Living a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle is becoming easier to achieve than ever. Everyday people like you and me are challenging themselves and banding together with members of their local community to make more sustainable choices. These people are transforming the world by fighting climate change in both their small and big actions. It’s time for us all to follow their lead towards a better, healthier life. If we don’t, the costs associated with climate change will grow larger than we can fathom.
Consider adopting one of these 3 sustainable transportation options:
1. Bike to your destination
Biking is not just good for your health–the environment and greater community benefit when people choose biking over other fossil fuel dependent forms of transportation. (Did you know biking is safer than driving a car?) Biking to and from work or school reduces the amount of pollution in the air, and your stress levels—no more sitting in traffic for you! (Did you know that bikes are 50% faster than cars stuck in rush hour traffic?) With this daily exercise built into your daily routine you can also save yourself the trouble of getting a gym membership. Use Google or Apple Maps to plot out your most frequent daily commutes; you may be surprised to find that biking takes significantly less time than driving or using public transportation to get to your destination.
Challenge yourself: Consider challenging yourself to bike to work, school, the grocery store, etc. one day a week. Boost the sustainability gains of this personal challenge by convincing your partner, friend, or neighbor to join in. If you typically drive your children to school, perhaps they can start a bike-to-school group with your neighbors. It’s never too early to reinforce the positive benefits of exercise and making environmentally conscious life choices with young ones. If you’re worried about safety, consider discussing with the school principal whether their crossing guards can keep a watchful eye on biking students.
2. Take public transportation
Buses, trains, taxis and car services like Uber and Lyft all help minimize the amount of cars we collectively rely on as a society.Using public transportation or biking can potentially be much more convenient than driving for many urban dwellers. For those living in rural or suburban areas a using a blend of trains, buses and biking may be more
Challenge yourself: Consider challenging yourself to use public transportation for a week. For many of you this may require you to bike to a public transportation hub. If the biking distance is too far for you even with public transportation, you can instead talk to your coworkers about starting a work carpool or neighbors about starting a carpool for your kids. Choosing to carpool doesn’t mean you have to give up on biking. You can still take that money you would’ve spent on gas or a gym membership, and invest in a bike. Biking for leisure will help build your endurance should you choose to try biking to get around.
3. Sell your car
For many, especially those living outside of cities, driving is the fastest way to get around. That said, this time saved does not offset the costs of driving when considered through the lens of sustainability.
The environmental cost of driving fossil fuel dependent cars is addressed in most climate change discourse. Driving also comes with a hefty price tag when it comes to public health. Air pollution from cars is linked to asthma, heart attacks, lung disease and other expensive health complications. Driving during rush hour can also contribute to stress, which can trigger many forms of sickness. The financial cost of driving after taking into consideration its impact on our health, thus, skyrockets. (This blogger saved nearly $200,000 by choosing not to drive.)
Sometimes we need to proactively push ourselves to do things that are less convenient. Without a personal car you’ll be forced to only choose sustainable forms of transportation. The change may feel drastic at first but over time you’ll adapt to using alternative forms of transportation. In this day and age, not having your own car is no longer such a big hassle. The amount of money you would spend on car payments, insurance, the cost of parking, etc. can instead be set aside for using public transportation, buying a new bike (and make-you-feel-good bike gear), a traditional taxi, car hire service like Uber or Lyft, car sharing service like RelayRides or renting a car for longer trips. You will still have many options that you can choose from to get around!
Challenge yourself: Selling your car is the ultimate challenge, and motivator to choose more sustainable commute options. Owning a car is a large part of the American lifestyle. We understand how daunting taking on this challenge may feel, and commend you for your willingness to make such a big personal change.
Which of these challenges are you going to commit to? Share your decision in the comments, and inspire others to do the same!
The post How to Fight Climate Change One Commute at a Time appeared first on Obama Green Charter High School.