You don't have to buy a Prius!

Green/sustainable living are hot topics these days and there's no shortage of resources advising you on the best products to save energy. Almost all of them involve buying something which to me is both typical of our American society - give me a pill to make the pain go away - and ironic because it encourages more consumption.

What seems like a much better way, to me at any rate, is apparently too simplistic or not sexy enough to warrant attention: take public transport to save money, reduce gas consumption, reduce air pollution, increase fitness, reduce health care costs and look better? No way! What I need to do to is to buy something - I have to go out and conquer; I cannot sit at home and reuse what I already have.

Hence the Prius popularity - let me show everyone how concerned I am about the environment by spending a boatload of money, instead of taking some much better, more effective, but less sexy steps. Even Chelsea, the city I live in, has jumped on the Prius brandwagon, for Parking Enforcement in spite of a low tax base and very small size: According to Wikipedia, Chelsea is 2.5 square miles - it would be a lot easier for all concerned if parking was enforced on foot, but no, that's not good enough. We have to buy a Prius and then keep it idling while we go checking cars for resident parking stickers.

Thankfully, I've seen at least Cambridge seems to have some parking enforcement done on foot. The entire Boston area is so small and dense that this could be done in many other areas. And maybe some day we'll see some meaningful steps taken in this direction, apart from playing to the gallery.