My first suggestion in this area is to walk more. Walking is good for our health and easy on the environment.
For me transportation is a difficult area to solve in an eco-friendly manner. Our country is built around having a vehicle for transportation. Vehicle traffic releases an enormous amount of carbon into the air. My doctors, grocery stores, and thrift shops are 30 miles away. If I lived in a city of any size, I think I would invest in an electric tricycle. (I’m too old to be riding a bike. I sometimes have trouble just walking in a straight line!)
I think EV’s are the way of the future. However, I own a perfectly good, totally paid for, 14 year old 6 cylinder pickup. If I trade it in, someone else will just buy it and drive it, so I think I will just keep it. BUT there are things I can do to lessen my carbon footprint when it comes to transportation. Most of the time my truck sits in my garage. When I do need to make that 60 mile round trip, I group all my errands in that one trip. I grocery shop once an month — my ancestors did that so I can too. Once a month shopping requires organization. I keep a running list all month long of items that are getting low so that when I buy groceries, I know what to get. I keep track of food I have in storage here at home. I try to grocery shop on the same day I have other appointments there so that one trip does it all.
I keep my truck in good working condition by having it serviced when it should be. I don’t want to add more carbon to the air by having the motor operate at less that optimal condition.
If I had to buy a different vehicle at this time, I would look for a good used vehicle that gets really good gas mileage. What I would prefer to do is wait until enough electric charging stations are built and then buy an electric vehicle. However, I would still organize my shopping trips so that I am not using more resources than necessary.
If I lived in a city of any size, I would use public transportation. A bus or a tram is going to run that same route whether there is anyone riding or not. By using public transportation for my errand I would not be adding to the carbon footprint.
The days of being able to do whatever we want are over. We need to live smarter, shop smarter, eat smarter and try to be as kind to the Earth as possible. The responsibility for living a more eco-friendly life belongs to each of us. We can no longer wait for someone else to do the right thing. We need to set the example if we want our progeny to have an inhabitable Earth.
EcoGrandma 