They say the human species’ great natural advantage is the ability to adapt. I’ve decided to adapt and tell Big Oil where it can go.
I’ve committed to implementing a seven-year plan toward independence from single occupancy of gasoline-fueled vehicles. It’s very simple: I will start this year by arranging my life so that one day a week, I do not drive a conventional car by myself. Next year, it will be two days a week. The following year, three days a week, and so on.
I’ve experimented with “green” lifestyle for decades. But the car thing has been difficult as I haven’t had the bucks to buy a hybrid car. And relying solely on public transportation is only realistically possible in a few select cities in the
Part of my motivation in implementing this plan is to do my part to slow global warming. But a much larger part is because I am so angry at Congress,
And now the public is whining about high gas prices. I am sympathetic to all the unfortunate homeowners who bought the American Dream in the form of big houses in the ‘burbs, and SUVs for commuting. I’m sympathetic because their leaders should have provided more leadership. Political leadership has again proven to be an oxymoron.
Europeans have been paying a great deal more for gas for decades. They don’t subsidize oil companies. Instead they subsidize health care, education and public transportation. Do I think the American public could endorse similar policies? Only if it gets over its sense of entitlement that because we’ve long squandered a disproportionate share of the world’s resources, we should be able to continue to do so indefinitely. World population has doubled in the past fifty years. It seems like the smart thing to do is share resources, not fight over them.
But without a practical plan, my anger is only hard on me. This simple plan provides a manageable way to harness that energy. In year one, all I have to do is rearrange my schedule so that one day a week, I don’t drive. (By my rules, it doesn’t have to be the same day each week.) That gives me a whole year to figure out how I’m going to manage to stay out of the car two days a week next year. In the meantime, I’ll start testing the bus system.
A year is also long enough to build the strength and confidence to ride my bike more often. Bike riding requires a different wardrobe and carrying less stuff around. But in a year, I should be able to eliminate stashes of makeup, pens and excessive paperwork. I’ll find a lightweight notebook computer. I can learn to coordinate the bike and bus routines. It looks cool to see people ride to a bus stop, plunk the bike on the rack in front and then climb in the bus. Soon I’ll be one of them.
Another thing that can happen in a year is to figure out what errands to eliminate. Maybe I’ll buy a little photocopy machine ending trips to the copy shop. Maybe I’ll start buying postage online and have the post man pick up packages, as the post office now advertises. I could plan two weeks of meals at a time and go food shopping half as often and coordinate with a friend to shop together, or carpool to meetings.
If need be, seven years is long enough to plan and implement major life changes—such as a change in occupation or residence—to become less reliant on cars. It’s also long enough to save money to purchase a different kind of vehicle. If I can’t afford a new hybrid or electric within seven years, there should be more used ones available.
They say that within a seven year period, every cell in the body has been renewed and we each are, essentially, a totally new person. Since, in the end, I am the only person I can change, I commit to becoming a different transportation consumer in that time. Habits may be difficult to change. But changing them is not impossible. I’ll be blogging about this personal evolution here and welcome your input on how to plop that bike smoothly on the bus bike rack.
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