Green Daily

The New York Times ran an interesting piece this week about a family of three spreading the green gospel in a motor home. The Janssens slowly downsized from a 1,600 square foot home to a recreational vehicle. They then took to the road fueling their vehicle with vegetable oil from greasy spoons across the nation.

Recreational vehicles do not pop into my mind when I think of "green travel." The mammoths of the highway only get about eight miles per gallon. In addition, the interiors of many of these homes are full of formaldahyde and other toxins in the furnishings that make long term living a bad idea. The Janssens got around this by renovating their mobile home complete with bamboo floors and non-toxic paints.

Living in an RV has kept the Janssens conserving. The hot water tank on board only holds six gallons of water (yikes) and there is no impulse to buy anything as they don't have any extra storage space. Sara Janssen estimates that they have saved over $25,000 by using vegetable oil instead of conventional fuel. You can follow their current travels on their website.

Do you think that you could get rid of it all and move your family into a 36 foot RV?