MarkChristopher's Blog

I would like to know other peoples opinion on the Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (R)

Please blog your thoughts and opinion (in a educated way please!)

For those who do not know much about him, his bio is below:

Mike Huckabee is out to show people the American dream is still alive.

The former Arkansas governor recently formed a 2008 presidential exploratory committee because he feels the country needs a reawakening and a leadership to address an array of issues, including how to improve the nation's infrastructure, education system, environmental policy and failing health care system.

In the past year, Huckabee visited nearly 30 states to campaign for Republican candidates and conservative causes — and to share his message of vertical politics that he says reflects American values and priorities.

From 1996-2007, Huckabee served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas. When he left office on January 9, 2007, he set out on a nationwide tour to promote his fifth book, “From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America’s Greatness.” The book reveals his optimistic vision for what America can become with the right kind of leadership and a clear direction.

Huckabee is recognized as a national leader, having been honored by several renowned publications and organizations for his numerous accomplishments. Governing Magazine named him as one of its ‘Public Officials of the Year’ for 2005, Time Magazine honored him as one of the five best governors in America, and later in the same year, Huckabee received the American Association of Retired Person’s Impact Award. In 2007, he was presented with the Music for Life Award by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) for his commitment to music education.

Huckabee is past chairman of the National Governors’ Association (NGA) and chairman of the Education Commission of the States. During his tenure as governor, he served in other leadership positions including president of the Council of State Governments, state co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, and chairman of the Southern Governors Association, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Technology Council, the Southern International Trade Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.

As former chairman of the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, Huckabee worked with the 37-state coalition to develop energy policy and lobby Congress on energy matters, such as the regulation of oil and gas production. He also is known nationally for his focus on technology in state government. He created an automobile license renewal system that’s become a model for states across the country. Huckabee directed the creation of other advancements that have made Arkansas a technology leader among the states.

Huckabee became governor in July 1996 when his predecessor resigned. He was one of the youngest governors in the country at the time. Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term as governor in 1998, attracting the largest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas, and was re-elected to another four-year term in November 2002.

Huckabee first was elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election and was elected to a full four-year term in 1994. He was only the fourth Republican to be elected to statewide office since Reconstruction.

A significant part of his adult life was spent as a pastor and denominational leader. He became the youngest president ever of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, the largest denomination in Arkansas. Huckabee led rapidly growing congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana. He said those experiences gave him a deep sense of the problems faced by individuals and families.

Under Huckabee’s direction, Arkansas has been recognized as having created one of the nation’s best school accountability programs. Huckabee pushed through reforms in Arkansas that have significantly increased the number of charter schools and established new approaches to workforce education.

One of his proudest achievements as governor was signing legislation creating ARKids First. The program provides health insurance coverage for more than 70,000 Arkansas children who otherwise might have gone without. Before leaving office, Huckabee supported the ARHealthNet program which gives small business owners and their employees better access to health care coverage.

Huckabee, a fiscal conservative, pushed through the Arkansas Legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history — a $90 million tax relief package for Arkansas families. He led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and created a welfare reform program that reduced the welfare rolls in the state by almost 50 percent. He also doubled the standard deduction to $2,000 for single taxpayers and $4,000 for those who are married. He proposed The Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights which established a uniform notice and due process procedure to guarantee that all Arkansans will be treated fairly in property tax assessment.

In total, Huckabee cut taxes and fees over 90 times during his ten and a half years as governor, saving the people of Arkansas almost $380 million. When he left office, Arkansas had over $800 million in state surplus, which he believes should go back to the people in the form of either a tax rebate or tax cut.

As NGA chairman, Huckabee promoted his Healthy America Initiative, based on his successful Healthy Arkansas model. In 2004, Huckabee created the Healthy Arkansas initiative, an effort to encourage Arkansans to stop smoking, exercise more and eat healthier. As a direct result of his efforts, for the first time, Arkansas state employees are taking health risk assessments, are receiving individualized health information and are receiving discounts on health insurance premiums in exchange for healthy behavior. He encouraged private sector businesses by providing them with tool kits to create workplace wellness programs. The Arkansas Healthy Restaurant program was designed to encourage healthy eating options outside the home. Huckabee supported and signed into law the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006, which prohibits smoking in most Arkansas workplaces.

Huckabee’s efforts to improve his own health have received national attention. Diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds. Barely two years later, he has completed four marathons: The 2005 and 2006 Little Rock Marathons, the Marine Corps Marathon and the ING New York City Marathon. As a result of his accomplishments, The Road Runners Club of America named him its ‘Southern Region Runner of the Year’ and USA Track & Field has named him their ‘Athlete of the Week’ for the country.

Continuing to call for a national emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle, Huckabee completed his fourth book, “Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife and Fork.” This 12-stop program is a no-nonsense approach to managing one’s health through lifestyle change rather than a simple diet and exercise plan.
Huckabee, 51, enjoys playing bass guitar in his rock-n-roll band, Capitol Offense, which has opened for artists such as Willie Nelson and the Charlie Daniels Band, and has played the House of Blues in New Orleans, the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO and for two presidential inauguration balls.

The former governor and his wife, Janet, live in North Little Rock. They have three grown children: John Mark, David and Sarah.

Most of us have heard about the recent race for development on the Moon by various countries, such as Russia, China and of course the United States of America.

These countries plan to develop a station on the Moon in the near future to be occupied by man for different reasons such as further research of the Moon and eventually mining purposes among other plans even as far as possible commercialization!

I am sure NASA knows what they are getting into, and I think it may be a good idea as long as we are careful in what we do, and also that all the countries/ space programs involved keep in communication of their activities which I am sure will happen.

I do have a concern, and that would be the weather on the Moon. First you have very drastic temperature changes, zero gravity, you have rocks/ meteors constantly falling from the sky whether they are large, are even the size of a pellet as the Moon has no atmosphere so nothing burns up as it approaches the Moons surface and these falling rocks can damage the astronaut suits or even kill them without any notice and damage equipment and the "station", then you also have to be concerned about the "Moon Dust" on the surface which can be sandy or rocky and the finer particles are mostly glassy sharp grains and can be very dangerous whether it's tearing the space suit, damaging the equipment, or also can be deadly if the astronaut breaths these grains of sand / dust particals into their lungs. Who knows what other obstacles they may run into as well.

What do you think about us planning to build a permanent base on the Moon?? Is it worth all the money we are going to end up putting into it over the years, and what do you think we will get out of it if anything??

Also do you think given the extreme weather conditions on the Moon is it worth risking the astronauts and our very pricey equipment??

It's a interesting thought thinking of man living on the moon, however I am not so sure it's going to be such a good idea... and seems like it's going to be very expensive given the conditions they will have to deal with on the Moon.

I guess it's worth a try?? What is your opinion and thoughts?

(Oct. 3) - Astronomers have spotted evidence of a second Earth being built around a distant star 424 light-years away.

Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted a huge belt of warm dust swirling around a young star called HD 113766 that is just slightly larger than our sun. The dust belt, which scientists suspect is clumping together to form planets, is located in the middle of the star system's terrestrial habitable zone where temperatures are moderate enough to sustain liquid water. Scientists estimate there is enough material in the belt to form a Mars-sized world or larger.

At approximately 10 million years old, the star is just the right age for forming rocky planets, the researchers say. Their finding will be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal.

"The timing for this system to be building an Earth is very good," said study team member Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, Md.

If the star system were too young, the planet-forming disk would be full of gas, and it would be making gas-giant planets like Jupiter instead. If it were too old, Spitzer would have spotted rocky planets that had long ago formed.
The star system also has the right mix of dusty materials in its disk to form an Earth-like planet, Lisse said.

Using Spitzer's infrared spectrometer instrument, the team determined that the material around HD 113766 is more processed than the snowball-like stuff that makes up infant solar systems and comets, which are considered cosmic "refrigerators" because they contain pristine ingredients from the solar system's formative period. But it is also not as processed as the stuff found in mature planets and asteroids.

"The material mix in this belt is most reminiscent of the stuff found in lava flows on Earth," Lisse said. "I thought of Mauna Kea [in Hawaii] material when I first saw the dust composition in this system – it contains raw rock and it's abundant in iron sulfides, which are similar to fool's gold."

Earlier this year, scientists announced they had found evidence for one, and possibly two, already formed Earth-like planets around Gliese 581, a dim red star located only 20.5 light-years away. The possible planets, called Gliese 581c and Gliese 581d, are located at about the right distance from their star to support liquid water and life as we know it, but many more observations are needed to confirm this.

To date, planet hunters have discovered more than 250 extrasolar planets, or "exoplanets." Most of the distant worlds, however, are giant gas planets several times the size of Jupiter.

While life is known to exist only on our planet, the range of exoplanet types found so far has astronomers increasingly confident that many worlds in our galaxy could be habitable. Finding Earth-like worlds in habitable zones is a first step toward the technically challenging task of discovering biology outside our solar system.

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We are just now finding planet's like Earth, I can only imagine what we may find in the near future with how fast our technology is growing!!!

The hurricanes that haved formed so far this year seem to have formed very quickly!

From what I understand Humberto formed into a Hurricane from a Tropical Depression in only 14 hours!! That seems extra fast for development!

Also, Dean and Felix (the two major Hurricanes that recently hit Mexico) seemed like they had formed into a Hurricane very quickly.

Do you think that this is normal, or not? I do not remember hurricanes forming so fast, and do you think that in the near future they will only take less time to become a Hurricane?

I would imagine this would have something to do with the warmer ocean temperature.

Has anyone been watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel???

It just started on Sunday and will last all week.

They announce a very disturbing fact which really makes me sick to hear. They say that every year humans kill an average of 100 MILLION sharks and a large portion of them are for "fining" purposes which is when they catch the sharks then cut the fins off and then afterwards throw the shark back in the ocean to sink to the bottom and quickly die. Sounds like a very cruel and painful death to me!!!

Most people think sharks are killers and they could care less if they where here on earth or not. I would have to strongly disagree!!! They are needed on this planet more so than we are, and have been here much longer than us. The ocean makes up most of our planet and sharks have a major if not most important role in the oceans eco system and if we continue to pointlessly kill them like we are than I am almost sure we will have major consequences.

How many humans are killed on average per year by a shark, or even injured?? Not many, and does not even compare to the amount we pointlessly kill each year!!! Also the humans who are killed or injured by a shark are in the shark’s territory and usually are a mistaken attack. Then we also go into the shark’s territory and kill millions of them each year for no valid reason and to put any blame on a shark is just wrong!

It just doesn't make sense, and greatly concerns me that we continue to do this! You cannot say this is "human nature" or "the circle of life" becuase that is far from what is going on!

What do you think?

While hundreds of thousands of eager consumers waited anxiously for the iPhone, most probably didn’t know about the hidden fee attached to their purchase.

Now the obvious question is this: With all the words spoken and written about the iPhone prior to launch, why didn't someone tell them?

The iPhone battery will only survive about 300-400 recharges, the company says. Because the unit is sealed, consumers can't swap out dead batteries. Instead, dead phones must be sent to Apple, where battery replacement will take three business days and cost $79 plus a $6.95 shipping charge. Those who can't live without their cell phones for those three days can rent a spare iPhone for $29.

This pricey, and apparently inevitable, aftercharge never made it into any of the voluminous news stories written and filmed about the iPhone prior to its launch on June 29. Why not?

According to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Apple's Web site made no mention of the battery fee on the morning of June 29, when thousands of Apple faithful lined up all around the country to buy the phone, which costs $500 or $600, depending on model.

I am so tired of so many people comparing Hilary Clinton and Obama as female and black, and this really seems to be the big focus on these candidates.

Do you really think voter’s main influence on who they vote for will be because they are female or black??

Why should this be so important? I care about what the candidate stands for and what their Presidential plan is.... not what sex they are or race.

Unfortunately I think that voters will be to influenced on voting for a female or a black person, and not really knowing what they truly stand for, and what path they want our country to take.

What do you think?

SAN FRANCISCO (June 23) - Is city water better than bottled water? Mayor Gavin Newsom thinks so.

Newsom has issued an executive order banning city departments from buying bottled water, even for water coolers. The ban goes into effect July 1, and will extend to water coolers by Dec. 1.

The move was billed as a way to help stem global warming and save taxpayer money.
"We're hoping to set the example for the private sector and other cities in getting off the bottle," said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco public utilities commission.

In a press release announcing the decision, the mayor cited the environmental impact of making, transporting and disposing of the bottles. More than a billion of them end up in the state's landfills each year, the release said.

When the ban goes into effect, city and county offices will dispense municipal tap water from a reservoir. Winnicker said exceptions will be made in cases where potable water is not easily available or poses health concerns.

What do you think about this bottled water ban???

I drink bottled water, however I always put my empty bottles in the recyle bin. I would not say Florida's water from the tap is cleaner than bottled water?

I find this somewhat interesting; the 2008 Presidential candidates are using Myspace.com for campaigning.

The Democrats seem to be more popular in the myspace community; however the Republican Party is active as well.

Here are a few candidates that have a profile on Myspace (not all of them),

- Sen. Sam Brownback

- Jim Gilmore

- Mike Huckabee

- Duncan Hunter

- Sen. John McCain

- Rep. Ron Paul

- Mitt Romney

- Rep. Tom Tancredo

Candidates also have web video's posted on MySpace, along with YouTube.

What do you think about this new form of campaigning???

This is defiantly geared more for the younger voters, do you think this will make younger adults more active in the elections in 2008, and actually vote?

I had recently bought a new car a few months ago, and had decided to finance it and I have never had a loan with this finance company, which is American Honda Finance.

I use online banking to pay my bills, and for those who do use online banking know about "e-bills",  which is when you can request the company you make payment  to send you your bill / statement via e-mail, verse sending you a paper statement in the mail each month. I love this feature, becuase to me it's nice to know you are saving paper, as it's pointless to me to have a paper statement when you do everything online.

Not all companies offer this, actually a good portion do not, and to me it's stupid of them becuase they would save huge money on paper and postage each month, and also it's much better for our environment to cut back on the amount of paper usage.

I think big companies such as the one I am talking about should have to offer e-bills to it's customers.

I just get so aggrevated when I see paper and things such as this going to waste.

What do you think? Should these big companies be forced to offer it's customers e-bills?

I am following up to Fox's morning show blog about doctors being able to say something to children who are over weight, and also parents and also want to take it a little further.

I think the doctors have every right to, as this is part of their job to try to keep patients healthy, whether they are children or not, and being over weight and or obese is not healthy and can lead to a lot of other health problems, and it's worse for a child to be over weight verse an adult as their body has not fully developed.

I do not agree with making fun of over weight kids by calling them mean names, this only makes them worse in most cases. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to try to help them by seeing if they would like help or ideas for exercising, or help them with their diet.

The main reason why I am posting this blog today is because this afternoon I was in Wal-mart (a rare place for me to be lol) and I was waiting in line to check out and I was watching the family who was checking out in front of me, this was a mother, two sons (one was around 10, the other around 13), two daughters (one was around 15, the other around 2) They all would be considered obese or close to. The older son was extremely obese, he could barely fit down the check out lane. The baby was not really that over weight, however I am sure she will become a victim soon enough, just like the rest of the children.

As I noticed this family I decided to look at what kinds of groceries they put on the counter, as I really had nothing better to do, all of the food was JUNK, they must have had ten plus boxes of frozen pizza, the big 100 count box's of pizza rolls, sugary cereals, ten plus bottles of soda, and just all kinds of stuff like this, nothing healthy at all which of course did not suprise me after looking at them.

I am not the one to tell anyone what they should or should not eat, however when you are a mother and you have children who are grossly over weight to obese and you continue to feed them foods like this I think it becomes a matter of child abuse, and of course bad parenting. If you cannot cook for your children or are not able to feed them healthy meals than in my opinion you should not have children because this is not being responsible for your children.

What do you think about parents like this??? I know this is not a rare sight to see, I have seen plenty of other families like this.

I remember a while back the authorities where trying to take that obese child away from the mother over in Europe because she was not putting her child on a diet and they where accusing her of child abuse... not sure of what the outcome was.

I have noticed a good amount of people moving out of Florida and going to the Carolina's and Tennessee areas.

Seems like every week, sometimes more often someone I know, whether it's a friend, co worker or just someone I know is informing me they are moving up that way or are already gone.

I know that Florida has not been such a friendly place recently between the expenses, crime, and weather but I know I just could not do it, I love Florida (even though I have to get away sometimes) and I could not imagine living away from the ocean, warmer weather, and the Florida lifestyle.

Has anyone else seem to notice this new trend of people moving up that way over the past year or so?

Also, do you think they will move back later becuase they miss Florida?

I have always lived in Florida so I wouldn't know.

Drought, a fixture in much of the West for nearly a decade, now covers more than one-third of the continental USA. And it's spreading.

As summer starts, half the nation is either abnormally dry or in outright drought from prolonged lack of rain that could lead to water shortages, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly index of conditions. Welcome rainfall last weekend from Tropical Storm Barry brought short-term relief to parts of the fire-scorched Southeast. But up to 50 inches of rain is needed to end the drought there, and this is the driest spring in the Southeast since record-keeping began in 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

Coast to coast, the drought's effects are as varied as the landscapes:

In central California, ranchers are selling cattle or trucking them out of state as grazing grass dries up. In Southern California's Antelope Valley, rainfall at just 15% of normal erased the spring bloom of California poppies.

In South Florida, lake Okeechobee, America's second-largest body of fresh water, fell last week to a record low — an average 8.89 feet above sea level. So much lake bed is dry that 12,000 acres of it caught fire last month. Saltwater intrusion threatens to contaminate municipal wells for Atlantic coastal towns as fresh groundwater levels drop.

In Alabama, shallow ponds on commercial catfish farms are dwindling, and more than half the corn and wheat crops are in poor condition.

Dry episodes have become so persistent in the West that some scientists and water managers say drought is the "new normal" there. Reinforcing that notion are global-warming projections warning of more and deeper dry spells in the Southwest, although a report in last week's Science magazine challenges the climate models and suggests there will be more rainfall worldwide later this century.

"It seems extremely likely that drought will become more the norm" for the West, says Kathy Jacobs of the Arizona Water Institute, a research partnership of the state's three universities. "Droughts will continue to come and go, but … higher temperatures are going to produce more water stress." That's because warmer temperatures in the Southwest boosts demands for water and cause more to evaporate from lakes and reservoirs.

"The only good news about drought is it forces us to pay attention to water management," says Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute, a think tank in Oakland that stresses efficient water use.

This drought has been particularly harsh in three regions: the Southwest, the Southeast and northern Minnesota.

Severe dryness across California and Arizona has spread into 11 other Western states. On the Colorado River, the water supply for 30 million people in seven states and Mexico, the Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs are only half full and unlikely to recover for years. In Los Angeles County, on track for a record dry year with 21% of normal rain downtown since last summer, fire officials are threatening to cancel Fourth of July fireworks if conditions worsen. On Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged residents to voluntarily cut water use 10%, the city's first such call since the 1990s.

In Minnesota, which is in its worst drought since 1976, the situation is improving slowly, although a wildfire last month burned dozens of houses and 115 square miles in the northeastern part of the state.

The Southeast, unaccustomed to prolonged dry spells, may be suffering the most. In eight states from Mississippi to the Carolinas and down through Florida, lakes are shrinking, crops are withering, well levels are falling and there are new limits on water use. "We need 40-50 inches of rainfall to get out of the drought," says Carol Ann Wehle of the South Florida Water Management District.

Despite a recent storm, water hasn't flowed in Florida's Kissimmee River, which feeds Lake Okeechobee, in 212 days. The district has imposed its strictest water-use limits ever in 13 counties, cutting home watering to once a week and commercial use by 45%.

The drought also has provided an occasional benefit: Okeechobee's record low level allowed crews to clean out decades of muck and debris.

And some stricken areas are recovering. Texas and Oklahoma, charred by wildfires in the dry winter of 2005-06, are drought-free.

Even in California, where winter snowpack in the Sierra Nevada range was only 27% of normal this year, plentiful runoff from last year's snows filled many reservoirs, so shortages are unlikely this year. But another dry winter would tax supplies.

Gleick says water managers are not reacting forcefully enough to the drought: "The time to tell people that we're in the middle of a drought and to institute strong conservation programs is today, not a year from now." The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is doing that. Last month, it began a "Let's Save" radio campaign.

After nearly a decade of drought in parts of the West, the nation's fastest-growing region wrestles with rising water demands and declining supply.

Donald Wilhite of the National Drought Mitigation Center says the Southwest and Southeast are "becoming gradually more vulnerable to drought" because the rising population will need more water. "We think of water as an unlimited resource," he says. "But what happens when you turn on the tap and it's not there?"

What do you think about all this, and do you think we will be able to act fast enough? Even though scientist have shown the world proof this is real, and only recently has the world become more concerned it still seems to me like a large percent of Americans are not doing anything. We all know global warming is causing this, and whether you think it's from human activities or not, the fact is it's happening and we as people need to change our life style and become more conservative and use natural resources.

At the G8 last week President Bush did not anounce a clear plan for the United States and global warming.  President Bush thinks we have higher priorities, such as the war in the Middle East. In my opinion it should be on the top of our list, as we are running out of time and the United States is the "super power" country and also the largest polluter and we need to set an example for the rest of the world. The changing climate is our biggest threat, far greater than "terrorist".

The 450 million vehicles on the road today account for half of the world's total consumption, generate nearly one fifth of greenhouse gas emissions, and have pervasive effects on land use and air quality. Personal transportation (i.e., home use) is responsible for 30 to 50% of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, 33% of toxic water pollution, and over 45% of toxic air emissions. In addition, fueling passenger cars accounts for more than one quarter of world oil consumption.

Building roads for all those cars also creates a lot of environmental problems, fragmenting habitat, consuming resources for their construction, and generating water pollution from runoff. In the U.S., roads and parking lots occupy one half of urban space. That much land, if dedicated to food production, could produce enough grain to feed 200 million people per year.

Light trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUV) are all the rage today, but have severe implications for the environment. The average new light truck or SUV gets lower gas mileage and does not have the same emissions standards as a new passenger car, meaning it will emit more pollutants than a new car.

Of course, there are ways to navigate through our daily lives with less environmental impact while still enjoying the open road- with smarter driving habits, one day our roads could indeed be much more open!

Buy Smart: 

Clean vehicle choices - separating the hybrid from the hype
There are lots of choices of cleaner vehicles to buy these days, but it’s important to remember that not all green cars are created equal. Many hybrid models, such as the Honda Accord, are known as “muscle hybrids” and use the electric motor to achieve horsepower, not efficiency. Others simply stop the engine while idling, accomplishing minimal efficiency gains. There are smart and affordable choices.

Another important consideration in choosing a new car is your driving cycle. Some hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius, actually get better mileage during city driving- perfect for commuters who spend time in heavy traffic.

Those who prefer to power their vehicles on something other than gasoline have options too, including the Honda Civic GX, which runs on Compressed Natural Gas and can be refueled at home or at the hundreds of public CNG stations.

In addition, most diesel vehicles can run on a biodiesel blend- others can be converted to accommodate purer forms of biodiesel fuel.

• Information on biodiesel fuel  
• Currently available diesel vehicle models

And don’t forget to consider buying a used vehicle- even hybrids and CNG vehicles can be found, saving you money and sparing the Earth the environmental cost of manufacturing another new car- about 27 tons of waste, 4 tons of carbon and 500 lbs. of other pollutants.

Drive Smart:

Even if you’re not in the market to buy a new car, there are things you can do to reduce your pollution impact no matter how you get around your world.

1. Carpool - There is so much extra room in America's 140 million cars that everyone in Western Europe could ride with them. If each commuting car carried just one more person, we'd save more than 18 million gallons of gasoline and keep more than 360 million pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every day.

2. Consolidate your errands –driving 15 fewer miles per week (bike, carpool, walk) eliminates up to 900 lbs. of CO2 per year.

3. Tune Up - clean oil and properly inflated tires eliminate up to 1000 lbs. of CO2 per year per car, and collectively, we can save up to 2 billion gallons of gasoline.

4. Liberate your driveway - Instead of keeping and maintaining a second vehicle for occasional recreational activities or traveling, rent one on those occasions. For commuting, consider enrolling in a car-sharing program such as Flexcar or Zipcar and give yourself the flexibility of access to a car when you need it and the freedom from it when you don’t. Check out the CarSharing Network for a program near you.

5. Check your right foot…playing Speed Racer is fun, but costly in terms of gasoline efficiency as well as pollution.

6. Tread lightly - Invest in a Terra Pass to offset the CO 2 impact of your driving by funding clean energy projects like wind farms, methane capture and more.

Help form the future:

Just as the last several years brought us hybrid vehicles, several promising automotive and fuel technologies are just on the horizon:

Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs) - Often described as “an electric vehicle with a safety net”, PHEVs offer the best of both worlds: the ability to use electricity for your daily commute, and a gasoline hybrid system for longer distances. Using this technology, vehicles will have the ability to achieve the equivalent of over 100mpg, and a PHEV with even 20 miles of electric range would reduce gasoline consumption by 60%.

While no automakers are yet manufacturing Plug-In Hybrids, innovative companies have created kits that will be available to convert existing hybrids to PHEVs. For more information, check out EDrive or Hymotion.

Flexible-Fuels - today, most of the fuel for our cars is petroleum-based, but there are several innovations with regard to ethanol and renewable diesel, both of which will eventually be made from waste products and can be integrated into existing fueling infrastructure and vehicle technologies. These fuels are currently being manufactured in pilot programs and will available in various cities nationwide over the next several years.

In order to see these technologies in a showroom near you, it’s important to ask our automakers to build better cars as well as vote for and support the policymakers that uphold your values.

A full tank and an empty wallet — if you’ve got one, chances are you’ve got both. And with gas prices at record levels these days, you should probably get used to the condition.

This week, retail gas prices hit their highest levels ever — an average of $3.10 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy — and it’s unlikely that they’ll come down any time soon.

And they surely won’t come down today, which, as anybody with an e-mail account already knows is the day of the great American “gas out.” As such one-day boycotts have “exactly zero chance of having an impact on gas prices.”

So, what’s a road-tripping traveler to do? Make sure you’re getting the most out of every drop by driving smarter, maintaining your car better and knowing whose pumps have the best prices. You won’t take a dime out of Big Oil’s pocket, but you can save yourself hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars per year. Here’s how:

Saving at the pump
Know before you go: Gas prices at nearby stations can vary by $.20 or more per gallon. Ways to find out the best deal such as FOX 35’s Pump Patrol, or various websites.

Use the card: Discover, American Express and other credit card companies offer cards that provide cash rebates for gas purchases. Most give rebates of around five percent, although there are often restrictions on where and when you’ll get the full discount.

Use the other card: Several grocery chains offer fuel discounts to shoppers who join their loyalty programs.

Use common sense: Do use the right octane — higher grades rarely provide any benefit. Don’t top off your tank — it only leads to increased spillage and evaporation. Whenever possible, pump your gas during the early morning or late evening when cooler temperatures prevail. The gas will be denser, which means more of it will end up in your tank.

Saving on the road
Turns out your parents were right — you should lay off the jackrabbit starts and skid-mark stops. According to the federal government, aggressive driving can cut your fuel efficiency by as much as 33 percent. You don’t have to drive like Grandma, but with the typical fill-up costing $30–$50, Mom and Dad’s old advice takes on new relevance.

Slow down: Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. At 65, the average car loses five to seven percent in fuel economy; at 70, as much as 15 percent. Drive 75 at today’s gas prices and you’re essentially paying an extra $.60 per gallon.

Lighten up: Stop-and-go traffic will always be annoying, but you can minimize the frustration by going with the flow instead of racing and braking every time the line inches forward. You’ll also improve in-town gas mileage by up to five percent.

Lose the load: A little junk in the trunk is one thing, but an extra 100 pounds of gear can reduce your fuel economy by up to two percent. If you don’t need it, leave it in the garage. The same goes for the roof rack: If you’re not actually using it, all it’s doing is increasing aerodynamic drag and lowering your gas mileage.

Saving every day
According to the Department of Energy, keeping your engine tuned correctly can increase gas mileage by up to four percent. For most of us, tune-ups are best left to the pros, but there are some easy steps you can take that don’t require a trip to the mechanic.

Up the airflow: A clogged or dirty air filter can cut 10 percent off your gas mileage. Fortunately, most are easily replaced.

Get pumped: Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve your fuel economy by three percent or more. They’ll last longer, too.

Be oil aware: Clean oil improves performance by reducing friction. Using the right grade can also improve gas mileage by one to two percent.

Drive less: I’m not suggesting you stay home, but if you make your trips around town more efficient (combining errands, driving during off-peak hours, etc.), you’ll have that much more money to spend when you’re ready to hit the open road.