Slower Starts: It Needs To Be A Life Model

There is more to life than increasing speed.

Gandhi

Mercedes has just put me over the top with one of its commercials. It illustrates how its SUV has been tested to scale the vertical rock face of Yosemite, churn out of desert sands, and squeal, spin and skid 180's like police officer driver school. This is to reassure the buying public that the vehicle is field-ready for calm and safe family driving. The ending fade shows the SUV driving quietly and comfortably down a country road into the sunset.  (Updates @ end of this post)

The supposed intent of the commercial? "We build strong and safe vehicles."  The requisite sales message? "Wait till you see what this baby can really do!!" 


Think acceleration.


Along with many other facets of life, we are obsessed with getting there faster.  The destination; the unobstructed endpoint.  


But, the thing that gets in our way is the stopping en route. Stopping messes up our trips. It interrupts the momentum of getting there. There might be repeated stopping during a series of errands. There might be stopping to drop off one passenger at a soccer field before picking up another at school before the end of the game at the soccer field. Construction, pedestrians, dropping off the video, Johnny has to pee, need to get gas, school bus has its red lights flashing. And, the most frustrating enemy of momentum seems to be the legally regulated stops, like octagonal signs and red lights and toll boothes. (Got EZPass?) Honestly, stopping becomes a holy irritant in the journey to destination. Witness road rage on clogged freeways. 


Slow down. Not your velocity: Your life. 


How do we handle this annoyance of loss of momentum?? We accelerate quickly. In an attempt to make up for said stop(s), there is this need to recover time and regain speed. (Acceleration, of course can mean either the increase in velocity or the decrease in velocity.)

Fast acceleration can be an impatience issue. Impatience can frazzle concentration and rational driving skills, and lead to greater instances of knee jerk decisions and driving error. If the flow of accelerating traffic is uneven, faster accelerators may and do become even more impatient. Watch out.  


Quick acceleration is a large fossil fuel issue because more gasoline is used in a shorter amount of time and distance. To begin forward momentum of a vehicle from a standing stop takes lots of work/energy; hence fuel to power the engine. (It can take 20 percent more fuel to accelerate from a full stop than from 5 miles per hour.)*


Advocates of fuel-efficient driving have always taught that you anticipate traffic lights ahead of you to decrease the amount of accelerating from a full stop. Ride the "green wave," not the jack rabbit.  If you let up and slow down to arrive at an intersection as the light is turning green, you have a better chance of simply cruising into lesser acceleration while consuming less fuel. Driving easy. Driving with energy in mind.

Now, I grew up in the early '60's listening to Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys and Ronny and the Daytonas.  Cars, speed, and, especially, acceleration.

"Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out,
GTO!"
             "GTO"  Ronny and the Daytonas

"My fuel-injected Stingray and an XKE,
Revving up their engines and it sounds real mean."
             “Shutdown”  Beach Boys

"We both popped the clutch when the light turned green,
You shoulda heard the whine from my screamin' machine."
            "Deadman’s Curve" Jan and Dean

"When the flag went down, you could hear rubber burn,
The Stingray pulled me going into the turn."
            “Hey Little Cobra" Rip Chords

"Burn up that quarter mile…"
            "Drag City"  Jan and Dean

It was an age of drag racing on tracks and off.  Fuel injection. Drag slicks. Hurst shifters. I was enamoured as a kid and that power and noise has stuck with me to a certain degree. How fast can that thing get off the line? And dragging wasn't new at that time. There was James Dean and small town races after sundown in the 1950's.


We still obsess with over-acceleration as an act of strength, superiority, unquestioned testosterone. Admit it, there are moments of acceleration angst when waiting for a green with a dozen other cars. How will I respond in the rush of the green?  Are the others in distain of my Prius? Will someone use their vehicle to vent a frustration at the intersection?


Racing and acceleration are not taboos, of course. It's a natural human activity to race. A key to racing is the acceleration off the blocks. Run, swim, ride a horse, ski, paddle, bike.  But racing with fossil fuels needs to be harnessed relative to the rationing of oil. (I won't even reference oil rigs in the Gulf.) Constricted vehicular usage will be a norm in the future. The earlier we consciously change small habits, the sooner we model for future drivers. The ones watching us. 


Slowing down the lifestyle, BTW, can't hurt…


~ ~ ~ ~ 






I'm tracking television car commercials that reinforce unnecessary and wasteful acceleration…they're on the increase; a sick paradox.   (This is a tough assignment, as I don't watch much TV)

6/9/10:  Lexus
6/10/10 Cadillac
6/12/10 Jeep Grand Cherokee
6/21/10 the reincarnation of the muscle car (?): Mustang
7/31/10 Chevrolet Corvette
10/31/10  Nissan JUKE "Sport Cross"
11/8/10  Mazda 3i Sport
11/9/10  Hyundai Sonata Turbo
11/18/10  Cadillac CTX
2/6/11  Chevy Camero, Mercedes, BMW
2/10/11 Dodge Journey, Caddy CTSV Coupe
2/11/11 Range Rover Sport, Infinity QX
2/12/11 Saab 95, Kia Optima
2/21/11 Dodge Journey and Dodge Charger (major emphasis)
2/21/11 Mustang continuation
3/2/11  CT Lexus Hybrid
3/3/11  Dodge Durango
5/20/11 Mercedes (major)
6/9/11 Cadillac; Mazda
6/17/11 BMW 6 Series
6/21/11 Buick Regal Turbo
7/20/11 Cadillac; Mercedes
7/24/11 Nissan; Range Rover
7/28/11 Infiniti
8/11/11 Dodge Durango
9/15/11 Dodge Ram 1500
9/22/11 BMW
9/25/11 Mazda Speed-3
10/2/11 Cadillac CTSV (new MANUAL trans to improve acceleration- Seriously?)
10/5/11 KIA Optima - (the high speed/braking sideways routine)
10/31/11 Toyota Camry
12/22/11 Cadillac
12/22/11 BMW ("Drive Intelligence"?)
12/27/11 Mazda
1/12/12   BMW 5 Series Sedan
1/15/12   Lexus IS
1/20/12   KIA Optima again
2/1/12    Cadillac SRX
2/2/12    Jaguar
2/10/12   Infinity
2/15/12   Mazda - obsene
2/23/12   Lexus - extreme obsene
2/27/12   Accura TC
2/29/12   BMW
3/1/12     Do you wonder why we increasingly jeopardize the climate? Corporate irresponsibilities to fossil fuels, like these…
3/2/12     Chrysler 200
3/2/12     Mazda - dredging up speed from the good 'ole 50's & 60's
3/3/12     2013 Lexus  -  flaming/screaming acceleration
8/18/13   Cadillac SRX ("North America's Car of the Year")
9/25/13   (these have shown up as a pack in the past couple weeks!)
              Mercedes CLA
              Dodge Dart II  (?!?)
              Lexus
              Range Rover (still slicing up and dominating nature…)
              BMW X1
              Volvo 
8/14/14  Still at it!
              Ford Pick-up (obscene)

Modifying Behaviors One Blue Moon At A Time

We finished this year with a blue moon. I watched this full moon rise into clear cold skies while driving from Chicago to Madison on New Year’s Eve. The snowy fields below glowed.  

The blue moon has a number of symbolisms. The most popular defines it as the second full moon within a calendar month. Our lunar months, of course, roll past in 28 day cycles. So it is rare when a second full moon sneaks itself in - every 33 months or so. 


I believe it auspicious that we had this blue moon on a New Year’s Eve, a time for resolutions and thoughts about the coming year. And because “once in a blue moon” implies a longer time period - longer than your typical New Year’s resolution- it’s timing gives us a chance to think even further ahead on our global citizenly responsibilities.

Ecologically, what would we like to have personally accomplished three years from now? How will we have reduced our carbon footprint or use of natural 

resources? What would we like to be able to report to our students in 33 months about changes we have made to become a better steward of Earth?  What will we model?


I'm not referring to the simpler green actions such as switching out light bulbs or turning off the tap while brushing teeth or using our own mug at coffee shops. These are, for sure, all necessary parts of the range of small acts that point us collectively to resiliency.  

However, we need to begin changing our behaviors at a higher plain. That is the level where it takes more thought and personal re-tooling to achieve results.  It takes some life-style changes over time- maybe even up to the next blue moon.

For instance:

*  EcoDriving:

 Regardless of the car we drive we save fuel, cut emissions and feel more relaxed by driving easy.  It involves, among other techniques, slow accelerations, anticipating lights, feathering the gas pedal on grades, and planning a little more time to reach destinations.  This takes quite a change in driving habits. Simply driving the posted speed is a huge start.  Driving easy may often be frustrating as others roar on around us as if perpetually late. Be patient.

* Composting:  

Throwing kitchen scraps into a compost bin in the back yard yields lots of rich soil supplements and decreases the power and water needed to run our garbage disposal. Old habits die hard on this one. It’s so easy to throw egg shells and lemon rinds and slimy vegetables from the fridge “down the drain.” Yes, we need to have a container on the counter that fills with waste. Yes, we need to frequently -including winter - take this container outdoors to the bin. But the composting habit will reward us with recycled organics and savings in resources.

 * Water Harvesting:  

It is amazing how much water rolls off the roof during a storm.  Fifty-five gallon barrels fill quickly when the gutters and downspouts do their jobs as feeders.  Free, clean water.  Ready to be used on the garden, washing the car and filling the bird bath.   

True, using tap water and the hose is convenient, but this is expensive and precious water.  It has been pumped and purified and pumped again by the city to get to your tap.  Using rain barrels to catch roof run-off preserves ground water resources and the expenses necessary for delivery.  

If we commit to ever greater resilient behaviors in our own lives we'll be better prepared to pass them along to the kids who will need them in the coming decades.

One blue moon at a time.