The RV Life and the environment

[4X4Dodger]

As we lumber around the landscape in our monstrous sized Class A's, huge Class B's and C's, 3/4 Ton Diesel Pickups towing that Long Long trailer and converted Buses are we as a group a blight on the Environment?

My bet is that Full timers are actually net energy SAVERS. But only if they do not keep a house in addition to the RV.

If you live in your RV then you use less of almost everything, water, electricity, and maybe even petroleum.

This came to mind from another post on the wasting of paper and trees on this forum.

When you live in a small space whether it be a Trailer, MH, Sailboat or Tiny House (think Tiny House Nation)you learn to conserve. If you flush the toilet in your house it pours about 4 gallons of water down the drain. Here in my RV I probably use less than a quart per flush.

We reuse or re purpose many otherwise Throw-away articles, like paper and plastic bags.

Since we got our PMB our junk mail has stopped almost completely as most senders have now programmed out almost all of the PMB addresses. We do almost ALL of our banking and financial tasks online. Therefore a HUGE amount of paper is saved.

Right now the US is awash in petroleum. In fact they cant find enough space to store it all. We are for the first time the largest oil producer in the world even over Saudi Arabia. But this wont last. We all still need to be aware of how we can all save energy, in all it's forms.

We all need to encourage the RV industry, Parks and GSE to conserve and become more energy efficient.

I would like to see GSE take the lead on this. When companies conserve they make more money...and we all know how much Marcus likes money.

[dave54]

csamayfield55 wrote:
..., yes millions of acres of public land off limits to everyone due to the sage grouse! A bird they can't even prove is in any real harm!...

Chris

I want to know what wine goes best with grilled sage grouse. 🙂

[csamayfield55x]

Durb wrote:
We should all know that the RV lifestyle we love will be short lived relatively speaking. Free movement on our roads and access to our natural wonders will be severely limited in the future by the Fun Police. Environmental protection will be the excuse, high taxes, closures and restrictive regulations will be the methods. We have seen it in many pastimes such as snowmobiling and boating. The Fun Police just can't stop themselves. It may not happen in our lifetimes but it will happen.

Our future generations will long for the freedoms we have to travel and enjoy this country.

Get ready because they are all ready trying to make millions, yes millions of acres of public land off limits to everyone due to the sage grouse! A bird they can't even prove is in any real harm! All it is is a scheme to Co tool more

Chris

[Cummins12V98]

thirtydaZe wrote:
Yep, seriously, this green scheme is a scam. Im proud to see so many who love freedom, and arent buying what big government is selling.

I completely agree!

[wnjj]

Naio wrote:
See what I mean, about people imagining that someone is trying to take things away from them?

Did you miss the "have seen" part? That to mean reads as past tense, not imagination.

Durb wrote:
We have seen it in many pastimes such as snowmobiling and boating.

[westend]

What is a "green scheme"?

[thirtydaZe]

Yep, seriously, this green scheme is a scam. Im proud to see so many who love freedom, and arent buying what big government is selling.

[westend]

mpierce wrote:
Carbon dioxide IMPROVES plant growth. The more CO2, the faster plants grow. The faster plants grow, the more oxygen they release, as they convert CO2 to O. Pretty much self regulating.

I bought a 25 yr old MH. Dont think the energy used to build it counts, as, it was used, even if the MH just sat in a junk yard.

Plants also use oxygen in the respiration cycle. The faster they grow, the more oxygen they will also use.

Given the alternative---no plants, we are a heck of a lot better off having as many as possible.

Congrats for participating in the best use of resources, the three "R's"----reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Edit: I've also got to give some thought to what Naio has said. There are reasons for the resistance to being environmentally sound on a personal level.

[mpierce]

Carbon dioxide IMPROVES plant growth. The more CO2, the faster plants grow. The faster plants grow, the more oxygen they release, as they convert CO2 to O. Pretty much self regulating.

I bought a 25 yr old MH. Dont think the energy used to build it counts, as, it was used, even if the MH just sat in a junk yard.

[et2]

Government is the biggest waste of resources, natural and not. Not RV'ers. Let's start there. If they had their way we'd all live in government approved shoe boxes clustered in designated area's. RVing would not exist. Family size would be regulated.

I'm spreading my footprint where ever and when ever I can.

[Naio]

See what I mean, about people imagining that someone is trying to take things away from them?

[Durb]

We should all know that the RV lifestyle we love will be short lived relatively speaking. Free movement on our roads and access to our natural wonders will be severely limited in the future by the Fun Police. Environmental protection will be the excuse, high taxes, closures and restrictive regulations will be the methods. We have seen it in many pastimes such as snowmobiling and boating. The Fun Police just can't stop themselves. It may not happen in our lifetimes but it will happen.

Our future generations will long for the freedoms we have to travel and enjoy this country.

[Cummins12V98]

Byrogie wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
The 4 gallon toilet you mention has not been used for many years. Any modern toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush.

Let's not forget the water does not disappear we still have the exact same amount as ever!

I have a LARGE RV and LARGE truck to pull it with. I also have a LARGE house and LARGE shop to house my fuel consuming toys. I apologize for nothing!

I do have a Motorcycle now, it's NOT to save fuel it's for fun.

There is a huge amount of natural gas and oil under the soil in this Country that has no visible end. As time goes on there will be other methods created to power our lifestyles.

Oh yea you plug in people that think they are zero emissions, what about the impact on the "Environment" just producing the vehicle? Oh yea let's not forget when plugging in you are either using power generated from Natural gas, EVIL Coal, Killing Salmon with Hydro or OMG Nuclear power!!! There is a minute amount of power generated from wind and solar but they also consume natural resources to manufacture. Problem wind mills kill birds and solar is only good for a few years. The last two mentioned only produce a spec of the total power produced in this country. They are mostly feel good resources.

Use what you want and need just don't be wasteful.

Well said!

Thank you!

[myredracer]

I hear there's a hockey game on tonight.

In the meantime, there's probably some "discussion" on ST tires or payload capacity over on the travel trailer forum that'd less um, volatile... 😄

[westend]

Problem wind mills kill birds and solar is only good for a few years

I don't believe this is quite true. The bird thing is definitely an urban myth.

If you're comparing the life of a solar module to the reserve of natural gas, sure, there is a longer life expectancy with gas. That doesn't make solar a bad choice. It's just less expensive for a utility to use what's in place rather than capitalizing alternative manners of generation.

As resources become more dear and expensive, there will be a change to alternative manners of generation.