Green driving or riding need not be an expensive affair. As in all things sustainable and eco-friendly, the prevailing misconception lies in the cost: it being unaffordable to most. "Eco" for ecofriendly could and also should mean "Eco" for economical.
I invite everyone to get the latest issue of TopGear Philippine Edition Magazine---it's their 5th Green Issue!
The magazine has articles for the fans of fast cars, luxury cars, thrifty and efficient cars, hybrids, electric vehicles, new tech and concept cars.
Just a few I could highlight are:
pp. 65 Nature Trip:
"these cars were all driven until they ran out of fuel. We were getting bored with typical economy runs"
pp. 72 Optima Hybrid
pp. 76 Nature's Karma
"Fisker's sporty sedan will forever alter your perception about hybrids"
pp.87 Endurance Race
"The Focus proves it can have fun and save fuel simultaneiously"
pp.18 Posh Plug-In
"Electric Rolls Royce Phantom 102EX ushers in a new age of pointless petrol-free luxury for ecocentric rich folks"
pp. 20 Jaguar C-X75
"Jaguar puts its hybrid jet car into production. Only with a 1.6 liter turbo..."
pp. 22 Style Review
"Brian Afuang meets the first offshoot of the Toyota Prius's growing family..."
pp. 25 Shell Eco-Marathon
pp. 34 Gear Head
"The Ford Group Philippines president talks about his growing company's green direction in the coming years."
pp. 38 A Day in the Life
"Botchi eats veggies instead of meat, plants flowers, and unplugs his appliances to show us how to help the plants."
pp. 86 Our Quest to be Electric and Looking for a (Tax) Break---a look at the hybrid vehicle's long legislative journey in the country.
These I read immediately upon seeing the title and caption:
pp. 98 Menaces to Clean Air: Motorcycles may be more harmful than cars. Ferman Lao explains why.
pp. 99 A Beginner's Guide to Hybrid Drive
And if I could share some excerpts from the most enlightening illustrates stat page, THE BIG PICTURE:
"If a mature tree can absorb 21.77 kg of CO2 per year, it would take 718,285,472 trees to absorb the combined CO2 of cars, SUVs and utility vehicles in the Philippines---and that does not even include motorcycles, buses and heavy trucks."
"Average Price of Unleaded Fuel from the big 3 for the past 5 years: January 2006, P35.38...January 2010, P44.86...June 2011, P55.54"
There's much more to interest and educate everyone.
Wait, after finishing my reading, I, myself, am wishing STILL there would be more options for the economical variants of the eco-cars. Not that there aren't any; there's just more good choices for the expensive variants. Aspirational --- that's a term often used in marketing. Aspirational --- it could also be a fitting term to most green drives (at least for the moment).
Learn Green. Ride Green. Live Green.
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WORD FROM THE SPONSOR
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebews 13:5
