Diamond-Cut Life

More Joy, Less Stuff

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Entries Tagged as 'cars'

When Cars Are Like Condoms (Or, Why I Love Transit)

September 16th, 2012 · 2 Comments · entertainment, money, transportation, urban-rural divide

Bright, sunny skies today in Montreal, Canada, where I’m enjoying a car-free* vacation with my husband Thor. We chose Montreal partly because it has the luxury of a good transit system. In rural areas and small towns, which I also love to visit, cars

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How To Save Money On Gas, 2011

June 5th, 2011 · No Comments · money, sustainability, transportation

The bad news is that gas is back to $4/gallon. But the good news is that we have choices: we can spend less on gas by changing the way we drive. This is an updated version of my much-visited 2008 post. Happily, we reduce our carbon emissions when we drive less, inch closer to energy [...]

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The Pleasures Of Pedicabs

June 19th, 2009 · No Comments · health & well being, lifestyle, transportation, work

Yesterday afternoon I alit at the Amtrak station here in Portland, heavily laden with my laptop, book-bag and purse. It would be quite a trudge to where I needed to go. What should conveniently appear at the curb but a pedicab, pedaled by a lovely young woman named Margaret? Margaret, who leases her pedicab from [...]

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Ten Things You WON’T Find On This Site

June 15th, 2009 · 1 Comment · lifestyle, work

1.) Ads. Don’t want ‘em. I’m jonesing for readership, not dollars. 2.) Hatchet jobs on anyone or anything. I’m here to be constructive, not tear things down. I’ve angered some people with some measured criticism, but at the same time I’ve suggested a positive path they might consider taking. I’ve even rewarded someone who took [...]

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Saving Up To $12,384/Year Via Vanpooling

June 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment · community, energy, health & well being, lifestyle, money, sustainability, transportation

Watching General Motors going through its tortured downsizing, bankruptcy  and reinvention of itself makes me think of how bloated our relationship to cars here in the U.S. has been for decades.  (And I wish with all my heart that every laid-off employee will find a new job soon.) What all of us need and have [...]

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Twenty Ways to a Simpler, Happier Life, Part I

March 31st, 2009 · No Comments · food & drink, health & well being, home & garden, lifestyle, simplicity, sustainability, transportation

My pursuit of the Diamond-Cut Life (a life rich in joy and low in consumption) still leaves me plenty vulnerable to the excesses of U.S. culture. I love finding little inroads to simplicity and happiness like the ones I’ve listed here. I’ll publish the second half later this week. Gracefully end memberships that are no [...]

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The Poverty of Hyper-Individualism

March 17th, 2009 · No Comments · community, lifestyle, relationships

I notice that my most popular posts are generally the ones that help people save money. I suggest that the thing that would save all of us the most money possible is the building of community. There is much research showing that the happiest people are the ones with the most friends, family and friendly neighbors woven into [...]

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Top Ten Tips For Carpooling, Part I

January 23rd, 2009 · No Comments · money, simplicity, sustainability, work

Coming up on my one-year anniversary in my carpool, I recently wrote a post about how it is saving me $6,800/year according to this cost calculator. (I have a 100 mile round trip, and five carpool partners). I’m also saving a lot of carbon emissions, and arriving at work and back at home sweeter and [...]

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Rethinking Cars And Public Health

December 3rd, 2008 · No Comments · health & well being, lifestyle, simplicity, sustainability, transportation

I have another thought or two on the proposed bailout of the American auto industry. Then later this week I’ll be reporting on desalination, the increasingly popular, carbon-intensive transformation of ocean water into drinking water. While acknowledging that job loss in the auto industry (or anywhere) is extremely painful, let’s take a step back and [...]

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Fate of the Automakers: The Lady Or The Tiger?

November 18th, 2008 · 3 Comments · energy, transportation

My carpool has naturally been discussing whether the government should bail out the Detroit automakers. The bailout question reminds me of the short story “The Lady Or The Tiger” in which a woman decides which door to send her lover to, i.e. death or a new life with a new lady. Carpool opinions may be [...]

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