Don't use a driving machine
If you have to use a driving machine, you may as well do it as resourcefully. Join a car club, for instance, or give lifts to other people. There are plenty of Green Things you can do to walk more and drive less – check them out right here – but the most radical one of all is doing away with a car altogether.
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 ;~)”.
The Green Thing road map to getting more mileage out of a car-free life:
- For walking, Green Thing loves Walkit.com -- plan your route and find out how long it will take, how many calories you’ll burn and how much CO2 you’ll save.
- 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.
- For cycling, Green Thing loves Bikeforall.net -- everything you ever wanted to know about cycling in the UK but were too lazy to ask.
- For public transport, traveline.org.uk helps you travel all over the UK by bus, train, coach, ferry or underground.
- Carectomy.com is dedicated to removing cars from people - here's a summary of their weekly news round up. And 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 >>
More Green Things for walking more and driving less >>
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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What others have said...
20% of all car trips in Britain are to the shops but supermarkets are usually harder to walk to and four out of five of us use a motor for the big weekly food shop. So for this, use the Internet for home delivery instead. According to George Mombiot, this cuts the CO2 normally produced from food transportation, refrigeration and lighting by up to 70%.
andyh at 13:21 on 15/01/08
