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Letters from Our Readers: Winter 2010
Auto Abstinence
I heartily applaud Thomas Mallon for giving up driving, and for doing so decades ahead of the curve. But I was disappointed that his essay, "The Day I Hit the Brakes" (Fall 2009), discounted the benefit by quoting Chris Goodall on how it takes more carbon to produce food calories for walking than a car produces by driving. The solution isn't to just stay home, he adds, because, quoting me, "the average home pollutes more than the average car." The solution I suggest isn't to avoid staying home; it's simply to stop wasting so much energy there. My Carbon Footprint Calculator gives the details: michaelbluejay.com/carboncalc
Michael Bluejay
Austin, Texas
Thomas Mallon responds: My inferences and frustrations about the seeming trade-offs were meant to be more comic than strictly literal. I'm all for walking, and all for freedom of choice when it comes to staying home or going out. (Same when it comes to having children or eating meat.) Like most people, I could do better in just about everything.
I Can't Bear It
Your article "A Dream of Bears," by Rick Bass (Fall 2009), made me cry. What a beautiful glimpse of life in the Pyrenees, and what a sad view of the plight of their bears!
Elizabeth Buchen
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Ivy League
Covering vertical walls with live greens seems like a good - and certainly creative - idea, but "Climbing the Walls", doesn't say anything about how it is done. Is there more information?
posted online by Steven Leighton
The editors respond: You can probably find answers to all your questions at the artist Patrick Blanc's Vertical Garden Web site: verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com
Is e-crossing comparable to recycling?
E-crossing defined:
A pedestrian choosing not to cross a busy street but waits or plans the cross when fewer or no cars need to stop.
Just imagine the tons of vehicles that pedestrians stop at cross walks that could be avoided if people are aware of the alternative.
I often do this, just go to the next crossing, maybe even cross with a light and other cross traffic. The amount of fuel needed for that group of stopped cars to get back up to speed would be the same as recycling how many plastic bottles?