Audi vs Environmentalists?

Article: Audi's New TV Commercial Takes a Pointless Shot at Environmentalists
Author: Sarah Gilbert

Audi launched a TV commercial this week that appeared to be poking fun at environmentalists and people who chose alternative transportation to driving a personal vehicle. In the commercial, a bicyclist getting drenched in the rain, a man getting bumped around on a city bus, another man stuck in sidewalk traffic on a Segway, and someone puttering along in a Volvo "powered by vegetable oil" are all depicted looking miserable as the Audi A3 cruises on by. It appears that the concept of the campaign is to compare the car with the alternative methods based on who wants to have the most fun, not on cost or environmental impact. This is an interesting tactic chosen by Audi, especially considering that the A3 is more environmentally friendly than many other comparable cars. Since the launch of the commercial, there has been some negative backlash by those who don't appreciate Audi seemingly mocking their chosen method of transportation. People who dislike the campaign have pointed out that often people choose alternative methods of transportation because they can't afford a car, especially an Audi A3, or because they are trying to improve the sad state of our environment, which isn't really a laughing matter.

I can understand the concept behind the commercial, and even appreciate the idea. It was a slightly bold move on Audi's part and I think perhaps had the commercial been executed differently there would possibly be less disgruntled people. If the Audi A3 wasn't near the top of the list of comparable cars in terms of being one of the lesser environmental evils, then I would find the campaign to be in poor taste. As it stands, I don't think Audi was too out of line and if nothing else, has managed to generate awareness for the A3.

Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/30/audis-new-tv-commercial-takes-a-pointless-shot-at-environmental/print/

Shocked at how much I suck at being green!

Wow!! I took the ecological footprint quiz and if everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle then we would need 4.58 earths! This is a problem for two reasons, the first and most obvious reason being that we only have a grand total of one earth... the second and more disturbing problem is that I actually thought I was pretty good at minimizing my ecological footprint. I'm one of those people that takes short showers, doesn't leave water running in the sink or lights or appliances/electronics on in the house, keeps the thermostat low, etc. I even have energy saving light bulbs in my apartment! So here I am, trapezing through my days thinking that while we definitely need to come up with a solution to solve some of these global problems, at least I'm not contributing too badly ~ WRONG! Scary to consider how oblivious I was, and even scarier still to consider the fact that there are so many people out there who don't even bother to do the bare minimum to improve the damage we are causing.

So since I am now done reeling from the shock at how awful my lifestyle is, I have a plan of a few things I can change right away to at least start lessening my contribution to the problem. I am going to quit driving around quite so much. I moved into town from sudden valley and as a result, thought nothing of hopping in my car a couple times a day to run various errands because everything seems so close to me now compared to when I lived 20 min outside of town. I will either start taking the time to plan out errands again and then do them at the same time I drive to/from campus, or I can start walking. I have a grocery store that is less than a 10 min walk from my place; I'm pretty sure it won't kill me to hoof it there... Also, I have noticed there is a heat light in my bathroom that I am sure consumes more energy than necessary so I will head to Lowe's to get an energy saving lamp to replace it. Finally, I admit I am one of the water bottle people... Although I do use the same one for a little while and refill it before recycling it, it would still be better to just not use one at all. So I'll find a Nalgene bottle and switch to using that instead.

Hopefully with these small changes I can start to improve the way my lifestyle impacts our world and I have no doubt it will continue to be quite the eye opening experience!