I’ve been pondering a greener lifestyle these days. I’m not sure if it’s a result of making the jump to hippyspace (we just moved to Oregon) or if it’s merely a growing consideration for my pocketbook, but I’ve really started caring more about the environment. Christians have for so long been fatcat consumers, exhibiting an elite sense of entitlement syndrome. We rant about “those tree huggers” as if they’re the ones messing up our lives by opposing the legislation we care about when in fact we’re probably more guilty of carelessness than they are. Sure, care about unborn babies and the protection of family, but don’t do it at the expense of everything else in the world.
Okay, OFF MY SOAP BOX! I’ve got Green Driving Tips people and I’m gonna share them!
First and foremost, SLOW DOWN
I’m guilty of this one the most. There is a growing interest in a practice called “hypermilling” also called “hypermileing” which essentially means driving your stock car in a way that increases its fuel efficiency significantly. The numbers don’t lie folks. I’ve encountered some claims that people are driving their Camry rated at 28mpg with more care and reaching mpg’s in the 40′s. WOW! So how does hypermileing work? Here are the basics:
- Slow down! Okay, we covered that, but seriously; Driving slower and keeping your RPMs in the 1500 – 2500 range whenever possible increases your fuel efficiency considerably. One of the biggest culprits is those jack rabbit starts from the red lights we’re so tired of stopping at. Get over it! Learn to leave a few minutes earlier if you need more time instead of gunning the engine to ludicrous speed just to get there 2 minutes earlier.
- Keep tires inflated properly. Poorly inflated tires create more resistance on the road which takes more umph to push along the road. You can get even more gains by inflating to max pressure or just a tad bit over but I’m not going to fully recommend that. Tires inflated too much can will give your car less traction when you need it and can increase risk for bursting so keep it in the limits.
- Reduce air-conditioning use. If you’re one of those people who turns the a/c on at the first sign of any warmth, chill out! Air conditioning systems sap a lot of juice from your car’s engine reducing your fuel efficiency by a whole lot. Consider cracking the windows a bit and enjoying some fresh air. Girls, I know you hate it when your hair gets all blown around, but seriously… buy a brush. (Just kidding! You’re beautiful, you know you are!)
For more helpful tips, here are a few resources to get you started:
- http://www.cartalk.com/content/eco/tips.html
- http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/how_to_green_your_car.php
What does this have to do with Christianity or reaching the lost?
One word people: credibility.
The world dismisses us and our Jesus because we demonstrate so frequently that the only thing we care about are rules. We consume, consume, consume, turning our greed into piles of trash and landfill when what we should be doing is caring as much or (God forbid) MORE for the creation he made than those “tree huggers” who frustrate us so much. Care about people, feed the hungry, care for the widow, be a role model to fatherless children, cry when a muslim child dies for no reason, weep at the plight of the tibetan people who are so oppressed by communist China. People matter. When we start loving them more than the world does, we’ll start being “Christ like” and the word Christian won’t be such an aphorism to the world any more.
Now I’m going to shut off my power sucking laptop and go outside. The sun is still shining on this home He created for me and I don’t want to miss a minute of the glorious.
