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Take the Ten Mile Pledge and Cut Your CO2

September 26, 2008 by Chris Baskind

  

Reducing your household’s carbon footprint is all about making deliberate, progressive changes in your daily habits. Start with this simple challenge.

Take the 10-mile Pledge

Want to lose 500 pounds in a year?

We’re talking carbon dioxide, of course. While non-toxic and good for plant life, humans simply make too much of it. Carbon dioxide is a prime greenhouse gas, and scientists say it’s connected to climate change — more popularly known a global warming.

You’re producing carbon dioxide right now. Not just through your breathing, but through the energy you consume every day. It’s a byproduct of nonrenewable power generation. Virtually all human activity — from food production to heavy industry — produces some amount of carbon dioxide. And despite plenty of public attention to the issue, man-made carbon dioxide production jumped another 3 percent between 2006 and 2007.

One of the biggest producers is automobiles. Nobody is expecting you to turn over the keys to your family’s car, but every mile we save in transportation is money in the bank, and less carbon dioxide (and even more noxious pollutants) in the atmosphere.

Ready for a fairly painless way to start making a difference? Take the Ten Mile Pledge.

What is the Ten Mile Pledge?

This is a pretty simple exercise. Put down, in writing, how you can save ten miles of driving each week. Just ten miles. Then do it.

You probably live within three miles of where you buy groceries. So an errand or two a week should do the trick. Consistency is the key. At Lighter Footstep, we strongly believe that steady, incremental change is the best way for most people to incorporate Sustainability in their lives.

If you can make the Ten Mile Pledge stick, your reduced driving will cut approximately 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year. More importantly, it will get you thinking about your driving.

Where to find your ten miles

Combine trips: You’ve heard this for years. Maybe it’s easier to do now with gasoline at record price levels almost everywhere. Making a weekly grocery list helps. So does keeping a driving log for a month or two to see if you can locate any wasteful patters. Think about where you usually shop. Would someplace closer do just as well?

Share a ride with another Pledger: Just like dieting, exercise, or quitting smoking, a habit is easier to keep if you have a buddy. Share the Ten Mile Pledge with your friends. Then take turns sharing a ride twice a week. That should do it.

Run weekend errands on bike or on foot: You needn’t pull out your bicycle to do every weekend errand (though that’s not a bad idea). Just walk or ride on or two little tasks a weekend. A trip to rent Saturday night movies could give you ten miles in a single hour. Bonus points if you return them the same way.

Investigate public transportation: Not everyone has access to useful public transportation. But if your community offers it, see whether or not public transport might work for you. A lot of people go multi-modal on their commute, driving to a central point and taking buses, subways, or light rail to their final destination. Get a schedule and see what’s available.

Declare one car-free day every month: Ever hit the office Monday more tired than when you left? Maybe that weekend was a little too full. Go car-free on Saturday or Sunday and stay close to home. Make yourself slow down, catch up on your reading, and unwind. Even if you’re not using the driving you save toward the Pledge, you’ll start your week more refreshed. And relaxation is a habit most of us could learn to love.

Share your ideas!

Can you think of other ways to meet the Ten Mile Pledge? Ready to go public with your intentions? Share your thoughts in our comments section. And please forward this article to others. The handly “Share This” link below the title will allow you to email the Ten Mile Pledge to up to five friends at a time.

Other Articles You Might Enjoy:

Ten First Steps Toward Lighter Living
Twelve Practical Ways to Green-Up Your Autumn
Ten Easy Ways to Run Your Refrigerator Cheaper

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Comments

Viewing 6 Comments

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    Some cities offer really good information about public transportation in the internet. For example I have a chance to give departure and arrival addresses and times. As a result I get 3-5 different choices to pick. The program gives the time I should leave home, where to walk, what bus or train I should take, where I should change the transportation and how much time I have to make that change, the time of the arrival. Works pretty well.
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    I love this idea, but wow does it sound hard for me. I already work at home and combine my few errands, which add up to less than 10 miles most weeks, I suspect. My husband and I share a car, so my driving is very naturally limited when he's at work.
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    The only places I drive are to my friend's house, which is almost exactly one mile away, and to work, which is about three miles. I'm not sure how I can cut down my driving, but I don't think I need to, as I'm already at the level which others would be trying to drop down to.
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    Start where you live.Look around you, what do you see?Are you living in a community that has everything?Are you without certain shops?Are you creative?Can you give anything to the community as regards to something they can not do without?We in South Wales U.K. Are going very green.We recycle everything. We have a Co-Op society that produces Fresh Fruit and vegetables, delivered to your door £2=. 50 pence a bag. All local .We have lots of sheep roaming our hills with lots of lovely wool on there backs. Good for buying off the Farmers when they get sheared. We have a building , large enough for a factory, getting vandalized each week by kids getting it on fire. Am trying to get the government to purchase this building for the community s benefit so that they can have jobs in this building, with THE MANIFACTURING, OF DYING, AND WEAVEING, THE WOOL FROM THE SHEEP. Then, WE COULD MAKE LOVELY WOOLEN CLOTH, WITH DIFERANT TARTAINS, AND WEAVES. Also A PROGRAM FOR TURNING THIS CLOTH INTO TEXTILS. Giving US UP HERE  A MARKET, SO THAT WE CAN SELL TO ANYONE WHO VISITS US. The premises, is alongside a stream which is flowing down into the valleys below. This stream flows constantly. We could get our free power source from this, with a back up of  Solar and Wind power, all are available up here, and free. The Wind power could turn a mill stone to grind our corn this fresh flour should be used in each village for there bread another job for local Bakers. The joy of living near a bakehouse with lovely fresh bread. This is only the start for our schools, are going back to re-educating children in gardening skills. All girls must learn not only basic home economics, but how to grow your herbs, and bring on board there healing benefits. It is planed that the food grown by the school can be sold in a market. This will give children the right incentive. There are many who live in this village that are very talented in Arts and crafts and some of the loveliest painting is done up here. God help us all to get on board, with all that is in our creative power Thank you Father Amen, Janet
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    Why are we buying and importing goods that we do not need?
    Why are we Traveling so far from where we live to find jobs?
    Why is are local Government not given more rights, to take over empty and vandalized properties, which is costing us rate payers at present so much in community policing and Fire Services bills?
    Why can we not have local shops run by local people?
    We want all that we can create ourselves to blossom into a smaller community that we can take charge of ourselves.!
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    These are great tips. For the last couple months I've been experimenting with this myself. In August I started taking the bus to work 4 days a week and biking and walking more to run errands. It's been so great. Besides reducing my footprint, by walking, biking and looking out the windows of the bus, I've gotten to know my city so much better.
 

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