As a child of the seventies it was considered the norm that we walked to school. Most of our Mum’s stayed at home instead of working, but very few had access to a car when Dad had headed off to work. In fact, getting dropped off in a car was quite embarrassing as it drew unwanted attention from your peers just at the moment you would do anything to be the same as everyone else.

In this day and age it is unfortunate but the opposite is true. Roads around schools are clogged every morning with women delivering their offspring – often in gas-guzzling monsters which would be better suited to a morning off-roading – and even more frustratingly there is usually only one family per vehicle. As someone who is conscious of a need to try and influence environmental change on a local level I am writing now to suggest a few ways which you might be able to mobilise your community – literally – for the better.

First of all, the obvious one: walk to school. Ditch the high heels in exchange for a pair of stylish hiking sandals for women and reduce your carbon footprint by getting you and your children to school under your own steam. Secondly and on a grander scale, organise a walking bus for the area – keep everyone safe, fit and well and include families with working parents too. Lastly, if all else fails then organise a co-ordinated car sharing scheme. Reduce the number of vehicles on the road and therefore the environmental impact and make it an easier start to the day for several families as you take turns to run – or drive – the gauntlet through the early morning traffic.

Show a good example to your children and hopefully you will instil basic values in them that will last a lifetime and help to protect our planet for years to come.

The car industry is an industry in turmoil at the moment.
On the one hand, the worldwide recession proved to be an extremely challenging time for the world’s big manufacturers with some going to the wall and others having to be bailed out by governments.
On the other hand, the very nature of cars is evolving rapidly. OK, perhaps you could argue that it’s always changing quickly and always has since the first mass production Model T Fords were introduced to the American masses during the 1920s. But if you take that car and compare it to today’s best-selling models, there actually aren’t that many truly fundamental differences.
You have a conventionally-fuelled car in the same basic format. Obviously, technology in engine design, aerodynamics and many other facets of automotive technology move on apace. But the type of fuel hasn’t truly undergone the revolution that many foresaw decades ago during the 19070s oil crisis.
Perhaps, though, that is now changing. The advent of plug-in rechargeable electric cars and hybrids, as well as new and different fuel sources such as ethanol and complementary technologies such as solar power is changing cars by the day.
Quite where the cards will eventually fall is difficult to decipher at the moment. The overall picture is one of competing alternative fuel technologies which are simultaneously changing almost by the day.
At the moment, it looks like hybrid vehicles have the edge. Hybrids make highly cost-effective family cars combining the best elements of electrical power and conventional fuels like petrol and diesel. But the hybrid principle could be adapted for alternative fuels such as ethanol, whilst solar technology is improving quickly and has the potential to make electric-only cars more realistically viable for commuters in the future.
Whatever happens it will be interesting and you can bet that the way most cars are powered a decade from now will be very different. A revolution is underway.

We are ever more aware of the need to be green in our daily habits. We recycle every piece of household rubbish, we walk when we can instead of drive, or take public transport, we try to keep a lid on our carbon emissions by turning down the heating a degree or two to protect the ozone.
Sometimes, though, you have to drive, especially when you’ve got a family. Public transport is not always an option and often cost-prohibitive to people with children. It’s not always practical to do the environmentally right thing and leave the car at home.
Of all the low emission cars available, electric, solar and hydrogen powered cars are probably the most environmentally friendly.  But, as yet, they are simply not viable options for people with families. Solar is more often currently used as an add-on source of power.  For example, the Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car that has a solar panel on its rear spoiler to charge the battery that powers in-car accessories like the audio system and headlights. Electric cars have the problem of their range – how far you can go before the battery needs recharging.  Hydrogen fuelling stations are not common sights on UK roads.
An eminently practical option for people looking for the best family car is the hybrid car.  Although hybrids started out as being little urban two-seaters, in much the same way as electric vehicles, they now come in all shapes and sizes.
As well as having low carbon dioxide emissions, hybrids offer drivers great savings on fuel consumption (and therefore cost). The petrol or diesel engine is combined with an electric motor that assists the engine during acceleration. Through a process called regenerative braking, the electric motor is recharged as excess kinetic energy is stored in its battery.
The time for solar family cars will certainly come, but at the moment, it’s more feasible to be a green family driver with a hybrid.