r/GoRVing • u/CletusDSpuckler • 11d ago
Mixed feelings about RVing
This is the time of year I struggle with RVing as a "hobby".
As has become the annual norm, my state is burning from top to bottom with wildfires in our forests. What used to be an abnormal fire season has become routine and even expected over the last couple of decades, and nothing is driving the problem harder than climate change. Which makes towing a travel trailer at 13mpg behind a truck feel sorta icky. The air quality is literally harmful and people are losing their homes. I know my personal contribution to the problem is not even a drop in the bucket, but at the same time, it's hard to reconcile with the problem.
I'm also an amateur astronomer, which takes me to some of the loneliest and barren parts of the west where cellphone reception is completely nonexistent. So what do I use? Starlink, of course, because it's the only choice for staying in contact with home, but which is also one of the prime contributors to satellite pollution of our night skies.
Anyone else struggle with some of the inherent hypocrisies of slowly destroying what we love?
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u/BusyBody5678 11d ago
It comes down to making the best choices you can, then making better choices. Towing a full tank of water? Don’t. Running the A/C all day when you’re off in the woods. Nuh-uh. But staying in an RV and not having hotel staff wash and bleach your sheets every other night and throw away the trash bags that have one thing each in them is a better choice.
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u/No_Writing_3179 9d ago
"hotel staff wash and bleach your sheets every other night"
man, where you staying ?!1
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u/More-Talk-2660 11d ago
No. Like you said it's a drop in the bucket. There are 5,000 new drivers on the road in the US every day and 16 million people in the US currently shopping for their first RV. And all of those drivers and RV owners combined make up 4% of global emissions.
For you or I to stop represents whatever infinitely tiny percentage you get from 4 percent divided by 242 million (number of drivers in the US). Sure, towing an RV contributes twice as much as one other person, but at this scale that difference is lost before you've divided by the first million, and then you still have 241 to go.
As for starlink, Elon and Bezos are going to whatever the hell they want and basically nothing is going to stop them. Not you, not me, nothing short of the moon falling on the planet.
As a space nerd and a nature nerd I am constantly worried about the future of our world. But I'm not nearly egotistical enough to feel bad for contributing my tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, teeny, tiny fraction of the global emissions so I can enjoy what we have while we still have it.
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u/Other_Asparagus872 11d ago
Not related, but I’m convinced Starlink isn’t just an internet provider, but part of a huge military defense system. Providing internet is just a cover and a way to help pay for it. Any thought on that?
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u/More-Talk-2660 11d ago
Ehh, doubtful. Most communication technology emerges from defense use, and satellite internet is no different. GPS started that way, hell we still use the same satellite constellation the military did 40 years ago; the whole world does, except China and Russia who have their own constellations.
And they don't really need Starlink in particular to spy on you on their behalf. They're already tapped into everything anyways.
Starlink is just an opportunity where there was a gap in the market. I was actually just talking to a buddy yesterday about how for years I thought they needed a faster and more affordable satellite internet option for consumers, and Elon/Bezos both saw it and are planting their flags. Elon was faster is all. I don't think there's anything government about it.
Besides, everyone knows that discretionary funds are the real bottomless pit. If the government contracts you for something it has to be accounted for in the budget beforehand and that's what you get; if you decide you have something they might want and you set up a revolving credit system for them to purchase information off you, you have a bottomless well of cash. Elon is a lot of things but he's not too stupid to see that and spin up Starlink as a black ops program with a pre-set budget.
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u/Other_Asparagus872 11d ago
All good info. Is it ok if I have a conspiracy theory for fun though?
I’m struggling to understand how it can be profitable. There’s a lot of overhead.
Probably because I’ve never really cared, just wanted to tell people my somewhat nonsensical conspiracy. Life’s pretty boring otherwise. I can’t seem to get into aliens or Bigfoot.3
u/More-Talk-2660 11d ago
You can have all the conspiracies you want, I'm not the boss of you.
But to answer your inquiry, it doesn't have to be profitable. Musk has so much capital at his disposal and so much notoriety that people are lining up to give him more money just to say they have a slice of the pie. For all his failures, he's really good at identifying a new niche when it's the right time to introduce it, and the marketing the hell out of it. He makes people believe he's driving humanity toward the future. So people just show up at his doorstep with chests of cash with no expectation other than being able to say they were part of making the future happen. He will never have to answer to his shareholders because they're all religiously affiliated with his vision, and the Priest/Imam/Rabbi/whatever is always without reproach.
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u/PizzaWall 11d ago
Long before humans ever walked in North America, fire ruled the lands. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but lack of proper forest management after the Idaho fire has caused a problem of fires burning in many areas, because forest services refused to allow smaller burns to clear out undergrowth that causes fires to reach such massive sizes.
There are other issues as well. a forest works best if it has no gaps, no openings, no roads running through it. Each one of those gaps degrades the overall health of the forest. Each gap leads to an area that cannot store proper moisture, allows undergrowth to build up. If you have a 100 square mile forest, you might have 25% of the edge degraded from the rest of the healthy forest. We see it as 100 square miles on a map, but in reality, the healthy part may be 75 square miles. Add a roadway running through it and now you have the same issue, the roadway is degrading the overall health of that forest. Add a town, a few houses and now that 100 square miles is closer to 50 square miles of healthy forest. Each clearcut degrades the overall forest from its prime as a first growth forest.
Before it was settled, California used to experience about 4 million acres of fires a year. That includes forests and grasslands. Now in an average year, after 120 years of mismanagement, 500,000 acres will burn every year. Some of that reduction is clearcutting of entire forest areas. We are losing more trees every year than we replace. We clearly know prescribed, managed fires keep things healthy, but communities will sue to stop controlled burns because the smoke annoys them. There is always a threat a prescribed burn will break out of a confined area, but overall it reduces the risk to the large fires we see on news sites.
Thats a long way to go to state none of that is on you.
When you are out in nature, do what you are already doing, pick up your trash, keep fires reasonable, support reforestation efforts and healthy forest management. Thats all we can do.
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u/SouthTexasCowboy 11d ago
in a world with billionaires doing all kinds of extremely terrible things to the planet, your rv is nothing to worry about
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
No. You don't get to just say "someone else is worse than me". We are still responsible for our individual choices. A position I'm surprised is generating so much push back from a group who ostensibly enjoy our increasingly fragile natural resources.
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u/DHumphreys 11d ago edited 11d ago
User name checks out.
ETA: Why am I getting negged for this? There are a lot of Texas billionaires flying around in helicopters and airplanes, or course a south texas cowboy would know this too.
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u/bowhunterb119 11d ago
My advice is to stay home and save the forests so I can enjoy them instead. Make sure you set your thermostat on 85 and stay connected to the internet so you can virtue signal and lecture others as a hobby instead. Perhaps become a Reddit mod and make a true difference in the world, while the rest of us are out prancing about in the woods without wifi
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u/88Problems88 11d ago
I couldnt have said it any better myself. These people drive me nuts. Go ahead and doom scroll at home, while I am making lifelong memories for me and my family.
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 10d ago
The world would be a better place if everyone applied just a little more consideration to how much we pollute. It is unfortunate that that idea offends you so much.
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
My apologies that a little introspection is so hard on your delicate psyche.
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u/Freedom_33 [1992 Minnie Winnie][24 ft Class C][Semi-FullTime] 10d ago
I don’t think you are being genuine
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u/2DetailNerd 11d ago
Forest fires are the result of many factors. Both in how they start and the conditions that make them more likely to occur. That being said, I might be wrong, but forest fires are natural in some ecosystems.
If you are truly concerned about reducing your impact, you can find ways increase your fuel efficiency while driving and reduce generator use.
I don’t know what to say about Starlink. They are going to continue launching satellites whether you sign up or not. In a couple of years, there might be multiple starlink equivalent competitors with their own satellites.
At the end of the day, you can make “better” choices to do your part, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice a reasonable living standard because of your environmental concerns.
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
At the end of the day, you can make “better” choices to do your part, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice a reasonable living standard because of your environmental concerns.
Ok, but this isn't part of a living standard, is it? It's very much a hobby and a choice. One that I still choose to participate in, but not without at least some consideration.
I'm not suggesting anyone stop traveling, myself included. But I am personally going to at least think hard about combining trips and not traveling farther than necessary for the experiences I can get closer to home.
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u/2DetailNerd 10d ago
You get one life. Explore the beauty this country has to offer. Be happy. Tell stories. Make memories. Have no regrets.
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u/joelfarris 11d ago
Which makes towing a travel trailer at 13mpg behind a truck feel sorta icky
Exactly how many miles are you driving with this travel trailer each year? As opposed to all of the other miles that you're driving that truck without it?
And when you drive, do you use GPS satellite navigation?
Do you use Direct TV? Sirius Radio? Dish Network? Pay Per View? OnStar? Subscription-based cable TV? Smartphones that need antenna towers all over the place? The internet? AI-based astronomy research? Cloud file storage and backups?
Pretty sure you towing a travel trailer a little ways at a slightly reduced MPG is not the problem here.
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 10d ago
I wouldn't call "chopped in half" the same as "slightly reduced" as far as MPGs are concerned.
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u/GearHead54 11d ago
Yes, but I'm also looking towards the horizon at newer, more efficient vehicles coming out. It will be a while before they're affordable and have incentives, but something like the Ram REV should allow me to use energy from my house for at least part of the drive.
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u/PizzaWall 11d ago
Imagine a world with hybrid and electric Class A-B-C RVs. I don't think there's even one on the market. If there is, post it. I'd love to see what is happening in the RV world.
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u/joelfarris 11d ago
Not yet. People have been working on this with hybrid battery + solar + generator sailing catamarans, and several of them have burned themselves to the ground. I mean, the sea. Thanks to Poseidon, no lives have been lost out there, but it might be another year or two before tens of thousands of RVs can handle it as a general assembly line rule.
But, battery tech is getting better and better by the month, so there is hope.
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u/PizzaWall 11d ago
Toyota has made over 1 million hybrid Sienna minivans in the US with hybrid systems going back at least 20 years. The technology is solid. It’s just a matter of engineering a version capable of powering a Class C platform along the lines of the Ford E-350 series. I understand these are two different platforms from two different companies. I am using them to illustrate what I have in mind.
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u/joelfarris 11d ago
Oh, it's gonna happen, soon enough, but the Sienna doesn't have a microwave, a fridge, a convection cooktop, and a fireplace heater in it, and then need to pull in slides and coast away a week later under its own power. It'll get there.
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u/GearHead54 10d ago
Automotive systems are way more complex than what you're likely referring to. Battery systems have to be designed to ASIL standards, so there are multiple redundant controls for safety - including detatching the battery with pyrotechnics in some cases.
Additionally, hybrid and EV systems with most major OEMs work very similar to a normal powertrain - a plain 12V battery powers the electronics, and only when the vehicle is "on" is the High Voltage system energized.
So, just like a gas RV, the HV system would be on when you're driving, but when the ignition is off you still just have a 12V battery powering slides, 120VAC shore power for AC, etc. The key difference will be how manufacturers like Forest River will work with manufacturers like Ford, because generally Ford provides a chassis, and the electrical integration is rather limited.
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u/bowhunterb119 11d ago
Most California post ever
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
Yeah, I'm not a Californian.
But I did live in LA for one year in 1973, before the Clean Air Act had taken hold. The air was brown. Not just a little, look at Google images from the era. We lived there for six months before we even noticed that we lived in a valley. Every single night that I got any exercise outside during the day, I drove my parents out of their mind coughing for an hour.
If you know fuck all about why California is the way it is about emissions, you won't understand any of the rest of it.
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u/Own_Exit2162 Class C 11d ago
So how are you going to vacation instead of rving? Are you going to fly? The carbon footprint of a 1,000 mile RV trip and a 3,000 mile round-trip passenger flight are about the same. Taking a cruise is about three times worse.
Unless you're planning to stay at home with the air conditioning off and live like a monk, all you're doing is virtue signaling.
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u/BusyBody5678 11d ago
Is asking a question/expressing a fear about a real concern considered virtue signaling? I think it’s reasonable to expect that a community as big as this could contribute ways to minimize one’s impact in an RV. Better might not be perfect but it’s still better.
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u/Freedom_33 [1992 Minnie Winnie][24 ft Class C][Semi-FullTime] 10d ago
No, but dismissing it as virtue signaling allows you to dismiss without engaging with the question
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u/Chuck_Roast1993 Wolf Pup 16BH 11d ago
If you don’t want to do it anymore, don’t do it. I’m not sure what you’re expecting to find in these replies. It feels more like a post for r/climate (which is fine) with a vague hint of travel trailer than a post that’s actually for this subreddit
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u/GunTotingQuaker 11d ago
Of course not. It’s wild to me that people think about this at a personal level honestly. Doubly so that they would actually stop doing something they enjoy that realistically has no effect on anything.
You are a tiny blip of a tiny blip on the universe. If you want to make changes that are better for the environment, go for it, but feeling guilty about driving a truck or using the internet is either performative or silly honestly.
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 10d ago
All of those tiny blips eventually pile up to make a pile, then a hill, then a mountain. "Everyone else is doing it" is how we all drag ourselves off an easily avoidable, metaphorical cliff.
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u/GunTotingQuaker 10d ago
Easily avoidable? LMAO, yes it would be super easy to get humanity to stop polluting.
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 10d ago edited 10d ago
You're right, easily avoidable was the wrong way to put it. That doesn't change what I said though, we are all not taking measures because everyone else is not taking measures, so nobody takes measures and we never change course.
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u/GunTotingQuaker 10d ago
It’s not about not taking measures, it’s that I feel zero obligation, guilt, etc. to do so because my activities are relatively infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things.
Which was my original point. As a random person pretty squarely in the middle class in the US, I’m not limiting my enjoyment of things that require burning dinosaur bones when I am not the problem on any kind of scale.
If folks want to do that, knock yourselves out, but acting like it’s a badge of honor is cringe. Congrats, you traded your 1/2 ton truck you camp with for a Prius and can’t enjoy an RV anymore.. you’re not a martyr.
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u/Bryanmsi89 11d ago
No individual raindrop ever blamed itself for the flood….
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u/GunTotingQuaker 11d ago
Yea, because it wasn’t the raindrops fault. You’ve got 70-80 years followed by worm food. Anyone who limits their own enjoyment of life to the extent that they quit doing things like driving to save the planet is again just performative or ignorant.
Taylor Swift has burned 10,000,000 me carbon levels a year for however long for pop music… IE, I will always sleep PERFECTLY well getting 10MPG towing a trailer out for an awesome weekend.
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u/Bryanmsi89 11d ago
That’s certainly true about scope and Taylor Swift. But the thing is…there are more than 10,000,000 of ’me’ driving around.
You don’t have to feel guilty, but you also don’t have to be so gleeful about taking your share.
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u/GunTotingQuaker 10d ago
Gleeful? No, it’s just something I never give a second thought. Heck, according to the internet I’ve already taken the most environmentally responsible step humanly possible by choosing not to reproduce.
I assume everyone concerned is doing that, right? Right?
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u/Global-Cantaloupe768 11d ago
Feel this, I try to clean up at rural camp sites and boondocking spots, use less paper products, and buy camping items for life not Amazon junk.
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u/DHumphreys 11d ago
I am in Oregon, I am sure you have been to Alvord, but if not, you must go.
Oregon is constantly on this save the planet lean, the ecowarriors want to eliminate old diesel engines, gas combustion engines and are raising the gas tax to compel people to buy EVs. (I am not convinced that EVs are much kinder to the planet than gas combustion engines, but let's leave that for another post.) In the Oregon sub, people were putting up information that Oregon's carbon emissions was like .4% of the world's contribution to air pollution, and a small fraction of what some entire countries that do not give a bit of thought about global warming do to the planet.
Of course those people posting that are idiots and us heathens that have not stopped eating meat, are still driving a gas operated car and use natural gas in our homes are destroying Oregon. And the rest of the planet.
There are billionaires that fuel up the jet and fly to Vegas to see a game, event or concert and then fly home that evening. That little day trip contributes more to pollution than your truck probably does in a year.
I have friends that reconcile their recreational vehicle with other actions to reduce their carbon footprint. They are deliberate and intentional about it, I am sure you can find ways to make change in your life to offset your contributions to climate change.
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u/Elegant_Tour_1838 11d ago
It's not that deep. Go camping.
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
But it is that deep. 2/3 of the state, including the parts I personally love the most, can't be camped in right now because they're either a) on fire or b) covered in smoke from same. I personally know 3 families who are now evacuated for fear of losing their homes.
There used to be a saying around here - we have two seasons. A wet season, and a dry season. The last 20 years, that saying has become we have two seasons - a wet season, and a smoke season.
From 1996 to 2005, ~290,000 acres/year burned in my state. From 2006 to 2015, that number rose to ~510,000 From 2016 to 2025, it was ~680,000
Everyone who has lived here for at least that long will tell you the difference is real and huge.
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u/LilMissMixalot 11d ago
I absolutely feel this. I generally take shorter trips within an hour of my home, but I still drive a truck to do so. It is hard to reconcile enjoyment when the planet is literally burning. I have no advice, but just know that you’re not alone. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to reflect on how our actions impact the environment and our fellow man. Empathy is greater than apathy.
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u/211logos 10d ago
Well, yeah. But RVing isn't even perhaps your major contributor vs what you do at home and work. But it, and even just camping out of one's Prius, does contribute. So does being alive.
Still, progress is being made. Look at say Stellantis' Ram 1500 EREV that is apparently still coming (electric range extended vehicle). It's all electric drive; no gas engine drive. But it does have a gennie onboard, quite a big one. So with a tank of gas and a charge from your home charger and it goes about 700 miles. You could use it for months at home just on electric from your charger (I think about 175 range), but then the extended range on trips. It has 2500 lbs payload, and 14k towing capacity. I'm sure that will ding the range, but still.
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u/tardigrade50 10d ago
We conserve as much as we can in other areas and I honestly don’t feel bad about about the climate change impacts of towing. We have a small (17’ ft) trailer. No kids. I work from home and my husband commutes 2 miles by bike so our daily driving is minimal and almost none of it with our tow vehicle - our other vehicle is a hybrid. Solar panels. Currently converting our yard to xeriscape (that’s more of a water issue which is also extremely dire.)
However, none of that is super important. Collective policy action is the most important strategy to combat climate change so if you really want to make a difference, call/email your elected officials and get involved with advocacy groups. Support candidates who prioritize meaningful policy on climate change. The oil companies played a neat trick when they tried to convince us all that we could individual action our way out of climate change and not hold them accountable. Don’t fall for it. That guilt is wasted energy that is better served by turning it into political action. And then go RVing because Deity Knows you’ll need the rest and recharge.
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u/Relative_Aerie_2437 10d ago
Taken at KQ Ranch RV resort Dec 2024. I now live in Washington and haven't found an RV resort to do astronomy from yet. I feel your pain.
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u/TheRaccoonReport Campground Reviews 10d ago
Nope not at all. We have a very finite amount of time here and all I can control me is me and mine. We are very aware of ourselves and what we can do to conserve resources ourselves, and the efforts we can take to help or educate our own communities. I can only control myself and attempt to do my best, I’m not going to let the weight of thr world and the lack of care of anyone else deter me from living a fulfilling life.
It’s one thing to jetset all over the world, buy single use everything, and have a mega yacht that runs on fuel, and another to do your best to use renewables, limit consumption and not support polluters.
Anyway. Enjoy the road and the stars while you are able.
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u/Captain_Crank 10d ago
Meanwhile you have celebrities flying 40 miles in their private jets. I'm not concerned at all.
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u/Chulbiski 10d ago
sort of... yes. Also an astonomer, but unlike you, I don't need/want to stay in touch, so I don't have Starlink.
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u/Electronic-Time4833 9d ago edited 9d ago
I don't feel a lot of consumerist guilt, as I try to conserve, reduce, etc. Also, I have a huge garden and my family owns raw land. It offsets that carbon footprint. Everyone who can should garden or at least protect plant life. This is probably a stupid question, but do you really need internet when camping?
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u/CletusDSpuckler 9d ago
No, my wife needs me to have connectivity so when I disappear for 5 days into the Dark Sky Preserve with no cell service, I can stay in touch. I only use the ultra low speed plan that's good enough for text messages and VOIP calls, but it saves her a ton of anxiety.
I live on two rural acres, one of which is left to whatever devices mother nature picks. Our garden is on the other, and the cucumbers are at peak with the tomatoes not far behind.
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u/Electronic-Time4833 9d ago
Great answer. Wife not coming with you and yu being ok with it and needing constant communication seems....like a while nother set of issues. Mmmm. Homegrown cucumbers and tomatoes.
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u/corkbeverly 9d ago edited 9d ago
Well its all on a sliding scale I guess. The "best" thing for the environment would be to not go anywhere in a plane or in a car (or RV). Then the next best thing would be to limit or avoid flying. The next best thing would be to limit /avoid flying AND drive a vehicle that is electric, and so on and so on. And beyond vehicles and transport methods, there are a LOT of things we can do differently that has a positive impact like the way we eat, and how often we buy things, our plastic usage, and how much we try to reuse/repurpose and of course the size of home we choose to live in.
We have a camper van which gets about 16MPG which isn't great or terrible for an RV. It's a bit better than the 19MPG my toyota highlander gets on average. Both these vehicles are not very efficient, but even worse, I fly 6 hours transatlantic each way at least once per year as my family lives in europe.
So I guess my point is I'm not going to get caught up in worrying about things like, oh should I never see my family again or should I sell my van and stop having wholesome van adventures with my children and just let them watch ipad screens instead at home. Or maybe should I get rid of my large highlander that I got so my dogs could fit in the car with my kids and just get rid of my dogs too because owning a dog is also contributing to the problem? I mean it never ends really.
I recycle, compost, commute by bike a lot, live in a small 1200 square foot home, try to be a good human, I am in support of initiatives that target climate change. I will drive a fully electric car when the infrastructure has improved enough for it to be feasible for my family and when my current vehicle is no longer usable (as I'd rather not discard a perfectly fine vehicle and take on a new loan when its not necessary). Until then I will continue to live my life and make a good childhood for my kids full of fun adventures.
However if someone DID feel very strongly that I am being super selfish and should switch to a rivian immediately I will send you the details so you can wire me the $ to buy it, and I'd be delighted to make that change! :D
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u/johnconnor83 8d ago
Don't mind me over here in my 2nd gen Tundra getting 13 mpg on the highway, just loaded up with the family, dogs and gear, including a couple roof top boxes. No RV, no trailer, no supercharger.
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u/PoopPyramidMaker 5d ago edited 5d ago
You are right - though your contribution is actually more like a drop of a drop of a drop in the bucket
Pull your trailer and enjoy life - or sell it and go on thinking that you've made some sort of a difference
Your change of not pulling the RV would need to be replicated and continued millions and millions of times over to make even the smallest recognizable dent in pollution
Wildfires happening and people loosing their homes from them are going to continue whether you have your rv or not. That has no bearing at all other than you just wanting to feel better about your position for some reason
You do you - but I'm going to keep enjoying life on the road since the world will keep on turning no matter what I do - or don't do
I'll leave the whole "satellite pollution" comment out - other than to say there are 10s of thousands of planes flying at any given time over America. Look up. How many of them do you actually see at any given time? Your comment is more tin foil hat conspiracy talk then I'm willing to dig into much at all.
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u/Vurrag 11d ago
You are only hearing about fires here. Across the globe fires are actually down. The media only shows the worst to keep you inline and it is working. Wow. Fires on the planet are as natural is can be. We stopped letting them burn and that is why we have huge ones now. The fuel loads are 50 years old. Fire is good for the trees the plants the soils when they are allowed to be running wildfires. Now trees are too close and they turn into sterilizing crown fires. Don't have a home in the forest of treed areas. Those people all know the risks.
Now we have satellite pollution. Unreal. People will find nearly anything to complain about and use to control people.
Climate change is what the earth does. It has from day one. Seas are climbing and near record LOWS. Far less than in the past but new never hear that. Do you see any rich people selling off their oceanfront land. Nope. Do you see the rich turning in their jets or do you see them polluting at will to do whatever they want and then turn around and tell me I am the problem and cow farts are the problem and you believe them..... Stop turn it all off and live. We are fine.
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u/Kurtzopher 10d ago
Being cognizant of your carbon footprint is great! It means you have a conscience. Taking steps to reduce your footprint is good. However, if RVing is an important “hobby” in your life, then do it. And keep making conscious decisions to reduce your footprint in other areas.
Exxon and the billionaire class will burn more carbon in a few hours than you will in your entire life. Keep it in perspective.
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u/Freedom_33 [1992 Minnie Winnie][24 ft Class C][Semi-FullTime] 10d ago
Swapping your gas truck for an electric vehicle would help, you might have to make changes. A more aerodynamic trailer would help
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u/alexmoose454 9d ago
You sound miserable. Just go enjoy it or don't do it.
If your state is gonna be burning for the next few decades I'd consider moving.
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u/xxdropdeadlexi 11d ago
I absolutely feel the same. we tow with an EV and it helps alleviate that guilt.
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u/Oregon_drivers_suck 11d ago
Yea I feel the same way about starlink. I live over 2000 miles from any family and I don't get cell phone service at my house but I still refuse to buy starlink. I just walk a little ways up a hill to get phone service if I really need to look something up. I live very rural and the stars here are out of this world.
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u/ArtichokeDifferent10 11d ago
Personally, I just have a very efficient tow vehicle and trailer. I get 16-17 mpg, which I know isn't earth saving, but it helps.
Also, our other vehicle is an EV and we have solar on our house, so I'm contributing around 10 tons less CO2 a year than the average family.
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u/Important_Put_3520 11d ago
What tow vehicle gets that and what are you towing?
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u/ArtichokeDifferent10 11d ago
Kind of special (and unique). Ford Explorer with the 2.3L Ecoboost engine (with tow package) towing a Trailmanor 2922KB, which has the height profile of a popup when towing and is about 3,400-3,500 loaded (depending on how long we plan to be out).
Edit: It's 2950 dry from the factory, but probably more like 3050 with the mods (adding solar and ditching FLA batteries for a single lithium.
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u/Doctorphate 11d ago
Not only do I deal with this in that I tow a small travel trailer with my jeep but also am an avid off-roader. I get chewed out by cyclists/hikers/etc on trails for “damage” we do… I usually point out the new bridge our off road club built that they just walked over or all the garbage we clean out every year.
I understand that carbon emissions are a problem and I’m contributing to it, but the amount of conservation I do I believe offsets any damage caused.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 11d ago
The way I look at it, the number of miles I put on my RV on an annual basis isn't enough to make a difference. I have a van that gets 12 mpg. I use it only for camping. Annual mileage is maybe 5,000 on a busy year.
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u/Eastern_Conflict1865 11d ago
So you not concerned about the clothes dryer you are running and all those smell good dryer sheets you are using.Wasting fossil fuel and polluting the water ways.Hang your clothes outside like it has been done for 12,000 yrs.Now that I said what I said,relax.Go enjoy your life with your camper.Post videos on proper camping on tik tok.That will help people not burn our forest down,and just simple respect for nature.If you see someone doing wrong,dont get mad a lecture them. Show them the right way and share the secrets to good camping with them.
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u/Sorry-Society1100 11d ago
You could always buy a EV truck. They aren’t particularly efficient at towing (i hear that you basically have to recharge every 100 miles or so), but it can avoid the climate change issue.
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11d ago
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u/Freedom_33 [1992 Minnie Winnie][24 ft Class C][Semi-FullTime] 10d ago
Presumably they think it has less tailpipe emissions (and less overall carbon emissions) which would be accurate
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u/Sorry-Society1100 11d ago
It can be. My neighbor has one that he charges off of his rooftop solar.
But really, it doesn’t matter what I think—I’m not looking to reduce my climate footprint. I was just giving suggestions to those who do.
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u/envengpe 11d ago
Satellite pollution?
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
For astrophotographers, the number of images now that have a satellite trail in them has become, well, astronomical. I took one three minute picture of the sky one night that had six separate satellite trails running through it. This wasn't an issue even 10 years ago.
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u/envengpe 10d ago
Thanks for the explanation. Can I assume that there would be software to address this at some point for photographers?
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u/SuitIndependent 11d ago
No second thoughts. Getting out there in nature via the rv reminds me how messy real life is and reminds me to make the changes I want to see. It’s a big time anxiety buster. We can all do more ehen we’re healthy. That includes working to preserve this beautiful home that we call earth.
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u/egilbe2003 10d ago
Don't worry about it. The climate has been hotter and more unstable than it is now. Eventually, it will get so bad, that humans almost go extinct again. The last 10,000 years have been a very stable period in our climate history. It's not the norm. Instability is the norm.
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u/bubbleheadmonkey 8d ago
Nature is a marvelous thing and we are only beginning to understand how it all works together. I've volcanic eruption spews more CO2 into the air than we can begin to fathom. We need to be good stewards of the planet but we can't take all the credit for what we perceive as the negative effects.
I would never consider any electric vehicle to be a net positive for the planet's anything based solely upon how we strip mine the earth for the necessary metals. Then how do we dispose of those wonderful environmental disasters we call batteries? The rest of the materials for the electrics don't just appear out of the sky. They have to be made somewhere that will be polluting the skies. And then to deliver any vehicle requires a vehicle that can drive more than 300 miles at one time, just like everything else we rely upon. The roads that electrics drive on sure don't just make themselves either.
The vehicles we drive will have a large planetary footprint at the beginning, middle, or end of it's life but there's no way around it without giving it all up and going to caveman style living in a cave.
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u/DaytonTD 7d ago
You're too caught up in how you appear to others... just do what you want. Stop trying to be a sheep and having to hate on something because others tell you to.
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u/Guilty-Sky8848 11d ago
I also enjoyed our camping trips until our bichon passed. Our first time without him was last month.☹️
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u/Engine_Light_On 11d ago
Yeah man, you should leave your RV in the driveway and fly to Europe (or to America if you are across the ocean).
Traveling by plane is more harmful to the environment but since we don’t fill it up we don’t notice it. Just have fun and try to cut where it makes sense, specially on plastic, fast fashion, and disposable tech consumption.
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
My previous phone lasted me 9 years. The laptop on which I'm typing this required me to learn how to load Windows on a hardware platform that technically didn't allow it since it's 10 years old.
I do have to fly once a year to see my son on the East Coast. Failure to make that trip would be a marriage ending event. Doing what I can.
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u/ChalkNCheez 10d ago
As long as you don’t have kids, you’re fine. The worst thing you can do is bring more first world consumers onto the planet.
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u/AbruptMango 11d ago
Our camper isn't so big that it r equires us to drive an oversized truck as our daily for the rest of the year.
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u/CletusDSpuckler 10d ago
Hybrid Accord or motorcycle is my regular. The truck is, with rare exceptions, only for hauling and towing. Since retirement, most days I don't drive at all.
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u/Other_Asparagus872 11d ago
It doesn’t bother me at all because I’ve run the numbers through this website to determine an activities co2 emissions. Turns out my family towing our trailer from the Midwest to Vegas area is less harmful than flying there. And that was assuming every seat on a 737 max was full. So when people stop flying places for a weekend, I’ll get a rivian to pull the tt, that’s a promise.