Monday, September 15, 2008

Reducing my Carbon Footprint, Part III

My favorite way to reduce my carbon footprint also reduces the amount of money I spend on gasoline and my waist size.

Ride Instead of Drive

All summer and even now, in the fall, we try to ride our bikes everywhere in town. Porter is old enough and a good enough biker to ride his bike the few miles it takes to get anywhere in Hurricane and I have a trailer to carry the other two.

My parent laughed at me at the beginning of the summer when I told them I planned to ride everywhere. But we did pretty well.

In the summer, we rode to the gym at 9. Some days we would hit the library for storytime on the way home or the store for some groceries. Later in the day we would ride to Snowcaps for a treat or to violin lessons for Porter. It would get pretty hot, but Snowcaps are a great cool treat and well worth the hot ride.

Now that school has started, we still ride. I take Porter and a bunch of neighborhood kids to school in the morning, then hit the gym with the two little ones. Then, we go to the library twice a week and maybe hit the store. We go out again in the afternoon to pick up Porter and the others. We ride to violin lessons. But I do have to admit, we usually end up driving to dance lessons. I ride by myself to meet a friend for runs in the mornings. We ride to pick up or drop a movie at the Red Box.

I love doing this with the kids. We have saved so much gas. Porter has become a great cyclist. James loves to ride in the trailer. I enjoy the added bonus workouts. (They are short, but the ride home is up quite a steep hill with a bunch of extra weight.) I am teaching my kids the value of riding instead of driving. And I am doing a little bit to save the environment.

8 comments:

Reed, Liz and the kids said...

You inspire me! I am very impressed. We are walking alot more these days because of where we live and I am learning to like it alot. It is still really hot here so that is a drag Everything around here is within walking distance. And actually Reed rides his bike into work so our car usually sits most days.

Nancy said...

My husband just read "How to Live Well Without Owning a Car," by Chris Balish so his new idea is moving to a town with great public transportation, and selling our car. (He commutes on bike now.) He'd be very proud of you. I just haven't been on a bike since I was ten.

Cami Epperson said...

That's awesome Liz! I want to be able to do that really bad... dang hot arizona weather prevents it, but maybe during the not-so-hot season!

Day Family Blog said...

Way to go in that heat. So how do you work out at the gym with 2 kids? Do they have a nursery or something, how wonderful if they do.

Jamie said...

Hello Dansie crew! It's your next door neighbors. I just thought I would stop by and say hi. I would love to add you on my list of blogs...if that's ok with you. Thanks so much for having us over for lunch. It was delicious and good to get out. I honestly do appreciate your warmth. Take care and we'll be seeing you around.

Jen said...

I would love to do that if there weren't so many dern hills around my house. I'm lazy, I know. Still, I salute your awesome strength.

Linda said...

Way to go Elizabeth! But I am not surprised at all; you were always doing your part to help the environment. Did you want to know where Nick and Rachel live? Fountain Hills, AZ. You guys really should do a race together sometime.

Liz said...

Way to go!! It's a win win, you and your kids get excercise and your teaching them to take care of the environment and their bodies.