If you have ever jumped into the car and driven three blocks to take your child to a friend’s house, or to visit a neighbor yourself, please raise your hand. I bet hands all across the Internet are going up. Mine is!
For a long time I thought nothing of driving my kids the three blocks to school, the ¾ mile to our local pool, or the couple of blocks to my friend’s house. It saved time. It was easy. And really, what did it hurt?
Turns out, it hurt a lot:
- I emitted who knows how many harmful car emissions into the air and probably contributed to the climate change problem.
- I set a bad example for my kids.
- I deprived my family of the fresh air and exercise that walking or biking brings.
- I missed out on getting to know people in the neighborhood as I whizzed past them in my car.
I decided to change my family’s traveling habits. We all have bicycles. We all have two feet. Now we use both the bikes and the feet more often.
Doing this, however, has required some other changes. Walking or biking to places, even those in close proximity, takes more time. This means I need to manage my time better. Before, I was always in a hurry and was always running late which necessitated use of the car. Now I include the time it takes to walk to and from school, about 20 minutes on foot, in my schedule. This means I wake up earlier, and wake the kids up earlier. It also helps to pack their backpacks the night before.
Other daily routines may change too. For example, it’s summer now. My boys attend the town recreational program for three hours in the morning. We ride our bikes there together, and I ride my bike back to pick them up. It’s usually hot by the time I pick them up and I arrive home a sweaty mess. I’ve discovered it’s pointless to take a shower first thing in the morning like I did before. I take one after lunch now.
Sure, there are many green habits I’ve incorporated into my family’s life that haven’t been inconvenient. The easy ones were done early in my green journey; things like buying reusable grocery bags or changing my light bulbs to CFL’s. I realized if I really want to make a long-term difference, I need to be willing to do the inconvenient steps too.
I have no reason to expect this journey is always going to be easy. Making more time to go places by bike or by foot, and being smelly all morning, really is a bit inconvenient for me. However, I also realize if I don’t make these small sacrifices now, I could be sacrificing a lot of my children’s future. So, I’m committed to making them. How about you?
