Is a green car trip an oxymoron?  On one hand, I feel like I drive an ULEV (ultra low emission vehicle) and Good Magazine’s recent infographic about cost per mile made me feel a lot better about my little gas sipping Civic.  Nevertheless, being green while you travel is tough, you’re either buying bottled water because you can’t take it through security or you’re worrying about the emissions coming out of your tail pipe.

This question/worry came to mind because at some point in PA I80/I76 West has all these signs on it that say “Green Route.”  A quick google search told me that this really is just a route that is green, but I kept thinking how ironic it’d be to have driving routes for the “eco minded driver.”

I didn’t do myself any favors though, I spent the trip listening to the audio book of Paul Robert’s The End of Food.  Thus, by the time I pulled over for my first gas-pee-and-snack stop I was paralyzed with liberal guilt.

Listening to this book while driving through literally HUNDREDS of miles of corn fields actually drove the point home (no pun intended).  I think Roberts is right that Americans, and probably the West more generally, have started to fetishize farming and cooking to the point where we don’t feel a sense of connection to preparing our own food.  Of course, this all gets awfully close to the foodie/liberal/locavore mentality that annoys me, and Roberts points out that eating local is a) hard to define and b) not always better for the earth.  The book did terrify me into not eating meat for… a while, or maybe just fish.

The information that astounded me was less about the unsustainability of the global food chain, which is shocking but wasn’t new to me, and more about the lack of regulation by the FDA and other international organizations.  I was also amazed to hear all the statistics about just how heavily US corn is subsidized and what this has done to the rest of the agro-economy.  During my time in SD I want to learn a little more about Ethanol…

The book isn’t perfect.  There were some arguments that simply rehashed what is, now at least, pretty common knowledge in the environmental movement. 

Anyway, after 11 hours of listening to some pretty horrifying statistcs and stories I was ready to swear off meat and sell my car.  Instead I just made sure to refill my water bottle (instead of buying plastic), try to order what seems like it’d be low-ish impact food at roadside restaurants (though who knows if that’ll do any good), and drive with cruise control to optimize MPG.  I know, hardly ideal.

The book is well worth a read (or a listen) if you can handle the guilt inducing aspect.  I think it’d be fair to describe Jon as a skeptical environmentalist, I sort of see myself as a paranoid and reactionary environmentalist.  I’m glad that the place I’m staying in SD has a veggie garden, at least it’ll be one less thing to worry about!

Notes on my time in SD and with Planned Parenthood will be here soon, I promise.  Today is my first day at PPSD and also my 25th birthday– wish me luck!