#WeekWithoutDriving

"A wealthy country isn't one where the poor can afford cars, but where the rich choose to use public transportation."

Driving is fun as hell. The rush you get from stepping on the accelerator and zooming around without any effort except your foot on the pedal and your hands on the wheel is just...

Forget carbon footprint—wonder where those microplastics come from? While we tally up how many tires the average American goes through a year—was that Chad screeching off the line in his Charger?—we can move away from the environmental effects and onto the insidious societal effects of driving.

Driving walls us in. Into the safe cocoon of an IIHS-certified automobile and well away from the noise, dust, heat, cold, and beauty. Additionally, in a cruel twist, driving also walls you out. It walls you out of your own community. By traveling faster than humans were ever designed to travel, you miss the nooks and crannies of your own neighborhood and enable yourself to outsource pleasure to places in which you don't live. Choosing not to drive can limit you to a certain extent, yes, but that is what this is all about.

Choosing to limit ourselves by choosing not to drive is an act of deliberate self-limitation that pays dividends in many facets of our lives. It positively affects our mental health—and physical health, if we choose active transportation. It connects us to our fellow humans if we use mass transit. It connects us to our environment if we walk or bike instead of pressing the gas and going. It requires us to rethink our commutes and our routes home and forces us to find fun things to do that don't need a drive. It is limiting, but how else would you find the cool bar with the busted PA and the really, really good hot dogs?

That's all I have to say about choosing not to drive. I will be participating in the #WeekWithoutDriving. It would be really cool if you did, too.

In other news: Speaking at the NCSU Sustainability Stewards meeting this Monday. Cool! I'll be fielding some opportunities for volunteers. Might have some more info to pass by next Tuesday. Maybe on this blog, if I remember to. These weeks are going by fast...