I had a lot of time to think yesterday as I rode/drove some 260 miles from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The occasion: the 25th annual LOTOJA bicycle race.

What struck me was the sum total of the environmental impact we were generating. You see, there were 1,000 riders, some from Jackson, most were from the Logan/Salt Lake City area. The point is that every participant was dependent upon a support vehicle to either get to the race, or get home.

For arguments sake, let's say there were 1,000 vehicles involved in the race as well. The race itself is 208 miles, but the support vehicles have to take a round-about route over the first half of the race to relieve congestion on the roads; my odometer says my car was driven 260 miles yesterday.

Do the math: 1,000 riders x (208 + 260) = 468,000 miles driven by race related vehicles this weekend. That's the equivalent of one vehicle circumnagivating the earth 18.79 times!

I don't recall seeing any Prius's on the road, but I did see a few Hummers and lots of SUVs. Again, for arguments sake, let's assume the average fuel efficiency of all the vehicles involved in LOTOJA is 15 mpg. According to TerraPass, that means we generated 610,397 pounds of CO2 and consumed 31,200 gallons of fuel … all in the name of sport/recreation.

To be sure, I'm as guilty as everyone else. And I've already made my motel reservation in Logan for the night before the race next year.

The point of this post isn't to judge the event or its participants. I merely wanted to explore the environmental impact of the kinds of events we all largely take for granted. Whether they are point-to-point bicycle races, trips across the state to take the kids to a soccer game, or journeys into the woods to ride ATVs and snowmobiles, we Americans really do create a huge impact–all in the name of fun.

If there's a bright side to this story, it's that you can participate in LOTOJA as a relay team with from two to five members. I competed with a friend and we "carpooled" …

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Popularity: 15%

A year ago, I wrote a post titled State of Denial, which took advantage of a nifty New York Times feature that allowed one to search the State Of The Union speech to see what terms or phrases were used by our feckless leader. In today's recap of last night's speech, the NYT ran a sidebar called The Words That Were Used, but there was no search capability to enable further analysis.

Left to my own devices, I quickly turned to Gristmill and Reuters for perspective on what Bush had said about climate change and related efforts to stem the warming.

As you would expect, David Roberts is on top of things at Gristmill with a post titled Robust SOTU Debunkery.

Reuters, on the other hand, saw the glass as half full, covering Bush's commitment to promoting clean energy technologies and fight climate change through a $2 billion investment over the next three years to a new international fund.

Let us create a new international clean technology fund, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources.

Of course, even the Reuters piece couldn't avoid the conclusion that:

Unlike last year's State of the Union message, there was little in Bush's speech this year calling for a major overhaul of U.S. energy policy.

Some would say that's because Congress just passed major energy legislation — I'd say it's because the lame duck is still convinced that "aspirational targets" are the way to go.

Too bad the NYT word finder didn't have search capability this year. I would have loved to really compare this year's speech to last year's speech.

Popularity: 27%

So said the headline in yesterday's Jackson Hole News & Guide. Here's a link to the story. Too bad the N&G didn't post the five complementary stories it ran in the print edition, but kudos nevertheless to the paper for taking a broad look at the issues we face, and some of the initiatives underway to reduce energy demands in our mountain valley.

If I can ever find my way back to the path of regular blogging, Carbon Neutral Journal readers will hear a lot more about a couple of those initiatives — particularly the effort to launch a community wide 10 x 10 effort to reduce energy use and trash generation by 10% by the year 2010.

In the meantime, read the N&G Story about us energy pigs, visit ZeroJH to calculate your localized carbon footprint and see how you rate compared to the per capita estimate of 37 metric tons of CO2 emissions per Jackson Hole resident. And, while you're visiting ZeroJH, consider the impact of what the calculator tells you, identify areas where you can conserve, then buy offsets for what you cannot conserve.

Popularity: 28%

Wyoming Republicans held their caucus yesterday in Casper (Wyoming Democrats will hold their caucus on March 8). All in all, it was pretty much a non-event as only Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter garnered any support, with Romney capturing eight of 12 delegates.

What about Huckabee, Giuliani, Paul and McCain? None but Ron Paul even campaigned in Wyoming during the past year.

So what does the caucus outcome tell us about Wyoming Republican priorities? Not much at all, though it's safe to assume that Romney's support for domestic drilling didn't escape notice in this resource rich state.

Popularity: 20%

Months ago, I wrote a post about a human powered gym in Hong Kong, and ended with a rhetorical question –  what would it take to convert my home trainer into a source of electricity?

Well, yesterday's Bike Bits, Adventure Cycling's biweekly e-newsletter, had the answer to my question. For all you DIYers out there, here's a link to a website with free plans and instructions for building your own bicycle powered generator.

Not being much of a handyman, I don't expect I'll jump right on this project, but I'd love to hear from any readers that do.

Popularity: 21%

Given the fact that I've belabored the "which car should I buy" discussion — all year long, and as recently as last Saturday — I'm just going to provide a link to the most popular stats post of 2007. (By the way, this post was actually rated the most popular post overall.)

1. shopping for a vehicle

The second most popular post of 2007 was this:

baseline stats for our household

2006:
2 people
1 car driven 17,213 miles
4 bicycles ridden over 5,000 total miles
1 person didn't fly, the other took two airline trips (1 domestic, 1 international)
1,500 square foot home heated with electric baseboards and a natural gas fireplace
1 energy-sucking sauna
18,170 kilowatt-hours
354 therms (converts to 10,370 kilowatt-hours)
=====
28,540 equivalent kikowatt-hours total energy use

0 blocks of Green Power or carbon offsets purchased

Here's an update of our 2007 stats:

2 people
1 car driven 15,500 miles (10% less driving)
5 bicycles ridden over 5,000 miles
1 person didn't fly, the other took one domestic airline trip
1,500 square foot home heated with electricity baseboards and a natural gas fireplace
1 energy-sucking sauna
17,802 kilowatt-hours
228 therms (converts to 6,678 kilowatt-hours)
=====
24,480 equivalent kilowatt-hours total energy use (14% less total energy use!)

5 blocks of Green Power to ensure all energy use is renewable ($17.50/month)

100%  offset of driving and flying miles through TerraPass purchases ($80 annual car pass, $9.95 flight pass)

3. aluminum vs carbon fiber bicycle frames

4. spending $25 to save $67.29 per year

5. status quo won't do

Carbon Neutral Journal's stats are brought to you by Blue Spruce Cleaners.

Popularity: 18%

I know it's only five days until Christmas, but here's a tip for folks who have yet to decorate their tree — or are tired of the tree topper they've used for years.

Time Out London is offering downloads of alternative Christmas angels, like the one pictured below. Sure they're a bit different, but, hey, they're free!

Carbon Neutral Journal's tips are brought to you by nuts & bolts.

Popularity: 8%