Living with just one car …
We filmed a short video with a Masters student at UW about what it’s like to have just a Nissan Leaf as our only car. It’s been really great, as I wrote about earlier. But now we have a nice documentary video about it as well! Enjoy.
All Electric
Just over a month ago, Mary and I sold our two cars and went down to a single car: a Nissan Leaf–an all electric car with a 100 mile range. On the one hand, this might seem kind of crazy. 100 miles isn’t very far, after all, and if you turn on the A/C or the heat, the expected range isn’t even 100 miles. But after a month of driving, we’re really happy with the choice. A lot of people have asked questions about what it’s like, so I thought I’d devote a blog post to it.
Why we need a strong Pierce Transit
In case you haven't noticed, gas prices are up almost $0.40/gallon over this time last year. And it's possible that they will reach the same level as the summer of 2008. If you remember back to that summer, people turned to the bus in record numbers. And then in September the collapse of sales tax meant that right when people needed transit the most, Pierce Transit had to cut service. If we don't pass the sales tax for Pierce Transit in two weeks, we might be looking at the same scenario only much, much worse. Gas prices will be near Read more…
Zipcar is considering eight cars in Tacoma as a pilot project. I’m glad it’s being considered!
A pilot car-share program with Zipcar might be headed for downtown and Pierce County’s major universities. Diane Wiatr of the City of Tacoma said Friday that the city, the University of Washington Tacoma, the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University are negotiating on separate tracks with the Massachusetts-based car-sharing company to bring eight cars here by the fall. via blog.thenewstribune.com
Lawn Be Gone! The lawn is toast and the urban garden is a growing.
The lawn outside of our little four-plex condo building was postage stamp size–maybe, 12' x 14' or so, plus a narrow parking strip. I never thought about it much, as it was rather useless. No one ever hung out on it for picnics, people watching, etc. And it was way to small to play on. But recently, the condo association budget started to hurt, and it didn't take much to realize that we were spending an inordinate amount of money on landscaping. And the reason was: lawn care. It cost a lot of money to have someone come out to Read more…
“The Cove”
The Cove, a documentary about a dolphin slaughter in Japan, was a difficult movie. On the one hand, it's a testament to the power of film. The footage obtained is powerful. Powerful enough to actually stop the slaughter. And it's shot like a Dirty Dozen mission or Ocean's 11 heist, which makes for an interesting movie. But on the other hand, I am extremely wary of documentaries that have a particular cause. And this movie is a good example. Take it's use of Paul Watson as a "talking head", a man I generally think has crossed the line past activism Read more…
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