{"id":4001,"date":"2008-12-31T14:43:29","date_gmt":"2008-12-31T20:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4001"},"modified":"2008-12-31T14:43:29","modified_gmt":"2008-12-31T20:43:29","slug":"2008-a-year-of-transportation-ups-and-downs-2009-a-year-of-freshen-resolve-to-drive-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/2008-a-year-of-transportation-ups-and-downs-2009-a-year-of-freshen-resolve-to-drive-green\/","title":{"rendered":"2008: A Year of Transportation Ups and Downs 2009: A Year of Fresh Resolve to Roll Green"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As is tradition, a new year brings extra cause for moments of introspection. It’s a time to plot goals for what’s ahead, partly based on self-assessment of how we handled the year that’s just passed.<\/p>\n

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For me, one aspect of the environment-minded life stands starkly clear from the rest: personal transportation.<\/p>\n

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From time to time, since joining the sustainablog team in August, I’ve written about my varied ways of getting ’round town. Now that winter has set in and I’ve made another recent adjustment or two, I realized I’ve built a list of wheels through the last 12 months. Each has had its distinctive impacts.<\/p>\n

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Toyota<\/strong> Camry (1992).<\/strong> I began the year with what had been a $200 bucking bronc of a repair project-turned-reliable commuter. I began January getting 25+ miles per gallon driving a minimum of 70 miles per day in the Camry, and finished the month with a new job that required only driving five miles each day.<\/p>\n

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Bicycle.<\/strong> As winter gave way to spring, I parked the Camry as many days as I could muster the motivation to ride a bicycle<\/a> that brief commute to work. This was the peak of my green year, having ridden my bike hundreds of miles over dozens of days spanning several months.<\/p>\n

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Volkswagen Type 2, camper bus (1973).<\/strong> Also as the seasons in St. Louis warmed and softened, I got my VW named Boio <\/a>out of the garage, and sold the Camry. When I didn’t ride my bike, I drove Boio, getting a less than shiny rate of mileage.<\/p>\n

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Though I once spent a summer driving<\/a> him around the United States, getting around 23 mpg, I speculate my city driving was getting closer to the high-teens. That, no doubt, offset my efforts to create benefit via bike \u2013 or maybe my bike riding offset the damage of driving an emissions- and mileage-challenged machine.<\/p>\n

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Honda Civic (2008).<\/strong> The highlight of my automobile year came with the purchase of a gleaming new Honda Civic. It had fewer than 20 miles on it when we bought it. As I’ve blogged about before, we’ve gotten 40 mpg<\/a> on the highway, and my wife, who is the primary driver of the car, gets more than 30 mpg around our home metro area.<\/p>\n

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Now, for a recap before hitting the sad punchline\u2026<\/p>\n

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In 2008, I’ve experienced personal transportation via:<\/p>\n

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