Last night, my wife and I attended a talk about Taking Action on Climate Change, featuring Jackson Mayor Mark Barron and Glenn Prickett from Conservation International. Speaking to a packed house of 80-100 folks, Barron recounted Jackson Hole's conservation legacy (the subject of a future post), while Prickett addressed the two key questions about climate change:

1. is it real? (yes)
2. and can we do anything about it? (of course)

Prickett cited three major sources of CO2 in the atmosphere:

• electrical power generation (25% of the problem)
• deforestation (20% of the problem)
• transportation (13% of the problem)

Which got me thinking: in our household, transportation accounts for much more than 13% of our contribution of CO2 into the atmosphere. In fact, now that we've signed up for 100% green power, the 7.45 tons of CO2 our driving contributes to global warming each year equals about 75% of our problem!

What to do? Maybe it's time to consider buying a hybrid?

Two recent new stories echo that thought. The first story that has been making the rounds claims that Priuses Lack The Cachet They Had At First, citing President's Day sales that feature zero percent financing and rock-bottom prices to move excess inventory. The other story promotes an IntelliChoice.com survey that finds Hybrids Cost Less Than Peers Over Long Term.

Hmmm…cost savings AND carbon emission savings–how can you argue with that? While a Prius might not meet our needs on road trips (what's the point of negating the hybrid and aerodymanic efficiency of a Prius with a bike rack full of wind resisting bikes?), it might make sense to explore something like a Ford Escape Hybrid?

Stay tuned.

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