Will You Take The Car-Free Blog Challenge?
by Beth Terry
Could you give up driving your car for one week and survive to blog about it? I'd love to include your post about the challenges of living with less driving in a Car-Free Carnival here on BlogHer in two weeks.
Yesterday's New York Times Opinion Page includes an article titled "Car-Free in America?" in which several experts debate the feasability of car-free communities in the United States. They go back and forth about what features would be necessary in an area in order for people to give up their cars. One participant goes so far as to assert that there are currently only six American cities dense enough to support a car-free lifetyle: New York City (Midtown and Downtown), Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco.
I have been car-free since I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area 20 years ago. Many of my friends are, too. And honestly, the decision not to buy a car has had more to do with saving money (insurance, maintenance, gas, tolls, parking fees and the inevitable parking tickets) than with protecting the environment. For the past seven years, I've lived in Oakland or Berkeley and had no trouble getting around at all. Here are some of the ways I do it:
Walking: It's great exercise, requires no fossil fuels, and is cheap. All you need are a sturdy pair of shoes and some extra time. I try to get out and walk every day, even if it's just down to the corner to get my coffee (in a reusable travel mug, of course.) Walking allows me to notice little things... like the new flowers blooming in my neighbors' yard or the fact that someone rummaged through her recycling and left a pile of bottle caps on the ground! Walking is a way to connect with my neighborhood in a way that riding through it quickly could not.
My neighborhood is great for walking. In fact, according to the website America's Most Walkable Neighborhoods, my community's walk score is 85 out of 100, Very Walkable. You can type your own zip code or address into the box to get your community's Walk Score. If it's high, great! If it's low, there is something you can do!
Contact your federal representatives and ask them to support the Complete Streets Act of 2009 "to ensure that all users of the transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users as well as children, older individuals, and individuals with disabilities, are able to travel
safely and conveniently on streets and highways."
Biking: I love my bike. It's become my favorite mode of transportation. Which is funny since until I got this bike in July of last year, I was afraid of the two-wheeled beasts.
I mentioned two days ago that my community is great for walking. It's also great for biking, Oakland being included in the U.S. Census's Top 10 Cities for Biking. (Portland is Number One. Kansas City, MO is last.) And now, there are financial incentives to commute by bike: this year, the The Bicycle Commuter Act went into effect. You can get Commuter Checks through your employer to reimburse bike commuting expenses.
Ironically, commuting is the one thing I don't do on my bike... since my job is 18 miles away across the bay. But with baskets on the front and back, I can run errands, grocery shop, and do pretty much everything else.
Don't have a bike yet? Check out Chile's article, Buying a Used Bike, which explains what to look for while shopping. And if you've got an old bike that no longer works for you, Don't let it end up in a landfill. Donate it or find a bike recycling program. Here is an article on Bicycle Recycling Programs Across the U.S.
And whether our neighborhoods are super bike-friendly or only marginally so, we can all advocate for safer streets. My local bicycle advocacy group is the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. Find other U.S. and international bike advocacy groups here and learn what you can do in your community to push for better bike routes.
Public Transit: Besides biking and walking, I spend several hours per week sitting quietly in a big plastic box. No, it's not a new form of therapy. It's BART. (Bay Area Rapid Transit.) And I need it to get from my home in Oakland to my job across the bay in Daly City.
Transit can be great when it's reliable. Instead of sitting in traffic, I can relax and read a book or just snooze for 40 minutes each way. Transit tickets cost less than the expenses associated with driving a car. And through the commuter check program, both employees and employers benefit in big tax savings.
So what do you think? Do you rely on your car every week? Would you like to find out how friendly your own community is for life without one?
Here's the challenge: try giving up your car for one week and post about your successes and challenges on your blog. Leave a comment below to let me know you're in and then another one when your post is up. I'll link back to you here in two weeks.
Can't do a whole seven days in time to the Car-Free Carnival? That's okay. Blog about what you can do. It's instructive for us to learn about what works as well as what doesn't. What areas of the country and what lifestyles are condusive to living without a car and which ones aren't.
For a little inspiration, check out the following blogs:
Brown Girl in the Lane -- Beany's blog about bicycling and living car-free in San Diego
Green LA Girl -- Siel routinely writes about her car-free life in Santa Monica.
Car-Free in NYC -- Cat's post about the practical considerations of living without a car in NY City
Bike Commuting Jumpstart -- Jenn's post on biking motivation
National Bike Month? Make it a National Bike Summer -- Enviromom's commitment to family biking this summer in Portland.
And from one of my favorite bloggers, Toronto artist Franke James's gorgeously illustrated posts, My SUV and Me Say Goodbye and Paradise Unpaved in which she describes selling her SUV and turning her driveway into a park.
Posted In
- Big Ideas |
- Going Green |
- Exercise |
- Fitness |
- Frugal Living |
- Green |
- Environment
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Comments
Wish I could but no way.
I wish I could take part in this and survive, but at the moment there is no way.
I live on top of hill 1.5 miles from public transportation. To give up my car, I would have to commit to staying home for the week. No gym. Grocery shopping limited to the 8#s I can carry on my back up the hill.
My walk score? 23. Even the website said I'm car-dependant.
Nope. NOT going to happen. But when I move from here, I am using walkability/ access to public transport as an important factor in deciding where I move to.
Debra
A Stitch In Time
Weight for Deb
Count me in... kind of
I think that going carless is a really fun challenge kind of like going meatless for a while. Most people panic until they actually try it. I'm an American primarily in Germany. In Germany, it's beyond easy to be carless in the city. I'm not sure about the US, but we're in rural RURAL US for the summer, and we only need the car maybe once a week to go buy groceries 30 miles away.
I'll look forward to see where this challenge goes. How exciting! You put together so many wonderful links, too. Wow!
www.makingthishome.com
daily inspiration for a creative home
Our location makes a big difference, doesn't
it?
@Debra, I totally hear you. I should also have mentioned in that post that May is EcoDriving month. So for folks who are not able to give up their cars, have a look at this site that lists steps you can take to reduce your fuel consumption while driving. http://www.ecodrivingusa.com/ (Turn your sound off if you don't want to hear Arnold Schwartzenegger as soon as the site comes up. Or turn it on if you do.)
@Katie I'd love to read a post comparing your ability to be carless in Germany vs. the U.S. Please do let me know when your post is up so I can link to it!
Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook
Feeling challenged, but no can do!...
I live quite remotely in the middle of Northern Ireland. Not the only house for miles or anything, but a very small village with an infrequent bus service. I use the car mostly to ferry the kids to school/football/tennis etc, going to work (about 12 miles away, but not on any bus route) and going to AA meetings (again no direct service). You are right when you say location is an issue. However, having read all the above, I do feel quite challenged because I could definitely use the car less. I know I jump into the car to go buy my dad a newspaper when I could walk there in 10/15 minutes! Also, I can have groceries delivered in bulk rather than make 6 or 7 trips to the local town each week. Hmm - definitely food for thought. Thank you!
Alcomum xox
http://www.alcomum.blogspot.com
Would love to hear about the challenges as
well as successes
@Alcomum I'd love for you to join the challenge in whatever way you can. Writing a blog post about how you are trying to reduce your driving would be great.
Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook
Moving Overseas, Not planning on car!
Hello!
I'm new to the site, but someone had sent me this article. It's such an awesome idea. In 3.5 weeks my wife and I are moving to Australia. When we get there we are going to be living and blogging about life without a car.
We are going to try and intelligently combine public transportation and biking. I'm really looking forward to it, althought I know it'll be hard since I've always had a car.
My blog is http://manvsdebt.com - If you will be doing the "carnival" before early June, I won't be able to join in. However, I'd love to contribute my first week without a car!
Rock on!
-Baker
Too late for carnival but not too late for
me!
@Baker, I'd love to hear more about your car-free living in Australia. Please feel free to contact me once you get there and start blogging. This carnival goes up in two weeks, but I'm always looking to read and link to other car-free people.
Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook
Beth, I posted about moving
Beth, I posted about moving and settling down car-free. Hope it's mildly enjoyable to read.
Car-Free Solo Parent in Vancouver
Hello!
I saw your request on twitter. I'm a single/sole parent with a preschooler son, in Vancouver, BC. I've never even owned a car. I could easily write a blog post, if you're interested in our experiences? Our modes of transit are primarily bus and foot, but also bike, skytrain (like subway or metro), and even boat.
Cheers,
Melanie
http://onein36million.wordpress.com
Didn't Vanessa at Green as a
Didn't Vanessa at Green as a Thistle give up her car? She should be featured too as I believe she too moved without auto.
Funny enough...
I've been car-free this week since Monday when I dropped off my car at the mechanics in Burbank, and took the bus to Culver City (I live in Los Angeles). My car won't be done till this coming Monday, at which point in time I'm getting it appraised and possibly selling it and not replacing it for at least a year.
In the past I've biked to work (10 miles one way), but this week I've been taking the bus (I'm training for the ALC ride in 2 weeks, but commuting with my current clip-in bike shoes is a pain).
I'll be blogging about it on my site bronwyn lewis dot com.
Depends on timing
I can't do it next week, but may be able to for most of the week of 5/24 (with the exception of Memorial Day, when I need to be able to provide support at various points along the L.A. Marathon route). I'll post about it at http://howgreenismyvalley.wordpress.com.
Already doing it!
We live in a suburb of Portland, OR -- supposedly an impossible place to be car-free because we are not actually in Portland, and we've been doing it since 3/19. I've tweeted about it, but not blogged, but I'll be happy to do so. My sad, lonely, little blog is at http://kyouell.blogspot.com and is called Biscuit Raising.
Hmm, it would be a challenge, but a good one
It would be possible, if I could skip the occasional weekend. This weekend my daughter is going to a model United Nations in Davis, and my son has a fencing tournament in Marin. Not car free possible. However we all bike a lot, all three of my kids get to school that way, and my husband, (bless him) bikes an 18 mile round trip to work. My neighborhood scores a pretty decent 74 on your walkability web site, and we have a farmers market .5 miles away on Sunday, 2 miles away on Wednesday, and a cute Russian grocery within a block. We have done the 9 grocery bag Trader Joes trip on bikes (1.7 miles) but the challenge would be resisting doing that kind of thing in a car.
So I am game for trying, and blogging about, a week day boycott of the car!
Kir
www.sustainablehome.com
Great Challenge!
I've been car-free all my life and I've lived in 3 different cities - Chicago, New Orleans, and L.A. - all without a car. I was born and raised in Chicago, and from a very young age my mom taught us kids how to navigate the El train system. When I lived in New Orleans for grad school, I rode my bike to school, work, and even grocery shopping (my friends would get so mad when they saw me crawling down St. Charles with a giant messenger bag filled with food). Once I moved back to Chicago I biked in the warm and dry months, and during the winter I rode the CTA everywhere. I now live in LA and have been able to navigate most of the city by bus and subway (biking is a little too terrifying here, even for a hardcore biker like me). I've made sure to move to areas that have grocery stores and other necessities within reasonable walking distance. Sure it's a bit of a pain to spend a long time commuting by bus, but one benefit is that I get a lot of a reading done. I think I've read about 4 novels since the beginning of the year, and have been able to keep up with my newspaper and New Yorker readings.
Point is...living without a car can be a pain depending on where you live, but you adapt and find creative ways to get yourself around town. I'm glad that you're encouraging those who live in more commuter friendly areas to try this experiment!
I wish
Unfortuanantly time is of the essence when your in the military. I am duel military and trying to get child to school and get to work on time with a car is a huge challenge in it self let alone not having one. Maybe one day though. It certainly is a great idea.
-*soldier85*-
We're already there...
I'd say that we'll take the challenge, but we are already a carfree family! We have a toddler and a baby on the way (any moment now). We blog about being carfree at http://carfreewithkids.blogspot.com. It's a great lifestyle, especially in our community which has lots of transportation options!
-Angela
http://carfreewithkids.blogspot.com
http://firsttimesecondtime.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/faroop
Not with that attitude!
I read about this on Beany's blog, and started thinking. . . I haven't driven or ridden in a car for nearly a week already! In fact, the only reason I use a car by myself is to get my racing bike to the velodrome, or to drive to work on race days (to keep my legs fresh). Well, this week I'm not racing, so I can commute all week. I was caught off guard, because I don't consider myself "car free". But every errand I run is on a bike, and when my wife and I go out, we usually walk. I can't claim to be 100% car free, because she does drive us places sometimes. But we will soon be a one car family, which will save hundreds of dollars a month.Also, it is really hard in most places to live without a car. But it isn't impossible. Lots of these comments are about how great it would be “if only. . .” I believe that everyone can make changes. Its way too easy to blame your car dependency on your location. Ride a bike to dinner, or the store. Walk to the gym, or a bus stop. Start with the small stuff, and I really believe the big changes will come on their own.
Kudos if you're already doing it!
To all those who posted that they are already living car-free, kudos to you! I would love to include your post in the carnival next week about what it's like for you to live without a car in your area.
@faroop Holy cow! If you can manage getting to the hospital to give birth without a car, I will bow down at your swollen feet. I love your blog about living carfree with kids. What a fantastic example!
Everyone -- please reply to this post with the URL for your car-free blog post by Monday, May 25, to be included.
Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook
Labor on the bus
I know of someone who has already done this: Sarah Gilbert. You can find her on Twitter as @sarahgilbert or at her blog (http://www.cafemama.com/).
Her most recent blog post (http://www.cafemama.com/2009/feb/20_life_without_a_car_ignited.html) is right on topic. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do; she's an inspiration to me!
One day I will but not now
I wish I could but who would drive my son to school and pick him up. It's 8 miles away & we opted out of busing to save money ($3000/yr to bus him seemed like a lot). I actually could ride a bike to work so maybe in the summer I can do it....but I need to get a bike. Could be doable but I'll miss the challenge. Good luck to all who do it.
Cindy
Challenge Begun!
I've started my challenge, and have posted about my first day. More to come.
It's up!
Hi! I've posted about living without a car in Vancouver. Just a rundown ... sorry, realized rather late that TOMORROW is your deadline. But at least there's something there!
http://onein36million.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/single-mom-and-carfree/
My post is finally up
I just put up my post at http://kyouell.blogspot.com/2009/05/going-car-free-in-burbs.html; hope you like it.
Day Two
Day Two
I'm doing it and trying to get others to do
it too!
I have lived a car-free life for just over 5 years now. Gave up my car while attending university in a very rural Northern CA town. Now in the Bay Area and advocating for more folks to have the option to go Car-Free or at least cut back on driving. The non-profit transit advocacy organization I work with has even developed an official challenge that you can check out here: www.TransFormCA.org (lots of love and sweat have gone into making this happen!).
Through the organization I work for, I am trying to get 540 individuals taking the Car-Free Challenge in June to raise awareness and funds. We are trying to send an important message that more folks want to drive less and live more but they're going to need a bit of support and the resources to make it happen.
Glad to see that this important conversation has started in many places at once!
Yours in driving less and living more.
The Car-Free Carnival is now up!
Check it out here: http://www.blogher.com/car-free-carnival
Thanks to everyone who participated. Let's keep the conversation going over there!
Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook
Congratulations, Aidan!
Aidan, I'm glad to hear that your experiment was a success. After the one week challenge, what did you learn about your need to drive? Do you think you'll be driving less?
Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook
Car Free January
I've been wanting to go car-free for awhile now, but in our area, with kids ages 7 and 9 in tow, it's a real challenge.
Using the bus system is expensive for a family traveling around town - $4.50 per trip, per direction regardless of distance. That's 9 bucks to go no further than 10 miles one a crappy schedule. No thanks.
The only bike paths in our area are those seperated from traffic by that thin white line of paint and my young cyclists aren't very practiced. So that leaves walking. We typically walk to farmers market and ballet (1 mile each way), and soccer practice (1/2 mile), but the older girls' soccer practice is 3 miles away.
But come January, we'll be out of soccer. I hope to go as car-free as possible in January, rollling out the car only on Mondays for our trip to horseback riding 15 miles away. No bus service to that village. I'll blog about our efforts when the time comes.
Thanks for the invite!
Jen
Homeschooling, traveling with kids and random thoughts - jenpb.blogspot.com
Our 2009 project - charitabledeeds.blogspot.com
The book -