Environment:

So I'll admit that this is not current news at all, but I only recently learned about PZEV rated automobiles. This is a California certification for extraordinarily clean cars. I have been saying for months that my next car will be a CVT Hybrid (after experiencing the sheer joy of driving my wife's Honda Civic Hybrid CVT). The CVT transmission is the first "automatic" transmission I have ever liked, and it is the only way I'll give up a manual shifter. She is getting between 37 and 45 mpg depending on traffic and hills and it is very clean (I believe SULEV). I am just now learning that both the Civic and the Toyota Prius come in PZEV versions that are even cleaner, for only a few hundred dollars more, and this sounds fantastic. I am likely to drive my current car into the ground, then replace with a CVT Hybrid with a PZEV rating, but if a manufacturer makes at CVT Hybrid PZEV with cooled seats and a wagon/hatchback with fold-down seats so I can carry my longbows, I'd trade in my Saab 9-5 today.

This is more current news: there is a company called TerraPass that is allowing ordinary drivers to purchase greenhouse gas credits for their driving habits and car. They claim that only 10% of their revenue will be used for profit and the rest is used to run the company and to fund environmentally positive projects that take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere! If that is true it could go a long way into helping offset the impact of driving. I am looking for ways to find out how legit the company is, and how much overhead they have, but I am very interested in some TerraPass like credits for my car, my house, my computers, and even my bicycle (it has plastic parts).