Yesterday I dropped about $600 on my trip to Florida next month where I'll be doing three environmental video stories for Yahoo news, Assignment Earth.

Flights -- $175 (fly into Tampa and out from Orlando)

Hotels -- $200 for three nights

Car -- $216 for an SUV for four days

Now I know what you're thinking: what on God's earthy crunchy earth was I thinking renting an SUV for my trip to shoot environmental stories. Well, I was planning on getting a regular midsize car but when I looked at Avis's site, the Chevy SUV was about $40 cheaper than the midsize Pontiac G6. So I did a quick calculation, figuring on about 450 miles of driving, $3 per gallon of gas, and 15 mpg and 22 mpg for the SUV and Pontiac respectively. It turned out even with the cost of gas being pretty high, the difference in mpg is just way too small. I would only save about $10 in gas by picking the Pontiac.

I wish there were an easier, cheaper, and more fuel efficient way for me to get around in Florida, but there isn't. So I'm stuck driving an SUV, which will be the first time I'll ever drive one, and likely the last at least for a while. I think I'm going to buy a carbon neutral tag for my trip. Basically, you calculate how many miles of air travel and car travel you will do on your trip. This translates directly into a certain number of pounds of carbon dioxide that is released. You can purchase a certificate to remain carbon neutral. The money basically goes to a variety of renewable energy funds and projects (like wind energy, yay!) that account for the equivalent amount of emissions you've used.