This holiday, and year-round, you can affordably and easily calculate your travel carbon footprint, or choose from preset options based on miles traveled. Whether you’re traveling by car, train, bus or plane, you can calculate and offset your carbon footprint. Also, learn how you can reduce the carbon footprint of your travel with these energy saving tips.

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Rather than your usual Ford Crown Victoria, their entire fleet is made up of Toyota Priuses getting an estimated 50 miles per gallon.  They also prove that going green doesn’t have to be expensive.  They have prices that are cheaper than the top three cab companies in Phoenix.

“We believe that going green isn’t something you do – it is something you are,” said Steve Lopez, Founder of Clean Air Cab.

In addition to taking care of the environment, Clean Air Cab has programs that protect their local community.  Arizona State University students can call Clean Air Cab’s Free Ride Back program to get a cab to take them home if they have been drinking and can’t drive themselves. In the morning, they call back and a cab will pick them up and take them back to their car for free.

People in the Phoenix, AZ metro area can book a Clean Air Cab taxi online at www.CleanAirCab.com or by calling 480-777-9777.

Check out Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® logo on the back of each Clean Air Cab!

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4.5 million tons of junk mail goes out yearly, of which 44% goes straight to the landfill unopened and unread.

This amounts to 100 million trees being cut down each year to produce that junk mail.

Taking the ability of 100 million trees to clean the air is like putting 480,000 more cars on the road for a year (or not being able to clean the air of 480,000 cars worth of green house gas emissions for a year)!

These numbers don’t even account for the manufacture, transport and printing of the mail. It simply covers the cost of losing 100 million trees.

Most of us don’t like receiving this mail – that’s why they call it junk mail. But obviously there’s an economic reason for companies to send large amounts of unsolicited mail that goes unwanted and unread. How do we stop this onslaught of wasted energy and lost trees?

How about getting your name off the mailing lists? In a shameless plug for our nonprofit partner 41pounds.org, I’d like to suggest taking advantage of their services. They get your name off the lists preventing the mail from coming, saving trees, and reducing the nation’s carbon footprint.

There’s a lot more to do to reduce our footprint, but this is one great way to take action today!

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When shopping for a rental car, be sure to look into Avis’ ECO-RIDE fleet, featuring the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, and Ford Escape hybrid vehicles. All three offerings are EPA certified SmartWay™ vehicles and have proven to be amongst the best environmental performers. Driving on unfamiliar roads is an easy way to get lost and Avis’ where2® GPS Navigation system can help keep you on the right path to ensure you take the most direct and fuel-efficient route possible. Additionally, the Avis eToll system allows you to use automated toll collection lanes, the use of which can help cut tailpipe emissions greatly.

Best of all, Avis Budget Group and Carbonfund.org have partnered to provide you with a way to offset the emissions from your rental car. By clicking here, you can offset your rental for one day, one week, or one month. We know you can’t always avoid driving to get where you need to go this summer, so we hope you’ll join Avis and Carbonfund.org to “Reduce What You Can, Offset What You Can’t” for your travels.

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Carbonfund.org was on location in Washington DC’s Union Station, where the packed family-friendly event featured musical entertainment by Randy Jackson, face-painting, model train exhibits and an interactive eco-exhibit educating parents and children alike in Amtrak’s environmental initiatives.

In addition to partnering with Carbonfund.org to enable passengers to offset their rail travel, Amtrak is a charter member of the CCX and has committed to reduce emissions by 6% from 2003 through 2010. On the technological side, Amtrak employs regenerative breaking to conserve energy, uses bio-lubricants in its hydraulic systems and promotes its auto-train to get cars off of America’s busiest freeways.

Check out National Train Day’s Moving Green page for more information on Amtrak’s environmental commitment.

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How would we get groceries without a car? How would the kids get to school? How would you get to work? What about that weekend getaway — impossible without your car.

The good/bad news is that this isn’t your fault. Since the 1950s, America was built with the car in mind and it is realistically impossible to function without an automobile in most places. But this is really not a good thing.

The negative implications of a car-centric society go far beyond the global warming pollution that comes out of all of our tailpipes. Cars in my view are responsible for or contribute to:

• Diminished local air quality, especially in urban settings, that cause respiratory problems and disease
• Traffic accidents and deaths
• The urban heat island effect
• Obesity by facilitating inactivity
• Stress and road rage
• Urban noise pollution
• Money out of your pocket every time you have to fix that alternator or power windows or that O2 censor (what the heck is an O2 censor?!?!)

But what is the answer? How can we fight global warming, improve community health, and greatly increase our quality of life? Proper planning and smart growth.

Smart growth is a development principle that encourages compact development and incorporates public transportation, walkable commercial centers, and bikeable streets.  With smart growth, most things that you need like groceries, restaurants, hammers, and nightlife should be no more than or short walk of transit trip away.

There are successful demonstrations of smart growth cases out there, like Vauban, Germany, where the entire city has been planned to be a ‘car-reduced’ city. In Vauban, over 70 percent of the residents don’t own cars because they don’t need to (and the streets are car-free). This city of 5,500 is living proof that a better way is out there, and that giving up your car(s) doesn’t mean giving up your quality of life.

In order to properly fight global warming the way we need to, the US needs to incorporate smart growth principles in all new developments. This, in my humble opinion, should be done through a variety of carrot and stick measures:

• Federal funding for transportation should be equally balanced between automobile, transit and bikeways/walkways. Currently highways get way more funding than any non-car transportation
• Smart, compact development should be required where practical — like in say urban and suburban areas
• Things that make transportation alternatives easier should be encouraged — like secure, covered bicycle parking and showers at your office, and safe bike lanes on the street
• People should pay the real price of parking that incorporates the cost of maintaining streets, traffic lights, traffic police, etc.

As we wait for our transportation systems to catch up with our 21st century needs, catch a bus or bike when you can. It will help you fight global warming now, feel better, and be part of the solution.

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Across the Washington region, a few residents have embraced eco-friendly living with a fervor that makes Al Gore look like an oil company lobbyist. They give up everything from furnace heat (too many emissions) to store-bought meat (too much factory farming) to plans for a second child (too much of everything, given the average American’s environmental impact).

But for the people who have to live with these enthusiasts, this much green can sometimes be hard to take.

Most of the actions that people are taking are in response to climate change, the greatest environmental challenge of our generation. Their responses, in my humble opinion are justified and part of the wide range of actions that people should be taking to reduce their carbon footprint. While I may never save water from my showers, as one man mentioned in the article does, I don’t see why conservation efforts like that should be considered extreme.

I find it to be interesting that this article focuses on the few people that may be doing too much, as opposed to many who aren’t doing nearly enough. Just like everything in life, some people are going to be more into a given action than others. For example, some people paint their faces to attend a sporting event, others wear their team’s cap and jersey, others just show up and drink a beer. Are any of those fans extreme? No, but they represent the spectrum of people interested in the team.

Comprehensively fighting global warming will require all kinds of people. People who want to do everything they can, and people who are just now willing to take the first step. Now is not the time to split hairs on what could be deemed practical actions; rather- now is the time to embrace diversity and work on ending global warming together.

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