'Going Green'

[Scott Fleming]

Nearly impossible to say what I'd like to say without getting political ... so I'll hint.

My grandfather was green when green wasn't cool. Conservation was cool however and I never met a farmer, grandpa was a farmer, as were three of my uncles, who did not love and respect the land. Same goes for a lot of Americans. Most I reckon.

It is true that all of us have needed some educating over the past couple decades on how to take better care of the planet and we have responded. I don't have to delineate the changes we all have made. Anybody over forty knows them. Intimately.

But it seems that the 'Environmentalists' are never happy. Well, they want too much.

RVing is tremendously easy on the environment. Especially full-timers. What is the difference between heating and cooling a 320 sq ft motor home or fiver compared to a 3200 sq ft sticks and bricks? I suppose if you drag it down the road 3 to 6 hundred miles a day ... every day that would be resource wasteful. But who does that?

And even if they did ... its their money, and their right to spend it as they please. This concept that we all need to gear our lifestyle to some collective idea of what is and is not responsible (within established law) ... is not the American Way. (ok that's as political as I will get)

If the enviros want to go after somebody for wastefulness why not pick on boaters? Now there's some gas burners. You can stand over the carbs on those twin Merc bass boats with a five gallon bucket and just pour it in. But still. Its their right if they want to pay for it.

It just plain offends me that anybody might suggest I owe somebody, anybody an explanation about my lifestyle and what I do with MY resources that I paid for with MY hard hard earned money.

[Scott Fleming]

Nearly impossible to say what I'd like to say without getting political ... so I'll hint.

My grandfather was green when green wasn't cool. Conservation was cool however and I never met a farmer, grandpa was a farmer, as were three of my uncles, who did not love and respect the land. Same goes for a lot of Americans. Most I reckon.

It is true that all of us have needed some educating over the past couple decades on how to take better care of the planet and we have responded. I don't have to delineate the changes we all have made. Anybody over forty knows them. Intimately.

But it seems that the 'Environmentalists' are never happy. Well, they want too much.

RVing is tremendously easy on the environment. Especially full-timers. What is the difference between heating and cooling a 320 sq ft motor home or fiver compared to a 3200 sq ft sticks and bricks? I suppose if you drag it down the road 3 to 6 hundred miles a day ... every day that would be resource wasteful. But who does that?

And even if they did ... its their money, and their right to spend it as they please. This concept that we all need to gear our lifestyle to some collective idea of what is and is not responsible (within established law) ... is not the American Way. (ok that's as political as I will get)

If the enviros want to go after somebody for wastefulness why not pick on boaters? Now there's some gas burners. You can stand over the carbs on those twin Merc bass boats with a five gallon bucket and just pour it in. But still. Its their right if they want to pay for it.

It just plain offends me that anybody might suggest I owe somebody, anybody an explanation about my lifestyle and what I do with MY resources that I paid for with MY hard hard earned money.

[Clay L]

I had a snippy comment from a self styled green policeman once and did a little research and a few calculations.
As you said we are pretty darn green. My post in another forum some time back follows.
One thing that has changed since I first posted it is that we are using much less gasoline because we only go to the east coast once every three years now instead of every year.

My Post:

We use fewer resources than we did when we lived in a stick house even though our motor home gas mileage is 7 MPG. The Honda does good- about 26 MPG average and we put less than 4000 miles per year on it.
Our numbers:
12 gallons of water per day versus 160 to 200 gallons per day for two people - average use. (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/qahome.html#HDR3)

We use about 1500 gallons of gasoline per year.

Our sewage outflow is about the same as water useage (13 gallons per day)versus 160 to 200 gallons per day for the average two couple household.

250 KWH of electricity per month versus 500 to 1000 KWH average for two people.

About 200 gallons of propane per year - would be less but we spend a couple of months in CO in the fall with family and use the furnace some there.
I used close to 1500 gallons of fuel oil per year to heat my 3600 square foot house in NH and at least 1500 KWHs of electricity per month. We put about 4000 miles per year on the car versus 14,000 when we had the house.

The fuel and propane we use is offset by the fuel oil we used in the house. Water and electricty are quite a bit less, so it would seem to me that we are using considerably fewer resources in the motor home than we did in the house.

[Scott Fleming]

EGGS ACKLEY !