When I was a kid I was really into science fiction, and I noticed that why is the future
always depicted as an unlivable hellhole?
At some point I just made the connection that, wrongly really, but I made the connection
that cars were going to be a large cause of our environmental downfall, I guess you
could say.
I mean naturally there's other things that contribute to it, but as a kid I just put
most of the blame on cars, and that was the start of it.
I'm 33, and I've never driven a car.
I walk just about every day, sometimes take a bike.
The thing that people seem to wonder or talk about is what a sacrifice it must be, but
for me it really isn't a sacrifice because I've never driven, so I don't even know
what I'm missing really.
Our life without a car, so far without a car it hasn't been too bad.
The car that we had was seven years old, so my husband figured out that we were spending
$500 a month on our car, and we never used it.
The majority of the time it sat in the garage.
We went to a meeting about the Peg City Car Co-op, found out all about that, and we thought,
yeah, maybe we can do this, you know?
We were going to be able to have access to a car for those maximum three times a week
when we might need a car because everywhere else, we can either walk, bike, or bus.
I just got the car written off, got in an accident, and we were in the process of looking
for a new car, and I was going to be borrowing my mom's car.
It just seemed like all this complication and money and time and energy, and then maybe
I'll just stop all that and put that on hold and do this bike thing, and so far, so good.
Just a nice ride going to work, like it's pleasant as opposed to stressful.
The joints are a little sore, but I'd say I'm the whole feeling good physically, and
it feels more energized when you get to work, and more relaxed when you get home from work.
Getting better sleeps, I've kind of noticed that with all the biking, I've just been
sleeping better.
We had been talking, I guess, about some place where people could go and get their bikes
fixed up, and that that would be really just a hands-on, really grass-roots way to get
people using bikes more and using cars less.
Jared really took that idea to the next level and tried to get funding and did get funding
and made it happen.
Our mission is to get people in the community riding, riding to work, riding to fun, riding
to whatever it is, but we like two wheels and we want to see people on two wheels.
The community all sat down, and we sort of just had an informal evening about talking
what kind of projects we could do to help lower our greenhouse gas emissions.
One of my friends in that group said, you know what would be great if we had our own
community shop, and the community center was super enthused about it, and they gave us
the space, and it's a great space.
It's heated, it's got electricity, and we get to use this.
So we want to help people to whatever level they're interested in.
So if you want to learn how to change a tire, we want to show you how to do that.
We want to be here to help the community so that they can help themselves and be a little
more self-reliant when it comes to active transportation in the form of bicycling.
My approach has changed, my perspective on things has changed a bit, and one is that
I have a huge appreciation for anybody on a bike now, whereas before I kind of saw them
as a little bit of an annoyance, or if they were doing something I didn't like, I would
be really critical, and now it's like I have a huge amount of respect for the fact that
they're doing what they're doing, and we just want to support that.
One of the things that I notice when walking, everyone looks really, really cranky when
they're on their way to work, and agitated on their way home too, that's the thing I
notice the most.
But walking to work, I usually just throw on some headphones, listen to tunes, and it's
really just a great way to get started in a day.
It's like a build-up.
Walking, biking, and busing has been quite easy, really.
But when we decided to do it, we started to look at our lifestyle in a more environmentally
friendly way, try to get the girls involved so that they're more mindful of the impact
they have on the earth, trying to make the earth happy.
I'm personally involved in this because of the impact that we can have on our global
emissions when it comes to carbon.
I try to drive as little as possible, and I can get away with driving as little as possible
because I ride my bike.
I like to feel good at the end of the day, but I did my best to have as little an impact
on the environment as possible.
Just being on the bike, I feel it's been really nice, it's been kind of a relief that I feel
like now I'm part of what might be a solution as opposed to part of the problem.
I don't really judge people who drive cars, but I do feel that I have a responsibility
to show my kids that there are other ways to get around, and I don't want them to think
that you necessarily have to get a driver's license in a car on your sweet 16.
I want them to at least know that there are other ways to do it.
