On the beaten path

That's the mantra-like campaign started by Fulton "Jay" Hanson, a Minnesota grandfather, homesteader and green activist.

You know the triangular slow-moving vehicle symbol you see on farm vehicles? Well, Hanson took that symbol, turned it green, put a tree in the middle and included the text "Drive Easy Conserve."

Drive Easy is now a national, and international, phenomena.

I learned about Hanson's plan in an excellent report by Todd Moe of North Country Public Radio: http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/archive.php?id=11639

So what is Hanson asking you do do? Nothing specific, just take it easy. Be mindful of your speed and realize that reducing your pace by 5 or 10 mph is better for your car, better for the environment, safer for you, safer for your fellow drivers and probably better for your blood pressure.

I like to think of it as permission to drive like an old man in a hat ... except for the part where your left-turn signal is always on. OK, those of you who are snickering because I am an old man in a hat ... knock it off.

You can get your own Drive Easy stickers and learn more about Hanson's campaign at: http://www.driveeasy.org/

I think of Drive Easy as road-rage therapy. Just say it over and over to yourself ... drive easy, drive easy, drive easy. Feel better already, don't you?

Now, before one of you greenie-meanies comes charging at me in your pious Prius, importuning, "Drive as easy you want in that obsolete rust bucket and you still have a carbon footprint the size of a Yeti," let me say that we can't all afford to junk our 1993 Plymouth Grand Voyagers and take out a second mortgage for a super-electro-hybrid-thingie.

In fact, the Drive Easy campaign has an even bigger impact on cars that are less fuel efficient.

So don't worry. Drive Easy.