Change Begins Where YOU Are
<written for the North Renfrew Times in Jan. 2008>
Being an environmental activist is challenging. One thing I find really frustrating is the seemingly quite common (if unspoken) attitude, “I don’t need to do any changing; it’s up to ‘someone else’ to do all the work.” Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” And so we must!
So, rather than letting impatience get the better of me, I try hard to stay positive and remind myself often, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
But we do need to change. The state of our air, water and earth demands it!
One important area in which many of us could stand to do some changing is around our car use. Many of us don’t just love, rely on and overuse our cars, we’re positively addicted to them!
Here are some practical suggestions for ways we can change our habits, and thus contribute less to air pollution and climate change:
Don’t use your car all the time: walk, bike and carpool more. Plan and consolidate errands so you’re not jumping in the car constantly. Teach your children that walking is what we have legs for (radical notion, hmmm?).
If you’re the parent of school-age children, consider investigating the “Walking School Bus” concept, which encourages children to walk to school (in groups, accompanied by an adult). More children walking and fewer cars driving them result in better health and fitness for the children, improved air quality around the schools, and a safer environment in the neighbourhood. Feel free to call me and borrow my manual about this program, or visit www.saferoutestoschool.ca No-idling policies at schools are also worth investigating.
Stop being an “idler.” The fact that car exhaust is used as a means of suicide gives us a clue how very toxic the stuff that comes out the tailpipe is. Rather than idling and needlessly polluting the air around you, get in the habit of dressing appropriately for the weather. Warm your car up for 30 seconds, then drive away slowly; even car manuals advise this as best for engine care. If you have to sit and wait for someone, turn the engine off; in fact, turn it off anytime you’ll be sitting for more than 10 seconds – not at traffic lights, perhaps, but for sure when waiting for a long train to go by! Your car will stay warm for at least 15 or 20 minutes and besides, if you’ve dressed properly for the weather, you’ll stay warm anyway.
Use public transportation whenever you can. I like to practice what I preach, so I’m a confirmed Greyhound bus user, and when in southern Ontario and Toronto, use GO Transit and the TTC. Public transportation helps keep the air cleaner and cause less climate change, and it’s also a great deal more relaxing and less stressful to sit on a bus or train and read a book, than to fight traffic!
Here is a radical idea: don’t own a car at all, or move from owning more than one vehicle down to one. Deep River is a community where being a one-car family ought to be easier than in most! The cost savings in doing this are considerable; I know because I did it myself in my younger, two-car family days. We saved plenty!
Another wonderful concept: car-sharing cooperatives! Toronto has two, Zip Car and Auto Share. Ottawa has Vrtu car, and I’ve been told Deep River could become part of this one. If this idea grabs you, visit www.vrtucar.com or call 613-798-1900.
Why consider any of this? Because climate change is the most serious problem ever to confront our species. Rather than waiting for politicians or “someone else” to show leadership, we have to begin demonstrating it ourselves, as individuals and families.
The 13th century Sufi mystic and poet Rumi said: “Just sit down and be quiet. You are drunk, and this is the edge of the roof.” I don’t know who his intended audience was, but I’d say it could be us – our species – at this particular juncture.
Change is required!
Changing the ways we think about and use our vehicles is one important way we can all begin “thinking like ancestors.”