I’m taking the No Impact Experiment for the first week of January. Here’s Day 1: Consumption and Day 2: Trash.
As someone who de-car’d for a couple years — then brought the car back with a determination to live very car-lite — I can tell you that car ownership seems almost inevitably to lead to car creep — a slow but steady increase in the amount of life spent behind the wheel.
Once I got the car back, I started out driving about once a week at first, mainly to Kaiser (I brought back the car because I had to switch health insurance to Kaiser; getting there and back via bus took more than half a work day when I lived in Santa Monica). Then I started becoming a bit lackadaisical about my planning for events I planned to attend, half-heartedly planning out a public transit option but then hopping in the car because I was going to run late. Then I started agreeing to a few far-ish events here and there — without looking for carpool partners, whom I routinely looked for when I didn’t have my car.
Things took a dramatic turn for the worse when I moved to West Hollywood — despite the fact that my new West Hollywood neighborhood — with a stellar Walkscore of 97 — is even more pedestrian-friendly than my old Santa Monica ‘hood! This was partly because my new apartment no longer had space for a bike (it is now on permanent loan to Sara Bayles of The Daily Ocean) and partly because I couldn’t wean myself off Santa Monica!
When I moved, I started making trips to Santa Monica once a week to hit all my favorite haunts, from Co-opportunity to the LEED-certified library. To my credit, I bundled all the Santa Monica errands together for one day — but I was driving more than ever before. That, plus the simple fact that I had to cobble together new car-free trip plans for every place I wanted to get to, meant that I found myself driving a good 3-4 times a week the last few months.
My one semi-valid excuse excuse is the crazy weather we’ve been having. You must admit: It’s tough to get motivated to explore new eco-transit options during sudden torrential record-breaking rainfalls and freezing temperatures. Honestly, I didn’t have the clothes for it.
But the rains ended, the weather warmed up, and No Impact Experiment’s Transportation day arrived yesterday, with its directive to “Burn calories, not fossil fuels” — just as higher traffic fines and gas prices kicked in. I was feeling cranky and cooped-up from all the time spent behind the wheel too.
Serendipitously, Tuesdays were my Santa Monica days. Yesterday, I’d planned to go to a meeting, get tea with Sara, then shop at Co-opportunity. Three stops may seem like legitimate excuse for a car trip to some, but honestly, if I didn’t have my car, I would have simply planned differently to either eliminate the need for the trip, or consolidate them into a smaller area — as the original Tuesday plans would have required getting on a whole bunch of different buses for every stop.
So I canceled the trip to Santa Monica.
After all, West Hollywood is a perfectly good meeting place; I was just clinging to my old Santa Monica habit. I can buy produce at Trader Joe’s or Pavilions, both of which I can walk to. They aren’t as awesome as the Co-op but certainly not horrible enough to justify burning lots of fossil fuels on my part. And Sara I could see on Thursday, when I plan to attend LA Green Drinks in Santa Monica.
So instead, I stayed nearby and finally figured out which bus to take to my boyfriend’s — and took it! A 10-minute ride on the Metro 10 and about 10 minutes of walking later, I made it to his place in Hollywood, with a little fresh-ish L.A. air and much-needed post-holiday exercise and without traffic and parking hassles.
Then I patted myself on the back for not only freeing myself from an unnecessary long car trip to Santa Monica, but also starting a new habit that’ll keep me out of the car a few extra times a week.
Of course, the eco-transportation work isn’t done: Anyone in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills want to carpool to Santa Monica for Green Drinks tomorrow?
Earlier:
>> Discover One-Mile-Radius Living
>> How not to get fat: De-car in the city!
>> Live near work, save planet and money and time
>> Simple summer slimming tip: Take public transit to drop pounds
Update, 1/10/11: Don’t miss the rest of the No Impact Experiment series! Here’s Day 1: Consumption, Day 2: Trash, Day 3: Transportation, Day 4: Food, Day 5: Energy, Day 6: Water and Day 7: Give back.
Photo by biofriendly
No bike?! Is it possible to keep it in your apartment somewhere? I know getting the bike up the stairs or elevator can be unwieldy, but it is worth the effort.
Comment by A — January 10, 2011 @ 11:32 am
That sounds great , I on the other hand do not like car or driving at all , I prefer fresh air but I do agree with you , sometimes it is the only reason I am willing to go out in such heavy rain and snow :)
You did good on dropping so many of your car trip … hope I can do the same.
Maria´s last blog ..Porsche 911
Comment by Maria — January 11, 2011 @ 12:18 am
An enjoyable read! I’m mostly car-lite — I commute to work via mass transit, and complete many of my errands via walking — but I’m experiencing car-creep. I’m experiencing car-creep to such a large extent that I’m looking at replacing my fiance’s car (which will not pass a smog check) with a hand-me-down from my parents. Initially, I wanted to get a Prius or another small, high MPG car, but the cost of doing this seemed so steep that I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t another way. (Well, technically there is; it’s car sharing). But anyway, I was wondering how you managed to reconcile the increase in transportation costs you incurred when you gave up de-car-ing. I’m still suffering sticker shock.
Comment by Sirinya — January 11, 2011 @ 11:37 am