Axe the Auto Altogether

If you don't own a car it’s harder to drive a car which is better for the environment. Axing the auto altogether might sound a bit radical, but a Green Thing community member summed it up nicely:

“I went carless 4 years ago this month. I said to myself "I'll try it for 3 months" but after 6 or 7 months I realized that my 3 months were up but I didn't need or want a car. I walk, ride my bike or take the bus…Make the leap it's easier than you think ;~)”.

But if you have to use a driving machine, you may as well do it as resourcefully. If you join a car club you get a car when you need one but you don’t have to own one, and on average a person can save at least half a tonne of CO2 a year by switching from car to car club which is no bad thing.

The Green Thing road map to getting more mileage out of a car-free life:

• Join a car club like Streetcar, Zipcar, City Car Club, or check out this UK car club map.
• For public transport, traveline.org.uk helps you travel all over the UK by bus, train, coach, ferry or underground. And London walkers can also use this alternative tube map to work out the minutes it takes to mosey between underground stops in central London.
• 20% of all car trips in Britain are to the shops. So if you’re deciding on the best place to live without a car, type an address into walkscore.com and see how easily you can get to local restaurants, bars, cinemas and shops by foot.
• And if you’re serious about kicking the auto habit, join the AA (Autoholics Anonymous).
• Carectomy.com is dedicated to removing cars from people. Just think, if everyone went car-free, our streets would be traffic-free – think of all the street parties we could have.

More info from the Green Thing Wiki >>

Here’s a thing… If saving CO2 isn’t enough of a reason to try life without a driving machine, think of all the money you’ll save. No car payments, insurance, petrol, road tax, MOT tests, annual services, residential parking fees, pay and displays, parking tickets, speeding tickets, car washes or ironic little tree-shaped air fresheners hanging from your rear-view mirror.

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