Greetings! Today marks one quarter of No Impact Week accomplished. Hooray! The next challenge is to change my mode of transportation. The purpose of re-structuring how I go from place to place is to limit the fossil fuels many modes of transportation require. Instead, my principal modes of transit will be walking, biking, scootering, etc.
I think this challenge will be one of the most difficult of my No Impact Week simply because motorized transportation is part of my lifestyle. To go to the grocery store, eat out, visit the park, bathe in the atmosphere of Spartanburg's Coffee Bar or Barnes & Noble, or even visit home, I drive. In part, I feel that heavy vehicle use is due to our city and town design. The United States was built to travel by vehicle. Warren Karlenzig points this out in his article, “The Death of Sprawl,” when he says that “exurbs are designed almost exclusively for cars” (The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crisis). The more I think about it, there are few locations I visit without driving (save on Wofford's campus). At the same time, I think we can all make efforts to limit our motorized transportation. On the outset, I think this is the purpose of this No Impact Week challenge.
As part of No Impact Week, I will explore the difficulty of avoiding transit by vehicle. Beginning today, my tasks are to:
- Take stock of your habits: make a list of everywhere you're going today and how you usually get there. What alternative modes of transportation could you use instead? Log onto your local transit authority's website for an online trip planner. Organize a carpool, pick up a bus schedule or tune up your bicycle.
- Throughout the day, keep a list of everything you eat, where you eat and where you purchase your food. This will help you get ready for Wednesday's challenge.
- GO! Bike. Walk. Scoot. Glide. Hope on a bus. Carpool.
- Take a moment to reflect on your day. Was it a nice change of pace or a difficult one? What benefits did you discover along your route? What could you improve in your experience?
- Write down five things for which you are grateful.
(Source: No Impact Experiment How To Manual)
As directed by the No Impact Week guidelines, I made a list of all the places I went today. Below is the list and what mode of transportation I typically use.
- Grocery store (Food Lion, Bellew's Market or Wal-Mart)— car
- Class— walk
- Post Office— walk
Being a college student, I realize that the number of places I must go to are less than the average individual. My principal destinations are class and the grocery store. I already use non-mechanized travel to class and any errands around campus, such as the Post Office. Therefore, the one site that I do visit requiring a car trip is the grocery store. I most often visit Food Lion and Bellew's Market, both of which are less than a three minute drive from campus. Once in a while I venture out to Wal-Mart for the lower prices. In order to limit my motorized transportation this week, I have decided that carpooling is my best option due to my tight schedules with classes and the proximity of the grocery stores I visit. While I would prefer to bike, the four lane road of Pine Street and multiple interchanges and intersections I believe outweigh the perks of cycling for these trips.
The next task for today was to keep a list of everything I ate. The purpose of doing this will help with tomorrow's challenge.
- Breakfast: Life cereal and soy milk
- Lunch: Turkey sandwich with tomato on wheat bread
- Supper: Spaghetti (noodles, hamburger meat, canned sauce, onion and Italian spices)
Overall, I do not feel that I made many changes in my transportation. I still walked to every site on campus. Instead of driving to the grocery store, I simply carpooled with roommates. While my change in transportation today was minimal, it still felt good to know that I was making a conscious effort to be impact-free towards the environment. The change may not be large now, but by practicing an environmentally conscious lifestyle in now, I can recall upon it when I live off-campus in the near future.
In addition, I also think as the week progresses I will be able to have more experiences and thoughts to add to this challenge. I will keep you updated as the week continues.
To close, I will share five more things for which I am grateful:
- my support network at Wofford College
- my artistic ability
- my success as an artist
- my mother's outpatient surgery going smoothly
- having fresh coffee to brew in the morning
Until tomorrow,
Krista
No comments:
Post a Comment