Have you changed?

[Lisa Newton]

Even though the price of gas has been decreasing, have you changed your driving habits?

Are you walking more, or riding your bike? How about taking public transportation?

Personally, I don’t think the world’s “oil crisis” is over.

High prices will probably return. With the recent changes in energy costs, I’ve felt better-- both for the planet and for myself--by taking the bus and walking more.

How about you?

[Debbie Petras]

Since my husband and I both work from home, we share one car instead of each having our own. It takes some coordination at times but it seems to be working. I also try to do all of my errands on one trip instead of driving to the grocery every day. I check the flyers for coupons more than I used to do. And I try to remember to keep reusable bags in the car especially when I shop at Trader Joe's.

[Marie Cooper]

I wish I could walk or ride my bike to work. I used to when I was a new nurse and I worked in a long term care facility six blocks from my house.

Unfortunately now I work 30 miles from home and, in addition, my job requires me to be on the road. Public transportation isn't an option for me.

Plus, with Multiple Sclerosis my mobility is limited now. I can't ride my bike anymore because of problems with balance and I can't walk very far before I run out of steam. Pretty discouraging, both personally and environmentally. :(

I do think twice before I go somewhere besides work, which I never did before.

[Merry Kammerer]

We live in the country so we can't walk or take a bus. However, we are now more careful about trips to town and are keeping a running list of needed items handy so we don't ever waste trips.

[Passionate Green]

I personally do not drive at all. My husband owns a car, which he uses mostly just for work. The next car he buys will probably be a hybrid. I live in a small city, so luckily I am able to walk to do most errands. My husband and I usually take one trip each week to run errands I can't do on my own. We are homebodies the rest of the time!

In other words, our driving habits have not decreased because they were already fairly frugal to begin with.

The oil crisis is definitely not over, and I know that the high gas prices will return ... it sure has been nice watching them drop over the past few weeks though, hasn't it? ;-) -PassionateGreen

[Alyssa]

One day a week I'm able to drive to work (I work part-time, at different gyms).
We desperately need to find clean, alternative fuels. We should have started investigating 40 years ago, but here we are.
Hubby and I definitely do less driving than we used to, but with 2 kids, we still drive a lot.

[Dianne K.]

I always was a thrifty shopper.I am not driving with my own car for gas ,but we use husbands work vehicle more than before. My change in the food choices have changed as I get closer to my 50th Birthday,& I want the second half of my life to be healthier then my first 50 years.As a child my 2 sisters & myself never played sports or had any hobby as kids.WE had little money growing up....BUT we did play outside as a kid unlike kids now a days that have computers & video games .Thanks goodness for sport games like Wii.for some folks..I don't have a Wii but think I want one!
I go to the YMCA 6 days a week ,but today Sunday I didn't go because I feel kindof crappy in my throat as it is
dry and I can only suck on so many lozengers at exercise & feel motavated at best.So I will be 5 days at the Y this week,unless I make a real effort to go this rest of the week. I am on jury duty this week & tomorrow I was supposted to have orientation but my number was not needed ,so I will see what Tuesdays brings.I hope I don't need to go cause it is an all day affair~NO THANKS~

[Chuck Bartok]

The normal cycles of the Economy have never affected our Lifestyle.

If walking is Good for you, it is, regardless the Price of Gasoline.

If cost of Living increases, just earn more money.

The Joy of a Life in YOUR Control!
So easy to do when YOU DECLARE your Tur Authentic Self
and APPLY Massive Action

Thank you for your wonderful site

[Aran]

Sadly, not really. I would love to use Public transport more, if we had any. I live in a very rural area with very little of it: our nearest shops are 1/2 hour away by car and the buses don't run at convenient times for school etc: a distinct lack of co-ordination in fact! The railway closed years ago - there was a station at our village back in the 1960's. We really rely on our cars here in fact I could not earn a living without one and the price rising to £1.20 just meant that we had spend more money on fuel - sometimes during the summer up to £120 per week! nearly 30% of our weekly income. My goal is to develop my business so that we no longer have to go anywhere to work if you follow my drift that would be really cool! so I am going to head on over to Chuck's page right now...

[Thomas Bailey]

For the past 20 years, I have been riding my bike. I have biked to San Francisco (40 miles one-way) 21 times. I have biked to Hollister (60 miles) once, Gilroy (40 miles) 3 times, to Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Oakland, and Sausalito once each. I once walked to Redwood City (15 miles one-way) and back.

[Steve]

I think we should always be aware and thoughtful of our driving habits. As far as the price of gas, although I believe it will likely go back up, we should look at the bigger picture and look at the price of everything else as well.

For instance take a look at the relative price of EVERYTHING and compare to that of say 20 years ago. Although I find the gas prices quite intolerable, I think you will find many other items, (ie. vegetables, milk, bread, etc) that have outpaced the price of gas over this same period, If you take your monthly income and then apply a percentage against everything you buy you will find that the price of gas is really not that far out of alignment with everything else. It is just more in your face because of the signs that get posted in big letters at each gas station.

I challenge someone to prove me wrong on this. If you do your research on the internet, you won't have to spend a penny on gas.

Steve

[Susan Richards]

Good morning all. In response to your inquiry, Lisa, about using other transportation other than our car, I'll have to say that we have not used public transportation nor do we ride bikes or walk to where we want to go. I do agree with you that our oil "crisis" is not over. We are all subject to what the big oil Barons want to do and when to do it. What we have done is not travel around our city very much. We stay in the neighborhood mostly to do our shopping, eating, and enjoy our leisure at our club which is just minutes away from the house. Since my husband and I are retired, we really don't have a reason to use the car very much. We also have a home business, so we don't have to get in the car and travel to work like a lot of you still do. Living in N.C., we are paying some of the highest gas prices in the nation, and we are so annoyed with it. What we don't do is buy gas from the big oil companies. We always buy from an independent gas company.

Take care, and have a nice week. The weather in N.C. is beautiful.

[Craig Maltby]

Hi Lisa:

Here in Iowa, gas is now $2.37 as of this morning. Unbelievable compared to just a couple months ago. I agree. This is not going to endure. I've heard some say that a lot of speculators have left the market, hence, the temporary price drop. But the global demand picture will still be an increasing one.

My wife and I now try to carpool when we can. Her office is only a few blocks from mine (after a 20-mile commute), but with our daily off-site meeting/lunch demands, carpooling is not always doable every day. We also live a half mile from the supermarket, so we walk there whenever we don't have $100 worth of food to buy.

I also drive 65 mph on the freeway, and get sucked up by everyone. But, I don't care. Just crank the radio louder.

Craig

www.balancedimmunehealth.com