GREEN RVING? YES IT IS POSSIBLE!

I know some of you are wondering, what is up with anyone who believes it’s possible to be a green RVer? Is she crazy?

No, I’m not (officially), and yes it is possible to be a nomad and still demonstrate concern for the environment. In fact as a group, we RVers are much more conscious of our natural world because we spend so much time in it. We appreciate the splendor that we see unfold beyond our windows as we travel, and many of us love to walk among newly fallen leaves, or take a hike when the leaves are just beginning to bud in the spring. Some of us even appreciate a fresh blanket of snow and frigid temperatures that nip at our noses. We tend to spend a lot of time outdoors enjoying nature’s beauty.

Few stick-house dwellers ever spend time just enjoying what nature has to offer unless it is during their too-short vacations. They’re too busy earning a living to pay for their homes, cars, and the kid’s piano, soccer, tennis, and cheerleading lessons, and then rushing them back and forth between home, work and classes/practice.While they may live in a gorgeous region of the country with beautiful mountains as a backdrop to their lovely homes, most don’t get much time to relish the view. I’d venture to say that most are just biding their time in unfulfilling jobs until retirement, when they plan to sit on the porch and suck in the view while they suck up cocktails. Some are even waiting for the day they can hit the road in their own RV.

Still, many of them are hesitant to dream of a life on the road because they think RVs waste fuel and pollute the air. They don’t want to be accused of contributing to the destruction of the environment. Frankly, I get r-e-a-l-l-y cranky when ALL RVers are accused of being polluting, fuel-wasting gas or diesel hogs. Sure, some can be accused of being mega-polluters, but so can everyone who drives a big SUV.

To those who accuse all RVers of being guilty of harming the environment, I want to ask, “What have you done for the environment lately?” Do you keep your thermostat turned up to eighty in the summertime and down to 68 during the winter? Do you turn it off at bedtime? Do you use solar panels or wind power to heat and cool your home? Many RVers do one or all of the above.

How big is your home? If it’s the average-sized house, do you know how much energy it takes to heat it as compared to a 300-400 square-foot RV? Lots more, I can promise. Plus RVers are prone to head to sunnier climes if the weather gets cold and rainy, cutting heating costs even more. The same goes for when it gets steamy and hot. We usually rush to cooler locations to spend the dog days of summer. And as a group, we tend to leave the windows open to capture fresh breezes.

Do you know how much water you use when you take a shower? RVers do. We have small fresh water and holding tanks, and even tinier water heaters. We know not to stay in the shower one minute longer than necessary!

Do you help clean up the environment by picking up litter alongside your community’s roadsides? In many RV parks, you’ll find days set aside for just that duty. Even if there’s no special day, a lot of active RVers (meaning those young and flexible enough to hike and bend over, then manage to get back up without help, and those strong enough to tote heavy garbage bags) organize groups or go out on their own to pick up trash along highways.

How many loads of laundry do you wash and dry each day? RVers have to travel light, so many own lightweight clothes that they can hand wash and hang in the shower overnight to dry. Few of us enjoy spending $2.00 or more per load at the Laundromat, so we wait until we have a FULL load before heading over to drop our quarters into bottomless slot machines that never pay out. Somehow, a clean load of laundry doesn’t have quite the same impact as a big, noisy payout on a slot machine!

What about the magazines and books you read? Do you go to the library to read magazines and check out books, or do you recycle your reading material by passing it on to someone else? Most RV parks have a place where guests can leave magazines and books they’ve finished reading, and pick up more that they haven’t read. This exchange shelf keeps our minds sharp by offering reading material that is sometimes not found at local newsstands, plus we get to recycle our onboard libraries.

Does every home in your neighborhood have an under-used swimming pool? Think of all the water that is wasted, the chemicals that are released into the environment, and if the pools are heated—well!!! We RVers usually find a nice, clean pool in the parks where we stay and can all swim or play to our heart’s content. And it only takes one set of chemicals to keep it fresh and clean.

What about the cleaning chemicals you use for your home? Again, RVers don’t have much storage space, so most learn to exist with only a couple of cleaning agents. Some even make our own cleaning solutions from natural products that we already have on hand—like vinegar and baking soda.

I don’t want this to sound critical of home owners. Certainly, I don’t mean to come across that way. Anyone anywhere can conserve energy and live a more “green” lifestyle, whether in a home, motorhome, or teepee. I know many house dwellers that go out of their way to help the environment, and I know some RVers who think nothing of littering, polluting, and otherwise damaging our atmosphere.

We RVers sometimes face rude comments when we pull into gas stations, especially when a vehicle pulls in just in time to see the total amount of gallons we’ve bought. However, they don’t realize that this may be a one-time fill-up before we park for several months.

Yes, RVs notoriously squander gas like it was flowing freely out of a gushing spring. However, the average RV is on the road for fewer than 6000 miles per year. People drive them for their vacation trip, or full-timers travel back and forth between a couple of favored spots. Neither of these types of RVers put a lot of miles on their rig. Very few of us drive our RVs daily! Who can afford to? And if you’ve ever driven a big rig, you know it’s not an experience most people would relish doing every day.

Sheer economics force RVers to conserve energy and travel fewer miles than if we had daily commutes to jobs, and limited storage space forces most of us to travel light and lean.

Some Americans have been environmentally aware for years, and others are now joining the movement, what with the new data on global climate change. It is possible to travel and enjoy your RV lifestyle and still keep your journey and home on the road “green.” It takes planning—just like at home—but it’s worth the effort if it helps protect our environment. When it comes down to it, it’s the only one we’ve got!