Trying to be (more) environmentally friendly=hard

I'm going to be in Palo Alto for something in March. I made the room reservations yesterday, and figured I'd decide how I was getting there (train/plane/which airport) later; I did have the presence of mind to check now to see which airports evrental had cars at. The answer is.....



none. Just like they pulled back out of Pittsburgh foiling my plans to rent one here while I was between cars, they apparently also pulled out of northern California. Oh well.

Check out future forests. If you feel like doing something about your emissions, they've got a carbon calculator that tells you how many trees you need to plant (which you can buy from them -- they'll plant them and give you a certificate) in order to be carbon neutral for that journey.

I've got three trees now, which is nowhere near enough for me to be carbon neutral, but it's a start...

Now, THAT is a great initiative !! Very cool !

Indeed! I just wish they had a few forests in the US... It looks like they are trying to start a US affiliate...

Check out future forests

A transatlantic flight releases as much carbon dioxide as is taken up by two whole trees in 99 years? If that's true then it's amazing. It's not clear though whether they mean that my flight costs two trees, or whether the whole plane's flight does. If the latter, I owe only a small branch...

Peter

Apparently it's per person per flight. BBC News have an artcle on it.

I can't believe y'all believe that shit. They're just trying to make money. It's not gonna save the world.

Actually, the things I want to do about my emissions are:
1) electric car. I have it, I just need to get it titled
2) more efficient internal combustion car. needs a tune up but I'm up to 31mpg highway from the last ~25mpg car.
3) geothermal heat pump. if any of the people would ever give me a quote on installing one I'd borrow the money (there are financial incentives available) and be on the way to that. I had someone come out and check out my house for it last year, and I'm still waiting for a quote.
4) photovoltaic array on the roof. I figure after the heat pump.

FWIW, I found several possibilities. One place with 2 "downtown" San Francisco locations will rent Priuses. I'd probably need to take BART there if I flew into SFO, or took the train into Emeryville.

Another possibility is Toyota dealers with car rental programs. One is practically adjacent to SJC. There's also one I could probably get a cab to from Emeryville.

So I need to finalize my plans and then figure this out.