Car-Free Living Is Carefree Living

by Kate McFarland

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Growing up in rural Ohio, I took for granted that every adult human relied on a personal motor vehicle for transportation. However, growing up in rural Ohio, I was also unprepared for the stress and anxiety that would come with driving on busy city streets and multi-lane freeways when I moved to the city for college. Worst of all, perhaps, I had never learned to parallel park (no, pulling back and forth between traffic cones is not the same). As soon as I realized that alternatives were available, reducing my car use was all but an automatic response. I walked whenever possible. I used city buses when necessary. I relearned how to ride a bike (no, it’s not like riding a bike if it’s been long enough). I drove my car every other Saturday morning to keep the battery from dying.

As I relied less and less on an automobile and more and more on active transportation, I felt healthier both mentally and physically. I also experienced unexpectedly deep and transformative changes in my conception of what transportation can and should be. For one, I discovered that walking or cycling transformed transportation from a merely instrumental means of getting from point A to point B to an intrinsically rewarding activity. Every journey is not merely a journey but, at minimum, a source of exercise, fresh air, and awareness of one’s community. For another, I realized that it is the pedestrian who enjoys the purest form of freedom of movement. The pedestrian, for example, can make a spontaneous decision to pause on the sidewalk to window-shop, greet a passing friend, or admire an interesting bird or flower. If she doesn’t stop but then regrets it, she can turn on her feet and backtrack. The motorist, in contrast, is often deprived of the liberty of spontaneity — forced to proceed with the flow of traffic at risk of mortal danger. The pedestrian, in other words, enjoys much greater leisure both to be distracted by her surroundings and to succumb to distraction; it is she, not the driver, who can literally stop and smell the flowers.

When I finally decided to sell my car, it was the most liberating thing I’ve ever done. Gone were all the remaining worries of car ownership – maintenance, insurance premiums, agreeing to give a lift to a friend only to face the embarrassment of being unable to parallel park upon reaching the destination, etc. Best of all, however, it felt to me like the ultimate act of social defiance: I had officially rejected the expectation that all adults must own a car. That was over six years ago. I have never once regretted it.

My next goal was to enjoy the slow-paced and low-stress car-free lifestyle in a more fitting setting than the noise and rush of the city. (story continued here)

I separated from owning cars and riding in cars!

by Melissa Soderston 

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When I initially chose to employ walking as my only form of transportation, my goal was to live as ecologically mindful a life as possible while perhaps inspiring others to make more sustainable choices of their own. In the nine years since leaving my car (and even my bike!) behind, it has become an indispensible joy, and I've noticed real change in my community. Living in a tourist area with heavy traffic and very poor pedestrian infrastructure, yet a strong focus on the outdoors, I knew if I could bring awareness to just how walkable the city actually was, that I could motivate others to spend less time in their personal vehicles. I purchased a second-hand wagon to haul groceries, a grabber for picking litter along the way, plastered a smile on my face, and got to walking. And it has worked. Right away, people were stopping to ask what I was doing, or to offer a ride. I would always decline the latter, but it was an opportunity to connect with a wide demographic in an organic way, and share my mission of a pedestrian oriented future. Today, many of my neighbors are walking or biking to work, and we have a strong presence at council and planning meetings to advance not only pedestrian saftey, but to encourage a focus on broader sustainability issues. We also now have access to an extensive and constantly improving network of bikepaths and trails providing safe, off-street access to almost the entire town, including to our schools. Many shopping centers are rethinking their parking areas to accommodate the new foot traffic, and we have many more outdoor entertainment and eating spaces.

The personal benefits have been equally rewarding. Not only am I more in touch with my human community members, I am much more aware of fluctuations in local plant and animal populations and especially those of our declining insect partners. The smile I orchestrated to make myself approachable is now automatic when heading out the door. I go out, socialize and get involved much more frequently than before. And I can daily appreciate the personalities of the clouds, as John Muir hoped we would. We are all well aware of how little time there is to act for the future, and often it can be incredibly difficult to achieve change at the local level. You may find that leaving your cars behind, even if for only some of your outings, may be the enjoyable solution we all need. Hope to see you out there, walking for change!

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Citizen's Pledge

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Information is power. Facts are power. Collective research from a breadth of scientists has compounded to form a base of knowledge of Earth’s systems and how humans can minimize our impacts on warming the planet. 

It is the moral obligation of citizens to listen to the science and inform themselves of the catastrophic threats to humanity.  In particular, world citizens need to know that: 

1. Business as usual with the ever-expanding human enterprise is unsustainable. 
2. We must act fast; we must make progress with quick, bold, and transformative change to avoid untold human suffering. 
3. It is important to trust scientists, who are unimpeded by bias or self-interest, to deliver honest and sometimes even uncomfortable truths to the public and those in power. 
4. Citizens also need to speak truth to power, relying on scientific evidence, to have a significant influence on other citizens, policymakers and outcomes. 
5. The collective voice of many citizens regarding the converging climate and environmental crises can help create a social tipping point for action. Examples include voting, protesting, marching, contacting elected officials, and demanding divestment in fossil fuels.

As citizens, we pledge to stand together to effect positive change, and to speak out about the threats identified by credible scientists.

Here is what you can do

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1. Gain and retain trust in scientists and the scientific process.
2. Focus on learning scientific facts and communicating them to other citizens and policy makers.
3. Speak out honestly to family, friends, and even strangers.
4. Contact elected officials about your environmental or climate concerns.
5. Stay informed about upcoming elections, and vote for candidates who take environmental and climate issues seriously.
6. Urge governments to take bold, ambitious action now on both climate and other environmental crises.
7. Be a discerning media consumer; don’t believe everything you read, corroborate before sharing.
8. Work together, with science in hand, to combat misinformation.
9. Join groups and organizations that are working for shared causes.