I stumbled upon an op-ed piece in the Waco Tribune-Herald ^[1] by Motor City Madman Ted Nugent that calls out to all–hunters and non-hunters alike–to “tough it out” this winter and conserve energy as much as possible.

With his usual machismo, Nugent scolds his local Texans (he recently moved to the Waco area) for being environmentally un-conscious ^[2], for keeping their truck and car engines running while sitting idle for long periods of time, and for irresponsible waste that exceeds any amount of pollution he had experienced even in Michigan.

“I know Texans are a little tender when it comes to “cold” December mornings. But we Yankee MotorCity Michiganiacs do not consider 30 degrees to be that cold.

“And it surely doesn’t qualify as cold enough to waste all that fuel just so the big, tough hunters can be warm and cozy for the tortuous 20-minute ride to our cold deerblinds.”

Although I don’t agree with all of his ideas, I’m pumping my fist in the air for Uncle Nugey on this one. We should all begin turning off our engines anytime we’re parked and idling for longer than thirty seconds. Doing so saves gas and decreases your daily output of greenhouse gas emissions.

Check out this fact sheet ^[3] from the city of Lexington, Massachusetts, to learn more about the effects of idling and join The Atrocious Theodocious by putting a stranglehold on engine idling and carbon emissions this winter.