Scooting through No Impact Week – Day 3: Transportation

Bikes and buses: Way to go.
Image by ACTransit.org via Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 generic

It’s Day 3 of the No Impact Week Challenge.The steps today are all about changing our mode of transportation. Luckily, this one is a no-brainer for us. (I'm still waiting for the day we’re asked to go the rest of the week without our  'puters, or to wash our clothes in the tub with Dr. Bonner's and our feet!}

As my regular readers know, we haven’t owned a car in several years—seven to be exact. That doesn’t mean we don’t ride in them occasionally. Most of the time, we walk or ride public trains and buses.

What we’re up to with today’s challenge

From the Sierra Club No Impact Week manual, we are to have a blast with the following. 

1. Take stock of your habits: make a list of everywhere you’re going today and how you usually get there. What alternative modes of transportation could you use instead? Log onto your local transit authority’s website for an online trip planner.
   I’ll walk in the early morning for exercise, fresh air and as part of my morning meditation. Later, I’ll walk a few blocks to my local organic grocer for a few supplies, and still later, I’ll run an errand further away that, if I had more time available, I could walk. It’s only a couple of miles, but I’ll take a bus. I have a choice between a vehicle powered by electricity or one powered by diesel fuel. Either way, fossil fuels come into play.
2. Organize a carpool, pick up a bus schedule or tune up your bicycle.
   No can do. Don’t own a car or bicycle, and I don’t need a printed bus schedule because I have easy access to electronic applications. Interesting question: What has more aggregate carbon impact—Printing thousands of copies of new bus schedules every time routes change and distributing them throughout the region, or patrons using cell phones and computers to plan our routes?
3. Throughout the day, keep a list of everything you eat, where you eat and where you purchase your food. This will help you get ready for Wednesday's challenge.
   I’m tracking this separately. More tomorrow.
4. GO! Bike. Walk. Scoot. Glide. Hop on the bus. Carpool.
   Is it just me, or does one this seem a bit redundant?
5. Take a moment to reflect on your day. Was it a nice change of pace or a difficult one? What benefits did you discover along your route? What could you improve in your experience? Comment about it here. I'll return to update this at the end of the day. Update: Since I routinely walk or ride the bus, there was no change of pace. I did take advantage of the beautiful weather to walk to all my errands, rather than riding the bus part way as I sometimes do. I thoroughly enjoyed the long walk in the coastal sunshine. Delighted!
6. Write down five things for which you are grateful.
   Only five? I am deeply grateful for:
   1. Good health.
   2. Strong limbs to carry me.
   3. Plenty of organic, fresh and local food options within walking/busing distance.
   4. Every person who has the option and chooses to walk, ride a bicycle or use public transportation rather than polluting our air and poisoning our bodies with a fossil-fueled vehicle.
   5. A loving, thriving, healthy family.

Are you taking the challenge? Do you plan to take the Huffington Post version in October? Or how about this? Quick, name five things for which you are grateful right now.

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We make peace in a million small ways every day.
All text and images, unless otherwise noted, copyright L. Kathryn Grace. All rights reserved.