Environment

This is one that I love – Google hiring out goats to take care of their lawn.  It’s such a simple solution to keeping large grassy areas well trimmed.  I’ve seen these guys in San Francisco making quick work of a small field.

What was really pleasing was the munching sound – surprisingly audible from a distance, but much better than the roar of a lawnmower.

I am a huge fan of traveling by train.

Growing up outside of New York, we had an extensive rail network that we could take advantage of.

After college I took my first large (more than 1-month) trip abroad -the fairly typical Eurpoe by Eurorail.  I loved how the trains there could get you into just about anywhere you wanted to go.

Years later, traveling to Japan I was amazed by the Shinkansen service and its ability to swiftly carry us across the country.

All that said, for years I commuted to work via train here in California and the experience was pretty poor.  The train took much longer than driving and I needed to drive to the train station (or double my commute time by taking the bus to the train station) and I had to have  a shuttle take me from the station to the office and back.  And when the train broke down, it really left you stranded.  I arrived 4 hours late for work one day.

Which is why this map makes me excited.  It depicts the high-speed rail systems that are proposed over the coming years here in the states.  With the right experience, train travel can be so much better than the alternatives.

A few examples?

• How about departing and arriving into the heart of the city instead of commuting out to the airport.  Have you ever tried to get to O’Hare during rush hour?
• What about an overnight trip from New York to Atlanta with a comfortable bed.  Leave the city after a nice dinner and drinks and arrive for breakfast after a good night’s sleep.
• Downtown San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 hours?
• Boston to New York in speed and comfort – even during a wicked Blizzard or Nor’Easter.

I hope the system gets the funding that it needs and that Americans realize the benefits and convenience of an efficient, comfortable rail network.

Here’s a pretty cool illustration that shows how much water it takes to get through the average day.  Their implication is that everyone is in the left categories and we could benefit from everyone shifting to the right.  Of course the reality is that most of us are somewhere inbetween, and there are some aspects over which many of us have little control (like where our power is generated).

Still, I like the graphic (from GOOD magazine) and I like how it makes clear just how much water some items require (coke compared to water, beef compared to chicken (or better yet, the salad)).

With the water levels the way they are in California this could become more and more relevant as the years progress.

My car rolled over 65,000 miles today.  That’s not a particularly significant number (I tend to like the palindromic numbers myself) but it did make me think to take stock about where I am with this car.

In 2001, fresh out of a job, my 1993 Isuzu Trooper was in need of repair- and after a few years of questionable reliability, I decided it was time for a replacement.  I bought the Nissan Pathfinder for a decent price (I thought) of about $35,000 (including tax, title, and all that other bullshit).  After getting more than 5k for the Trooper, I was driving home in my first ever brand new vehicle.

In that first year of ownership, I drove the car 14,000 miles: On one trip alone I drove from San Francisco to Joshua Tree to Seattle and back.  Did I mention that I wasn’t working?

In the years since, my driving scaled way back.  For starters, I have a job now – I’ve had a few in the past years.  In those years I haven’t worked further than 15 miles from home and in the last 4 I’ve worked downtown – no driving to work!

I was fortunate (and disciplined) enough to pay off the 5 year loan in about 3, so I haven’t had any car payments for the last 5 years.  That has been awesome.  I hate making payments.

And, being fairly meticulous with paperwork, I’ve got a full record of all of the work that I’ve had done to the car: normal routine maintenance; replaced windshield, new tires, smog checks, etc.,  Including the initial purchase price of the car (but not including interest charges as I don’t have that recorded, or insurance as that’s all wrapped up with the condo and motorcycle..) my cost of ownership to date has been $39,750.  Ahh. one more thing – that doesn’t include gas.  I reliably get a lousy 17 miles to the gallon.  let’s see…. 65000… 17 .. let’s assume $3 average (that’s high for sure) 3823 gallons of gas .. $11, 470.  Wow.  25% of my ownership costs have been fuel.

That’s definitely higher than I would have expected, but part of that I have to chalk up to the fact that (knock on wood) I haven’t had any major issues with the car so far and I’ve also elected to keep driving this car, rather than replacing it every 3-5 years like so many others would be tempted to do.

Today the Kelley blue book value is listed at $9,500.  Who knows if anyone is even buying these cars these days, but that’s not really important as I’m not selling.  I intend to drive this car hopefully for another 8 years which will hopefully only double (or less) my current mileage.  If it can last even longer I’d like it even better.

As an environmentalist I’d love to have a car that gets better gas mileage – but at this point am I a better steward keeping an older car and not creating more demand for more manufacturing or would I be better off doubling my fuel efficiency.  I’m not sure.

Despite rising gas prices, despite the economy,  I like having an SUV – it matches the driving I typically do (when I’m not driving to Sacramento…).  I take it to the mountains loaded with people and gear.  For me, the ideal scenario is to supplement this car with a smaller “city” car.  And of course, by city, I don’t actually mean a car to drive around the city as I HATE driving in the city – I prefer walking/public transport.  A city car is one to take on those big grocery shopping days, or to visit friends on the peninsula, or to haul the mountain bike on a sunny Saturday.

But for now, the Pathfinder does just fine.

Another in a great series of podcasts..  This one from the Commonwealth Club and a talk given by Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO.

Schmidt talks about the opportunities that exist when looking at green technologies.  It is incredibly encouraging to hear him speak – to see business leaders embracing the true opportunities that are out there.  He’s not talking about the environment, he’s not talking about climate change, he’s talking about money and opportunity – language the will resonate with even the staunchest old-school industrialists.

And by the way, it helps the environment, national security, job creation, the economy and so many other concerns that cut across so many American demographics.

Could we see this kind of innovative thinking coming to fruition in the near future?

Listen to it here or subscribe to the commonwealth club on iTunes