I have three kids, all are going to be in three different schools, and I work full-time downtown. Today, I mapped out the crazy pattern of driving that will begin at 7am in Denver, take me to two schools in Wheat Ridge, then around back to Sunnyside in Denver. I drop my car next to school number 3 and then grab the bike from the back of it. Now, just a few more minutes to the office with some fresh air and no parking problems.
It’s been burning me, how do I secure, and rationalize, bike riding time over car time when every minute counts? A ten-minute bike ride…it’s just a small slice of my fossil fuel pie, but a very important time and space for reflection too. The parking problem has been eliminated, I get in some exercise complimented with fresh air and my own form of meditation, and I’m minutes from the car in the event of a school emergency. Life is good.
I mapped it out today, thinking how difficult it is to shift a pattern, but we have to try. This will be a good new groove, all the while helping to eliminate the fossil fuels driving around to find a parking spot then moving the car every two hours. On the way to the office, I caught this image of the coal train caged off from us city folk, surrounded by all of the construction for a new downtown. How do we use less in our everyday habits? Where do we use fossil fuels in the nooks and crannies of our lives? Let’s inspire the small but collectively huge shift towards a different energy economy!
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