and polar ice sheets. And I’ve seen some of this evidence up close. A few years ago I traveled to the area of Svalbard, Norway, a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean. I was shown the southernmost point where a glacier had reached twenty years earlier. From there, we had to venture northward up the fjord to see where that same glacier ends today — because all the rest has melted. On a trip to Alaska, I heard about a national park visitor’s center that was built to offer a picture-perfect view of a large glacier. Problem is, the glacier is gone. A work of nature that took ages to form had melted away in a matter of decades.

Our scientists have also seen and measured reduced snowpack, with earlier runoffs in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. We have seen sustained drought in the Southwest, and across the world average temperatures that seem to reach new records every few years. We have seen a higher incidence of extreme weather events. In the frozen wilds of Alaska, the Arctic, Antarctic, and elsewhere, wildlife biologists have noted sudden changes in animal migration patterns, a loss of their habitat, a rise in sea levels. And you would think that if the polar bears, walruses, and sea birds have the good sense to respond to new conditions and new dangers, then humanity can respond as well.”

To learn more, I highly recommend the Grist candidate profiles. Also, check out Time’s article: How Green is John McCain?

Do you think John McCain is sincere in his green efforts?

Image used with permission: Newscom

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family