by Laural Porter

Goodbyes are hard for me. Not this time.

He was reliable, safe and always available. But it had become painfully clear lately that we weren't meant to stay together.

We started getting sideways glances from people we passed. Portlanders really didn't approve our relationship. Besides, he was costing way too much money.

So we parted ways. Oh, we might still get together for special occasions, maybe skiing with the whole family, but
other than that I'll be spending a lot more time with a new traveling companion.

By now you are probably wondering who "he" is. "He" is my big, blue SUV, the one I've been driving since 2000.

It's parked until we need it to carry four kids and a dog again.

In my life now is a new Toyota hybrid. I'm in love. I am not a big car person and have never really loved a car.

But this car makes me feel "green." Doing some research here on kgw.com I found out that my new car has an EPA air pollution score of 8 with 10 being the best.

It emits 5.4 tons of co2 a year - one of the best ratings on the road. That still seems like an awful lot. But I don't even want to know
how big my Ford Expedition's carbon footrpint was.

I have seen people driving Expeditions with bumper stickers that say, "I'm contributing to global warming."
I knew I was, too. But I didn't want to be.

At KGW NewsChannel 8 we recently started a station campaign called "Going Green." We do Going Green stories nearly every night. I felt I needed to "Go Green" myself.
After all, if you're "going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk."
So, hello hybrid and bye-bye ol' blue SUV.

I still have a long way to go in reducing my carbon footprint. I am so impressed and inspired by one of the bloggers
here on kgw.com who delivers 240 Oregonian newspapers every day on his bike. Now, that's "Going Green."

But getting a hybrid is a start.

Oh, by the way, we did change our Christmas lights to LED.

So here's to a "Green" Christmas - and a Merry one, too.

Laural