[My notes and references from the Green Apartment Living class earlier today]

If you changed your lightbulb — then discovered the planet wasn’t yet “saved” — You’re not alone.

What are the big, meaningful changes? What can I do to make the BIGGEST difference I can as an individual? According to Umbra of Grist, travel tops the list of the most effective eco-changes we can make as individuals — followed by food, The heavy parts of home (i.e. AC, fridge), and activism.

For apartment dwellers, the heavy parts of home are usually beyond our control. But the travel thing basically covers both the food and the activism — which means you can basically tackle all the most effective eco-changes you can make by de-car-ing a bit!

Thus: A step by step guide:

1. Next time you move, settle near the Co-op (or in another walkable ‘hood)
Not too long ago, I had a reader write looking for green apartments in LA. My general answer there was that the biggest factor that determines how green your lifestyle is isn’t so much about finding an apartment that happens to have solar panels, but choosing an apartment that lets you de-car.

A cool tool towards this end: Walkscore. Plug in your zip, and this website will tell you how walkable your ‘hood is, based on the amenities you have around you. For ex, the area around the Co-op has a walk store of 88 out of 100 — which should really be even higher, since for some reason WalkScore doesn’t recognize the Co-op as a grocery store. Odd….

Social & eco bonus: You’ll get to know your neighbors who’ll start saying hello as you walk by. Walking to the Co-op will decrease your food miles!

2. Get a bicycle
I get around all of Santa Monica and most of Venice on a bike I got from Helen’s Cycles. Never fight for parking near the Third Street Promenade area again!

You’ll save tons of money over the car, get more exercise, and feel more self sufficient — especially since Bikerowave, a new lil DIY bike shop of sorts, will help you fix up your bike for really, really cheap.

Social & eco bonus: Join the fun at Critical Mass rides and Crimanimalz freeway rides (below). The rides also serve as a form of social activism — Bikes ARE traffic!

3. Pick a bus line.
The Big Blue Buses are clean and usually on time. Getting to downtown LA’s fast and easy on the Rapid 10; the #3 bus is great for getting to the airport on the cheap.

A word of caution: I strongly suggest relying on walking and biking for most of your needs. Figuring out complicated routes for long bus trips that require multiple connections on a daily basis can get trying. That said, don’t give up after one bad experience: You’ll find via trial and error that the bus is great for some things and places (getting downtown, for ex) and not for others (hauling lots of groceries, getting to Culver City).

Social & eco bonus: Especially if you ride a particular bus regularly — say, for work — you’ll likely make bus friends, like this woman did. Chat and meet people instead of honking at the bumper in front of you –

4. Put Eurotaxi in your celly
For emergencies and special occasions, I call Eurotaxi — which has the same rates as other taxis but offers CNG and biodiesel rides. Eurotaxi only picks up from the Santa Monica area though. For return trips, add another cab company that services all of LA in your phone too. Yep, cabs can get expensive, but with all the money you’re saving on gas and parking by de-car-ing, you’ll be able to afford a taxi when you need it.

Social & eco bonus: Many cabbies are interesting people to have convos with.

5. Join a carshare program
Unfortunately, Flexcars (now called Zipcars) have been pulled from Santa Monica locations, but if you work or live near the UCLA or USC campuses, these pay-by-the-hour rental programs are worth joining.

At the moment, I borrow Summer’s car for short trips, or rent a car from Enterprise — just a block away from my place — if I need one for a day or longer.

6. Carpool!
Call up a friend whenever you’re going to a party.

Social & eco bonus: You’ll have friends to chat with while stuck in traffic. Did you know that carpooling actually makes for safer driving?

7. Get rid of your car
I haven’t actually sold mine — It’s on permanent loan to a friend, who pays the insurance and maintenance on it. This has actually worked out well because it lets me keep my insurance — so I don’t have to pay for it when I rent a car.

Social & eco bonus: Your friends will offer you rides — and you won’t have to be the designated driver. Not having a car also serves as a v. convenient excuse for getting out of events you don’t really want to go to. Use that excuse judiciously though, lest you give the impression that de-car-ing means sitting at home.

8. Stay flexible and keep it fun
Don’t feel like you have to do it all, or that you have to de-car the way other people do. For ex, I have friends who think nothing of biking to downtown LA. More leg power to them, but I don’t do that, and don’t think I ever will; my biking happens almost exclusively within a 3 mile radius. I also don’t do the bike-bus combo many people swear by — I just find my bike too heavy.

I also don’t have a trailer or Xtracycle attachment for my bike. I get that having those things’d let me carry a lot of stuff — but I just don’t need to carry that much — and I also think the attachments are kinda crunchy looking.

The reason I de-car’d was not just due to enviro reasons — but because I wanted to improve my quality of life. There’s something v. lonely about driving alone into a gated community in the suburbs, to park in a private, 2-car garage and hole up in a place without ever running into your neighbors — something Bill McKibben points out in his book, Deep Economy, as a reason why so many people are so unhappy in this wealthy country of ours.

De-car-ing isn’t always easy — in the same way that meeting new people can sometimes be stressful. But knowing your community and the people in it has its own rewards. Being a good friend’s hard work, but “The knowledge that you matter to others is a kind of security that no money can purchase,” says McKibben.

If a bus ever gets too crowded or a car cuts in front of your bike, it’s helpful to remember that fighting traffic and circling for traffic aren’t exactly pleasant aspects of life either –

Lastly: Some Long term ideas I’m thinking about that maybe we can all work together on:

1. Coming up with some sort of carshare plan among neighbors, in the absence of a Zipcar in our ‘hood. Most of our cars are parked most of the time. Surely there’s a way for us to both take advantage of and monetize that?

2. Work on improving bicycle infrastructure. Alex Thompson suggests getting involved with Santa Monica’s LUCE, which is being updated now. My main issue right now is the sudden dearth of bike racks, now that everyone in Santa Monica’s gotten on a bike!

3. Advocating for rail. We don’t have it, but I want it. You can get more involved with the Expo line via Friends 4 Expo, or go to future Metro meetings about subway projects.

Helpful Reading:
>> Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben
>> Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
>> The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices by the Union of Concerned Scientists

Top two images via Marketplace and Walkscore; Crimanimalz photo by Steven Rood; Eurotaxi photo by Summer Bowen

Update, 7/22/08: Notes from all 3 presentations!

Comments