new EPA Initiative

[coastie]

EPA Announces New National Initiative to Reduce
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Improve Air Quality


http://www.epa.gov/epahome/headline_011003.htm

edited link

Originally published January 10th, but re-published due to industrial support. This new initiative is similiar to the one proposed in 1998 that didn't get enough press to make much of a difference. However, this is a voluntary commitment. Keep in mind that the consumers ultimately run industry... and in this situation, we have the power to really make a difference.

This is a common sense approach to reducing green house gas emissions in the US, and it is a huge start. Rather than just just targetting commuters and guilt-tripping consumers over green house gas emissions, they are targetting bigger businesses, specifically those that use a great deal of highway transportation.

Main objectives:

-Idle Time Reduction
-Improved Aerodynamics
-Improved Freight Logistics
-Self Inflating Tire Systems
-Driver Training

What we should do...

Write to major trucking companies and businesses asking them to consider this Initiative.

Some suggested businesses:

-McDonald's
-Wal-Mart
-Chevron/BP/Shell
-Union Pacific
-Greyhound
-Public services (i.e Public Utilities) via the City or County representatives.

get involved!

Zach

 

[coastie]

As a side note... a couple of years ago I read an article from McDonald's about why they switched to recyclable materials for the food packaging.

Their analysts figure that every time they get a letter from somebody complaining, it represents close to 10,000 people opinions. McDonald's has several million customers every year. They received somewhere around 300 letters from customers asking them to switch to recyclable materials and, to McDonald's executives, that represented 3,000,000 people, so they did it...

That is how easy it is to change things and make for a better environment.

Food for thought.