Article on CharlestonCurrents.com

Carolina Commuters,

CarolinaCommuter.com and ride-sharing got a nice boost this week from CharlestonCurrents.com, the upstart online magazine based in Charleston. Editor, Ann Thrash, published a short piece I wrote on carpooling. Link: http://www.charlestoncurrents.com/#focus

To help spread the word about CarolinaCommuter.com please consider forwarding the link to your friends and colleagues and, if you would be so kind, please encourage them to subscribe to Charleston Currents - like CarolinaCommuter.com, it’s FREE!

CharlestonCurrents.com launched Nov. 3, 2008, as a new online twice-weekly publication that offers insightful community comment and good news on events, accolades and accomplishments. It’s refreshing to have a publication focus on the positive.

If you have something to say, please consider becoming a guest blogger on this blog. Also, I’ve been reaching out to South Carolina commuters through Twitter and Facebook, so if you have something interesting relating to commuting to add, please forward it to me and I will send out a tweet through our Twitter handle, SCCarpools, and add it to the CarolinaCommuter.com Facebook fan page.

Have a nice day!

Who took the cool out of the carpool?

The 1973 U.S. oil embargo was an indelible event in American history, and my own history, that spawned an era of innovation in transportation. I was only twelve at the time. Too young to grasp the extent of the hardships endured by commuters in and around the Washington DC Baltimore MD corridor, starved of their means of getting to and from work.

The 2009 near $4 per gallon spike in fuel prices was in many respects every bit as dramatic as the events of 1973. This time though, I was profoundly aware of the impact the price of fuel was having on my life and that of my family. Like so many other South Carolina commuters, I was challenged to redirect earnings to transportation costs that previously were targeted toward retirement savings, home improvements, continuing education, children’s necessities and quality of life items.

The dynamic rise and fall of the cost of fuel over the last couple of years has ushered in an era of changing attitudes toward personal transportation, inviting innovation in areas of alternative fuels, urban planning, and greater acceptance of telework. Media headlines are bulging with announcements of “Green” strategies throughout the state. People everywhere are looking to industry and government to create cleaner transportation opportunities.

Missing from conversations surrounding this most recent [immensely commercial] Green revolution is the significant impact individual commuters can make now by simply turning to their colleagues at work and their neighbors in nearby communities to organize carpools. It’s time to put the cool back in the carpool. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and regional commuter oriented websites like CarolinaCommuter.com, have made it very easy to reach out to fellow commuters.

Everyday drivers can measurably reduce road congestion and the concentration of invisible pollutants fouling air quality, today, by carpooling and using mass transit when possible. The faltering economy and the surprisingly low cost of fuel at the pumps [certain to be only a temporary condition] is no excuse for not taking action now to contribute to a cleaner and “Greener” South Carolina.

Blessings? Ours to fulfill

One of the core values that bind carpoolers together is people helping people. I recently received an email that was humbling to say the least, reminding me that starting the CarolinaCommuter.com initiative in South Carolina carries with it, an immense responsibility. Over the last year I’ve been wrapped up in the many obvious reason’s for carpooling, environment, congestion, etc. and then along comes a sincere call to share a ride that, well, hit me like a freight train, or, more honestly speaking, like a well placed and totally unexpected stomach punch.

Date: Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 8:39 AM

Subject: Re: Transportation?

Hi Nelson,

You are a blessing. I lost my sight last year. Although I am 58 years old, I was active and am not ready to sit at home for the rest of my life. In 2007 I rode my horse from Ventura, California to Magnolia, Arkansas, a total of 1528 miles, through the Mojave Desert and across the Bradshaw Mountain Range in Arizona at an altitude of over 8,000 ft. I made the ride for Stroke Awareness and The Value of Early Detection of Strokes. I tell you this only so you know that I spend my time trying to do things for others and have no intention of allowing blindness to limit my ability to continue to do that.

I spent the first five months of this year at the South Carolina Commission for the Blind learning how to adjust to blindness. When I found out that I would be blind and there was nothing I could do about it, I decided to be the best, most productive blind person I could be. Going back to school is a way for me to be productive and help others. I am leaving next Sunday to go to California for a month to be matched and trained with my Guide Dog. I am trying to prepare for classes that would start in January at Lander. I will be taking my laptop with me, so it would be fine for you to have people contact me via email. Yes, I have tried everyone I know and every possible option and have found nothing that I qualify for. Please feel free to use my name and email address in anyway that you think it would be useful. Let me say that I appreciate your initiative and if I was not blind, I would be proud to be a driver for you. Thank you for your timely response and interest in my situation. You are a blessing and a new friend I have not yet met.

With Warmest Regards,

Andi Mills

CarolinaCommuter.com a blessing? Well maybe - but only if we [you] can reach out and turn the notion of shared personal transportation into a statewide community, capable of responding to requests’ like Andi’s. Carpooling with Andi and sharing the ride with her new canine friend will likely provide an extraordinary educational opportunity, not typically taught in school.

If you or some you know may be able to assist Andi with reliable transportation to and from campus in January, please contact me at nohl@carolinacommuter.com. Honea Path, SC is located in the upstate south of Greenville near Anderson, Laurens and Greenwood.

To help spread the word about CarolinaCommuter.com's growing community you and your friends can now “Fan” CarolinaCommuter.com's Facebook Fan page, as well as, follow “SCCarpools” on Twitter. If you haven’t visited CarolinaCommuter.com recently please take a minute to re-register on the new portal.

Thank you,

Nelson Ohl

Energy Conservation – Smart Policy

“The best kind of energy, the cheapest kind of energy, the energy that addresses energy independence, energy security, and also global warming is energy not used.” Richard A. Muller during a radio interview on NPR’s Science Friday. 

I discovered Richard A. Muller while listening to a recent podcast on NPR’s Science Friday. (12/5/2008)  There’s often nothing more satisfying than having someone a million times smarter than yourself validate your thoughts.

Such is the quote above from Muller regarding my thinking on energy conservation.  Why is carpooling good?  Because it conserves energy and it brings people together.  If he had only mentioned CarolinaCommuter.com…..

Dr. Muller was on Science Friday talking about a new book that he’s written called, Physics for Future Presidents : the science behind the headlines.  RICHARD A. MULLER is professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a past winner of the MacArthur Fellowship. Physics for Future Presidents is based on his renowned course for non-science students.

To learn more about the science behind smart energy policy, check out the podcast or click the link below to learn more about the course Dr. Muller teaches that spawned the book at: 

http://fora.tv/2008/08/11/Richard_Muller_on_Physics_for_Future_Presidents

How much does it cost to build a mile of Highway?

According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, the average cost to build 1 mile of freeway through an urban area costs approximately $39 million, while a mile of freeway through a rural area costs approximately $8 million.  

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-14013-28076--F,00.html

RailestoTrails.org summarized the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Economic Requirements System’s input values for the typical costs of a variety of highway improvements, including the cost of adding a lane to an existing highway using a November of 2003 study adjusted to 2006 dollars and came up with the following values.

Input values for the cost of new construction to construct one lane-mile of a typical 4-lane divided highway can range from $3.1 million to $9.1 million per lane-mile in rural areas depending on terrain type and $4.9 million to $19.5 million in urban areas depending on population size. However, in urban areas restrictions (high cost of additional right-of-way, major utility relocation, high volume traffic control, evening work restrictions, etc.) may increase the cost per lane-mile. If restrictions exist the cost to construct one lane-mile of a 4-lane divided highway can range from $16.8 million to $74.7 million. The cost of $74.7 million perlane-mile in areas of severe restrictions may not represent the maximum cost per-lanemile and should be used as general guideline only. Individual projects may include extreme conditions warranting a much higher cost.

Link to RailestoTrails.org  white paper: http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/whatwedo/policy/07-29-2008%20Generic%20Response%20to%20Cost%20per%20Lane%20Mile%20for%20widening%20and%20new%20construction.pdf

OPEC Head: Cuts could be ‘severe’

Alfred De Montesquiou’s AP article entitled “OPEC Head: Cuts could be severe”, printed in Friday’s (12/7/08) Post and Courier was alarming. According to the article, OPEC has reached a consensus on oil production reductions. OPEC’s President Chakib Khelil is quoted as saying “The best way is to surprise them”, when suggesting reductions could be deeper than expected, even “severe”. The announcement is scheduled for December 17^th. (Happy holidays America…)

Carolina Commuters, lets get serious ourselves - serious about promoting conservation until we can retool our auto industry. Let's send our own surprise to the 14 members of OPEC, by showing them how capable we are of making smart choices. We can choose to not be held hostage by the petroleum industry, both here and abroad by taking simple steps to conserve fuel by carpooling and riding mass transit.

Here’s a movie that’ll get your motor running

If you haven’t heard about the movie FUEL, I think it may be one you may be interested in putting on your queue. With any luck, it might even come to a theatre near you.

FUEL SYNOPSIS

Record high oil prices, global warming, and an insatiable demand for energy: these issues will be the catalyst for heated debates and positive change for many years to come. FUEL is the successor to “Fields of Fuel”, which won the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. FUEL exposes shocking connections between the auto industry, the oil industry, and the government, while exploring alternative energies such as solar, wind, electricity, and non-food-based biofuels.

 

Josh Tickell and his Veggie Van take us on the road to discover the pros and cons of biofuels, how America’s addiction to oil is destroying the U.S. economy, and how green energy can save us, but only if we act now.

 

Winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival’s Best Documentary Audience award and many more. 

 

For more information about the movie visit: http://thefuelfilm.com

Watch the trailer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huUoEx9aoPQ