People turned out in record numbers to vote early. There were reports of people waiting in line for 4 or more hours. For the last Presidential election, I chose to vote early and wait in line. This time, I requested an absentee ballot and cast my vote in the comfort of my own home. Having my computer beside me allowed me to make even more informed decisions as I filled out the ballot.

The first time I ever voted, I did so out of a sense of obligation. Now I do it because it really does make a difference. Now that I have children to care for, voting becomes even more important to me.

You may feel like your single vote won’t sway the results, but it’s you and like-minded people turning out who make a difference. At every election, there are local issues on the ballot. There are issues on every ballot at the state, county, congressional district, and city levels. As you drill down further, your vote matters even more.

My name is Elliott Kim and I approve this message.

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Illustration: Elliott Kim

One month ago, we made a family decision to downsize to one vehicle. We took inventory of our needs and our expenses, and it made sense to get rid of one car. I am glad to be free of life’s most inconvenient convenience.

We’re not disadvantaged with the lack of one car due to our circumstances. One parent stays at home with the baby and home-schools the older child. I’ve learned how to use public transit and I ride my bike whenever I can.

The prevailing attitude in South Florida is that a car is a necessity. The lack of a car would be a hindrance. I have not felt that hindrance. Did I miss the meeting? Did I not get that email? I’m supposed to feel stuck! Why has an overwhelming sense of liberation come over me?

• I’m not a believer in multi-tasking, but this is as close as it gets. I’m getting recreation, exercise, and transportation at the same time.
• Riding the bus gives me opportunities unavailable to me if I’m driving. Try reading or watching a video podcast while driving. Oh wait, this is South Florida. I wouldn’t be surprised if people did just that.
• Riding the bus insulates me from the bad drivers. Everyone thinks the drivers in their city are the worst. South Florida drivers really are among the worst in the nation.
• Riding my bike is a much more intimate interaction with the aforementioned bad drivers. I choose my bike routes accordingly. I’ve discovered some great scenery because I’ve had to find alternates to major thoroughfares.
• I eliminated $600 of monthly expenditures.

My current work situation allows me to carpool with a friend of mine. Beer is cheaper than gas now, so I buy him a 12-pack once a week, and I even get to drink 2 or 3 of them.

Sarah Palin is keeping all you fact checkers very busy, so I’m going to save you some time. A 12-pack of Heineken works out to be about $9.70/gallon. Okay, so in Europe, I’d be right. However, the amount of gas I’d burn in one week commuting costs significantly more than the beer used to fuel our friendship.

The point is, (I find myself saying this a LOT to the resident teenager) there are alternatives to the automobile. My bitter and contested divorce from conventional wisdom has allowed me to explore the options I am currently using.

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Last week, I went to 3 events I found through Meetup.com:

• South Florida Graphic Design/Creative Meetup
• South Florida Web Design Meetup
• Babies, Toddlers, and Little People Meetup

So far, meetup.com is 3 for 3. I met some great folks in my industry at the design meetups. I was especially looking forward to the Babies, Toddlers and Little People meetup. Renee was at one of their meetups earlier this year.

The organizer of this particular meetup is Jordanna Egan. She runs a licensed home day care center here in South Florida. She uses the group to promote her business and foster a sense of community. Renee and I felt an immediate kinship with her. Her two children are named Austin and Erianna.

Renee and I continue to get better networked locally. One segment of our circle of friends is an older bunch without children. That was the group we spent most of our social time with until the baby was born. They are a wonderful bunch, but we were hungry for circumstantial peers – other local folks our age with children. Meetup.com is proving to be a great way to fill that need.

If you haven’t checked out meetup.com, it’s worth a look. This concludes my wholehearted, sincere, unpaid, and unsolicited endorsement of meetup.com.

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Making The Shift To Vegetarianism

Growing up in the United States means you were told that meat is an essential source of protein and other nutrients. The livestock industry is subsidized by our government. Vegetarians are seen as weirdos. It’s all about the beef here in the land that brought you the golden arches and hardened arteries.

Eating meat has become less appealing. I still enjoy the taste and texture of many meats, but it takes a toll on my conscience. Stories about factory-farm raised chickens and the treatment at cattle feedlots are almost enough to make me want to swear off meat. I’ve already stopped eating veal. These calves are kept in the worst conditions and slaughtered within days of being born.

Being a better steward of our Earth and vegetarianism go hand-in-hand. There are environmental reasons for going vegetarian. Did you know that:

• Eating a vegan diet reduces more carbon emissions than replacing your conventional car with a hybrid.
• Approximately 55 square feet of forest is destroyed for each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land.
• One pound of beef requires an input of approximately 2500 gallons of water.
• One pound of soy requires 250 gallons.
• One pound of wheat requires only 25 gallons.
• With the water used to produce a single hamburger, you could take a luxurious shower every day for two and a half weeks.

Activism isn’t going to turn us all vegetarian overnight. However, we can all do a little to reduce the demand for meat. A decrease in demand will not go unnoticed by the livestock and poultry industries. Fish farms do their share of damage to mother Earth too. There’s wild-caught fish, but are we fishing faster than the supply replenishes? One has to wonder.

Quitting Cold Turkey Cold Turkey

I’m not prepared to go full-time vegetarian, despite the benefits. Special dietary needs and travel don’t mix well. It really puts a damper on “souvenir dining.” I still know people in Philadelphia. There’s nothing quite like a steak from Rick’s in Reading Terminal. Mmm mmm. And what about sushi? Butter makes everything taste better. As of today, going 100% vegan is out of the question. There’s a little thing called feta cheese that’s near and dear to me.

I continue to unsubscribe from long-held beliefs on my personal development journey. Everything is on the table. What I decide to eat is also under the scrutiny of this audit and subject to change. I truly believe there is a better way.

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“Crunchy on the Inside With a Soft Suburban Outer Coating” started its life as a lengthy and thoughtfully written article. I decided to split it up into smaller chunks over several weeks. The first installment came out on Earth Day. The mid-section of this article series has expanded due to the timing of events.

Maybe you employ every gas-saving tip out there, but there is more money to squeeze from other areas in our lives without suffering for it. Some tactics even improve the quality of life.

Finally Filling Up Again

The insidious “E” light came on today as I was driving home from work. I know this doesn’t mean “Get gas now or be stranded on the roadside!” but it always imparts a sense of urgency. Besides, I spotted a screaming bargain at $3.73/gallon (15 years ago in Europe or Japan, dozens of cars would be lined up at that gas station).

I made it 27 days between fill-ups. I paid $6 more at the pump this time.

The Real Cost of Gas

Gas prices are an easy target. The per-unit cost has gone up significantly, but what impact does it really have on our budgets? Let’s examine a hypothetical (and realistic) scenario here:

The Almost-Good Old Days

• $3.00/gallon
• 25 mile round-trip commute.
• 25 MPG

Today

• $3.73/gallon
• 25 mile round-trip commute.
• 25 MPG

To keep this simple, we’re isolating the cost of commuting to work. I’m Asian and I got bad grades in math all through school. Let’s keep this simple, OK? Based on the assumptions outlined above, we have a fuel cost of $15/week in the past. At the higher price, we have a weekly fuel cost of $18.65. We’re talking about $3.65. Can you find $3.65 worth of fat in your weekly expenditures? Yes, the percentage of increase is gruesome, but what is our total expenditure increase over the medium and long term? Oh, and BTW, you can trust these figures. I’m not that bad at math.

Think Outside the Pump

I’m not making light of the budget stretching that’s going on. I also recognize that many people have longer commutes or less fuel-efficient vehicles than the scenario outlined above.

I get my share of “woe-is-me.” There’s a teenager living here. If a solution to your problem is within reach, the last thing I want to hear is whining. Enlist your creativity (or mine) and find the money you’re throwing away.

• Chances are, in a 2-car household, one car gets used more. Drive the one that gets better mileage more.
• One can of soda per day represents $10/month. Drink water instead.
• Attention smokers. Cut out 3 cigarettes a day and there’s your $15/month.
• Do I really have to talk about the oft-vilified Starbucks Latte again? Dunkin’ Donuts coffee costs less and tastes better.
• Visit my buddies Frugal Dad and Mike.
• Ride your bike instead of driving.
• Take the bus.
• Buy stuff on Amazon instead of driving to the mall.
• Stay home and read my blog.

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I admit, my results are skewed. I was without the full-time employment portion of my income strategy for 2 weeks. My current gig gets me out the door at a reasonable hour and guarantees that I can leave work promptly at the “official” end of office hours.

I’m pretty handy with the most of the Adobe Creative Suite (hint hint hint to anyone looking for freelance graphic designers). PDFs of the bus timetables and maps can be easily sliced up, organized in iPhoto, and imported to my iPod. An essential piece of public transit warrior gear can become even more useful.

Reducing one’s reliance on an expensive resource is always a smart move. Commuting by car would represent a monthly fuel cost of $64. That’s not inclusive of the total cost of driving or the personal driving that I do. I am clearly coming out ahead by riding the bus. Reducing my gas consumption to 1 tank of gas per month is a realistic goal. Taking the bus to work costs me $40/month.

Driving less also translates into higher resale or trade-in value on my car when it’s time to phase it out.

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I started this series on Earth Day last week. This is installment #2 of “Crunchy on the Inside With a Soft Suburban Outer Coating.”

Your Navigator on a Suburban Expedition

Living in the suburbs almost requires a car. Public transit spread thinner and eventually disappears as you venture further from the downtown area. This is painfully obvious in South Florida. The infrastructure was built without public transit in mind. However, I do my best to use public transit and ride my bicycle whenever I can. Two bus lines stop within a short walk from my front door. Others are accessible via transfer, a longer walk or bike ride.

Fortunately, we live in a neighborhood where a few local stores and restaurants are within walking distance. Even more businesses are within biking distance. I feel the guilt when I drive to places I could walk or bike to.

One of my top criteria for an automobile is fuel economy. I wanted a hybrid, but I just didn’t have the budget for one. If you do the math, the savings aren’t significant. You won’t recoup the difference in price at the pump over the life of the vehicle, even as prices go up.

You can’t win. The hybrid will get you halfway from New York to Boston before a Hummer gets you around the block. A conventional car may burn more fuel, but what happens to the toxic chemicals in the batteries when these cars make it to the junk yard?

Some people have a legitimate need for a large automobile. What grosses me out are the people who drive SUVs and full-sized pickup trucks as status symbols. Their sheer size requires more resources to build, maintain, and outfit with humongous tires. Ever notice that no one in a full size pickup truck drives like an old lady? How badly do you need to beat me to the red light? Do you really need to get there first? Bad driving habits burn even more fuel.

Improving Fuel Economy

Is this still linkbait or is the topic played out? Gas prices show no signs of returning to sane levels. Just do a Google search and you’ll find tons of great tips. My number one tip is to just drive less. Every day I take the bus is one more day I can put off filling up the tank.

Mike at FromMike.com is doing the “60 MPH challenge.” As you increase speed, your fuel economy goes down. At speeds in excess of 60 MPH, it drops off precipitously. I commend Mike for his efforts. It can’t be easy in a car like his. If I had a Dodge Charger, I’d be tempted to be heavy on the foot too

We’re Still Not All That Crunchy

How are we “not quite crunchy” in the car department? One of our vehicles is a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero Sport. Yes, it’s a big honkin’ SUV. I was surprised to find out how well it does considering the size of the vehicle. We’re averaging about 18-20mpg overall. Our other car (a Pontiac Vibe) does noticeably better at 25-28mpg overall. We do a great deal of suburban driving. On our recent roadtrip to Daytona Beach, we fared much better.

We all know that idling the engine burns fuel. South Florida is a brutal place to live if you don’t have air conditioning. If we’re running errands on the go, one parent and the baby stay in the car with the engine running. Why go through the ordeal of unbuckling the baby from the child seat only to strap her back in 5 minutes later?

Further Reading

• Riding My Bike To Save Money
• My Experience With Public Transit in South Florida
• Buying a New Car to Save on Gas Mileage – Frugal Dad
• How to Improve Your Fuel Economy: 23 Top Tips for Better Gas Mileage – Get Rich Slowly
  

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I live in a neighborhood that allows me to accomplish errands on bicycle and has good access to public transit. It is something I have done intermittently in the past, but have recently stepped up my efforts. Even if gas prices weren’t where they are now, I would still look for opportunities to walk, ride my bike, or take public transit.

I have a spotty record as a crunchy eco-warrior, but I do what I can. In the days leading up to and since Earth Day, I have taken advantage of several opportunities to run some errands on my bicycle.

Frugal Dad is now a bicycle commuter. I did it a few times a week. I find it silly to get in my car for anything less than 2 miles away, unless I’m hauling a large volume of stuff. Some of the easy things I’m able to do on my bike include:

• Picking up small items at the store
• Go to the post office
• Prescription drop off and pickup
• Go to the library
• Pick up movie rentals at Blockbuster

There are times when we do need to run out to the store for just one item. These are the times when a bike ride is ideal. It does take a little longer, but you’re supposed to be fitting exercise into your day, right? Why not double-dip and accomplish both tasks?

When I maintained a gym membership, I found one close to home. I biked the 4 miles each way. The 30 minutes it takes to ride my bike to and from the gym was my cardio workout. If I drove, that was 20 minutes that I was accomplishing nothing toward my fitness goals. I combined part of my workout and travel to and from the gym. This is a case where the slower form of transportation saves time.

It’s not easy to be a bicyclist in South Florida. The suburban landscape is on a scale more appropriate for cars. Anything smaller than a Ford Taurus is invisible to most drivers. Drivers here are bad about yielding to pedestrians and cyclists. If motorists aren’t watching out for you, then you need to take care of yourself on the road:

• Wear a helmet (I know, I need to take my own advice).
• DO NOT listen to an MP3 player while cycling. If you absorb only one piece of information from this article, make it this one point. Your ears are like another set of eyes. If you are riding in the street, you are technically operating a motor vehicle and bound by the same laws as automobile operators. Listening to headphones is expressly forbidden while operating a motor vehicle in many, if not all states.
• If you ride in the evening, you must have a headlight for the front and a light on the back. Check with the laws in your state or municipality. I know it’s the law in Florida.
• Wear light colored clothing. You’re only slightly less invisible. You get bonus points for wearing a reflective vest and a safety blinker.
• Do not let items hang from the handlebars. If you are doing your grocery shopping on bike, invest in a set of panniers and a cargo rack.
• Ensure your bicycle is in good working order. Inspect it before every trip.

There are downsides to cycling too, but the benefits are realized quickly, sometimes instantly. I feel great knowing that I’m taking care of myself and our planet.

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Learn More About Babywearing:

• The Baby Wearer
• Broward Babywearing
• Dad’s Adventures in Babywearing
• 21st Century Parenting

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The eco-warrior within was nurtured from an early age. Private schools did things like that, instead of just teaching kids how to pass standardized tests. I bugged my parents to turn off lights in unocupied rooms and start recycling. My choices are often motivated by this consciousness, however, the seduction of convenience puts up a good fight too.

I had written an article about my spotty track record on going green, waiting for the right time to release it. Today is as good a day as any other. This was originally one long article, but I have split it up into smaller chunks. Installments will come out weekly.

Hit the jump to read the first installment of Crunchy on The Inside With a Soft Suburban Outer Coating.

I Love Plastic Bags

They are a marvel of modern chemical engineering. Target and Whole Foods have the best bags – strong, roomy and stylish. Wal-Mart bags have a nice balance between roominess and strength. Publix (local grocery chain) bags are a plain ugly brown, but they get the job done. Perhaps it was my mother’s influence. She saved everything. She even had a system where she would separate the bags without holes from the bags that had holes. She used every free plastic bag she could.

Re-using the plastic shopping bag once is a start. Cost-conscious store owners may even hoard bags to reuse when customers request one. I’ve been to more than one dollar store that engages in this practice. The path to the landfill is prolonged for a few more days, or weeks. It’s incredibly convenient to stash a few in the diaper bag. I even fold them up like a triangle to show off mad origami skills. The Target bags are nice and big. They handle a full load from the Diaper Genie very well.

The Not Quite Crunchy Parent wrote a little piece on how she reuses plastic bags. I can knot them up really small and tight. They make great projectiles to launch at unsuspecting teenage boys. I’m sure you’ve found some clever uses of your own. Leave a comment below.

Plastic bags accumulate faster than we can use them. We recently purchased 5 reuseable cloth bags for grocery shopping. I’ve managed to leave them at the house 2 out of the 3 times I go to the store. New habits take time to develop. I like the idea of these bags. They are much sturdier and can hold a good deal more than each plastic bag.

When I do remember to take the cloth bags, I bring those plastic bags I accumulated (because I forgot to bring my cloth totes) with me so I can deposit them in the recycling bin.

Ziploc bags totally rock too. So do their store-brand brethren. You probably use these resealable plastic bags for dozens of other things besides food. I keep some in my camera bag to keep small accessories organized and to use as emergency rain covers.

Plastic for Future Generations

I wonder what happens to the trash we stash inside these bags. When these pesky parasites on Mother Earth are finally gone, will their polyethylene legacy live on? Will some future archaeologists be greeted with the foul stench of 200 million year old garbage when they accidentally puncture one of these bags?

What about breast implants? They can’t be biodegradable either. Imagine the field day that future archaeologists will have when they encounter ancient human burial sites. Why are there plastic bags filled with salt water resting on the rib cages of the females, especially in the area once known as Southern California?

We put a lot of plastic into our landfills. When humans are finally extinct, what will remain? Just as the dinosaurs died off and created deposits of petroleum, will we leave behind deposits of plastic that future miners will dig up, refine, and fashion into consumer goods?

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