The New Riding Lawnmower!

Okay, okay, so I actually got this in a joke from a friend of mine about a husband who's wife wanted a riding lawnmower, so he made her one. He seemed surprised that she didn't hug him and squeel for joy. But if someone made ME one of these, I would! It's awesome! Maybe we can start a new bike-mower fad and sweep the nation. I would maybe stop bitching so much about people watering their lawns if they used this kind of 'riding' mower. Maybe.

Also on my mind today, new cars. Chrysler is coming out with an awesome looking line of electrics, featuring a sports model, a luxury sedan, and my fave, the Jeep Wrangler. I have a wonderful vision in my head of a quaint little garage with my little electric jeep sitting out front, and a windturbine on the end of the roof where the old fashioned tv antennae used to be. Ah, a picture of America, as I'd like it to be. I'd wash my jeep in the yard so the grass would get watered and use only biodegradable soap. And hey, by the time these cars hit the market, proposed in 2010, I might be able to afford one. Of course Dodge said the Charger was coming out for YEARS before it happened...only time will tell.

At the other end of the spectrum I was appalled by a Cadillac commercial the other day touting the fact that their new Escalade Hybrid got a whole friggin' 20 mpgs! Wow. Twenty. You guys seriously need to step it up. It hurts me every day to drive my gas-guzzler. Help me get away from the pain, people.

Lazy update! The blogger is ill and incapable of cognizant thought. What do I blame for my poor health? Cigarette smoke! I never used to get sick until I was living full time with a smoker! Now go back to the article on Clean Coal (not) and think about it some more! In the meantime, here's a hopeful little snippet from my latest SierraClub e-newsletter.

As Carl Pope wrote in a recent blog entry: "What a four weeks!" Congress and the Obama administration continue to deliver a steady stream of environmental milestones.

The best environmental good news came in response to economic bad news: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains approximately $80 billion in funding for promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, and higher-mileage cars.

Specifically, that means:

• $25 billion for energy efficiency
• $20 billion for renewable energy incentives
• $11 billion in grants and $6 billion in loans to modernize the electric grid and increase its capacity to deliver power generated by renewable sources, and
• $17.7 billion for mass transit, Amtrak, and high-speed rail.

The significance of this funding for putting America on the path to a clean-energy economy can't be overstated.

The Obama administration also checked off another item from the list of "Clean Slate" actions that the Sierra Club suggested before the inauguration, when EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson indicated that the agency will likely change course and begin regulating as pollutants the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. (Reconsidering an EPA clean-car waiver to California and other states was the first. See below.)

Then, just this week, a years-long stalemate on mercury emissions appears to have broken after the White House Council on Environmental Quality issued a statement saying, "The United States will play a leading role in working with other nations to craft a global, legally binding agreement that will prevent the spread of mercury into the environment."

Let's hope the good news keeps coming from Washington, D.C.

Yes, lets hope, fingers, toes, and eyes crossed! Just don't try to drive like that.