College Student Sets Goal: Entire Summer on One Tank of Gasoline

I nearly spit out my food when i saw this. Amazing! When I was in college i didn't even have a car! I also haven't owned a car for the last four years (out of choice!) I bike, walk and bus everywhere and have been for all this time. I live in Canada! It snows here! Where's my press coverage???

Her Mother took away her car keys --- simple

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I think it's rather sad when it's newsworthy that a college student is going a summer on one tank of gas. I'm well aware that I'll sound bitter here, but I survived just fine without a car at all for the course of my entire degree... taking transit, walking, or simply staying in. That said, it's always good to see that people are thinking about these issues and trying to make informed, responsible decisions.

I didn't have/use one tank of gasoline until 2 years out of college. Is this really difficult in the grand scheme of thiogs? It almost seems like an Onion parody story-

Homeless man goes entire summer without using car!

13yr old boy fighting global warming by not being able to drive!

Seriously?

So she gets some attention/acclaim for what others do because they have no choice? Bravo!

I did two whole degrees on zero tanks of gasoline. Beat that, 'College Student'!

already seen this on cnn or something. what treehugger forgot to include is that she also RELIES ON OTHERS FOR TRIPS. She's just cheap, not an eco crusader.

"she also RELIES ON OTHERS FOR TRIPS. She's just cheap, not an eco crusader."

Carpooling's not green?

This is horrible. I echo everyone else here. Since when do college students need cars??? This is the problem with our society. We're congratulating this chick? Most of New York City goes years without using gas.... loads of BS here.

Come on guys!!! Lamest TreeHugger post in a while. A week without driving??? Where does this chick live?? The remote boonies? I can't believe the US this badly screwed. Not only did I not have a car in college AT ALL, but it never even occurred to me that this was a problem. Hell, I STILL don't own a car because I live somewhere that I don't need one. I certainly rent them on occasion for weekend trips, but it totally blows my mind that this country is so F'D up that it's actually considered amazing to go one week without driving. WE ARE IN TROUBLE!!!!

She lives in Portland. I want to see her do this living in Beaman, Iowa. Then it'll be newsworthy.

Wow, someone voluntarily decides to almost stop using her car and everybody sh*ts on her. No wonder people don't give a crap about green.

anonymous: she didn't mention carpooling, she mentioned that she would bum rides (then she giggles). How can she say she is not using a whole tank of gas when she is using others gas. Its like someone saying they only buy 50 dollars worth of groceries but eats at their parents or from the food bank. its not newsworthy. someone using a hybrid could do this way easier but everyone will say they just bought the car and its not them. you can't have your cake and eat it too.

anonymous: she didn't mention carpooling, she mentioned that she would bum rides (then she giggles). How can she say she is not using a whole tank of gas when she is using others gas. Its like someone saying they only buy 50 dollars worth of groceries but eats at their parents or from the food bank. its not newsworthy. someone using a hybrid could do this way easier but everyone will say they just bought the car and its not them. you can't have your cake and eat it too.

I think it's more representative of the mentality of people at FOX "news". Look at the headlines there:

"College student surviving summer on 1 tank of gas!"

"One-tank wonder!"

As if it were front-page news. "Wonder"? Please. This isn't news. This isn't even amazing. If it's either news or amazing, it's because you have your head so far up your ass you think you can see daylight. It's likely some FOX "news" "reporter" went googling for some amazing fuel efficiency story and came across this by accident and made the blogger famous for 15 seconds. I level *my* complaint squarely at FOX.

I also like the term "surviving". Does she eat gas? Is it somehow absolutely essential to life? Well, that's terrible, because I've been living without buying *any* for about 10 years now! Maybe I should start eating it. I wonder if a diet low in gas causes Alzheimers or Leukemia or something. That could be bad.

Well, I have a question for the commenters above: How much gasoline have *you* used this summer?

"Well, I have a question for the commenters above: How much gasoline have *you* used this summer?"

I ride my bike daily to work, errands (such as groceries), and for fun. When snow is on the ground, I take the bus or walk. Every other weekend, I take the Coach bus to visit boyfriend and family. We use his car or take the transit to go to movies and dinner. As stated above, I haven't owned a car in 4 years.

I think the thousands of other regular bike commuters out there could agree with me how ridiculous FOX treated this story as if this girl was some kind of superwoman.

Sounds like some sour grapes here. After all, if most people went with one tank of gas every two week, it would be an amazing load off. I think she should be congratulated. And what's wrong with ride sharing? Isn't that the point?

I think most people here are knocking the fact that OTHER people are applauding her for doing something that some people are FORCED to do, like it's somehow impossible not to use gas. She deserves some of that negative energy though because she is going along with the idea its amazing by being a part of the circus.

Just imagine someone being celebrated, momentarily, by the news for something like only buying basic cable and sacrificing in this recession.

"I mainly watch news and Everybody Loves Raymond, and I have NetFlix so I figured I'd do my part"

I understand that her part here in this has a positive outcome , where as basic cable does not but it's more about how insane it is to perpetuate the idea that she is somehow doing something impossible.

Steve, but she's a "one tank WONDER"!

In the name of all that is holy, may lighting strike and obliterate Fox News and all that lies inside it.

This is dumb. Its like saying that you saved a person's life by not killing them.

How much gas have I used this summer? I'd say the times I was in a non-electric bus + the times I was in someone elses car or a cab probably comes out to about 1/8 of a tank of gas.

I haven't owned a car since 1997 and the 2 cars I have owned were built 6 years before I was born.

Its not that hard at all. I think its Fox trying to be relevant and finding someone pretty to put up on the screen as newsworthy because the green then is trendy and they don't understand it at all but they don't want to lose face.

Good for her! But it does sound like an Onion article.

Since I started studying in Japan, I stopped driving. I rely on walking and taking commuter's electric trains to get to places and a bicycle to do groceries over the weekend.

I have gone through 7 pairs of soxes and 0 drop of gas. Beat that.. American college student.

all of you are opinionated lame ducks. she feels she's doing her part. let her. what's it to you.

Too bad most of Fox's viewers won't take heed.

While this is no big news story to TreeHugger readers, and apparently quite the bonnet-bee for many as well, I think that this a nice gesture for the FOX-viewers of the nation to witness. Perhaps it will inspire some not-so-green folks to try taking that first baby-step, or at the very least they might admire the effort (I know, I know, "some effort" but bear with me cranky pantses) that one pretty normal non-raving-hippie-type is making both for her pocketbook and the environment. You can't expect FOX to go way overboard with a story like this, and cover someone who is living an extreme zero-carbon kinda lifestyle. The story should be accessible, so that maybe a few more people will try the same thing, rather than just shrug their shoulders and say, "Geez, being green is so frikkin complicated, you have to be a nutbar to go to those lengths." I'm just saying. Silly story, but consider the audience - one that could probably use a tiny nudge or two in the green direction, yah?

One thing I think that is admirable is that she decided to do it and she is also blogging about it. That may seem like a petty thing, but what it is doing is showing others that you will find times when you run into obstacles or have to change your plans, but you work through it because you made a decision. By looking through her blog, other college students who have gotten too used to driving their cars everywhere will start to get the ideas of how to save on gas consumption. Its not about this one student or this one summer, its more about trying out all the different ways you can make it around without relying on your car. All the people out there who are talking about how it is their everyday life and it is what so many people are doing - what are YOU doing to share that experience in a way that it will INSPIRE others to do the same?

ive gone three years without driving a car, ive exclusively used my bike as my main mode of transportation....should i be on the news?

ive gone three years without driving a car, ive exclusively used my bike as my main mode of transportation....should i be on the news?

Are you angry now? Now do you understand how vile FOX news is? This is their intentional path - to make people want to hate and be angry. See you it even gets the readers of TreeHugger into a tissy?

Ignore this. Let it go. It's only FOX's evil that you see here.

My youth was spent in an area with much public transport and 7 cent fares. Very convenient. Later on I resented that I would have to own my own ride and spend a chunk of my income to get around.

The highlight of my early days was riding the electric Trackless Trolleys. They are coming back in Phila. I always believed that the future of autos was electric propulsion! Maybe coast to coast Maglev rairoads will take the place of jet planes.