By Nicole Walters, GreenisUniversal.com

It seems everything is rising these days - the national debt, gas prices, temperatures and tempers.  Fortunately, I haven't been too badly affected by the gas prices because I drive a total of about 8 miles per day - to and from my local train station.  Still, the $60 receipt when I filled up my tank last week did make me cringe.  Just about two months ago it was usually $40 and I've begun to reminisce to anyone who will listen about when I was in college and could fill up my tank for $10.  Ah, those were the days...

As gas prices soar over $5/gallon in some areas more Americans are viewing public transportation as a viable and convenient option for traveling.  I couldn't agree more.  I've been commuting to NYC by train for almost 2 years now and by my calculations, if I had been driving all that time, I would have spent an extra $10,000!  I used this nifty trip gas price calculator from AAA, added tolls, parking costs and took into consideration gas price averages of last year.