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Drive Less

Most people know that it would be good for the environment to drive less, but it can be a hard thing to do. Cars are so convenient and it can seem like a burden to always be thinking about ways to avoid using them. To help motivate yourself to drive less, you can think of the financial benefits, as well as the environmental ones. Given just the costs of gasoline and car maintenance, you will save 10 cents or 20 cents or even more for every mile you don‚t drive. Here are a few suggestions that may help:

• If you move, choose a place to live that reduces the need to drive. When you are moving, you have an opportunity to make a one-time decision that will have a significant environmental payoff for as long as you are in your new home. Even if you can‚t find a house or apartment that is in walking distance to your work or school, some of the possible choices will be in better locations than others. Some will be more or less convenient to mass transit or to shopping centers or to recreation. Try to figure out the total amount of driving you will have to do in the different possible places you could live. Even a 10% difference in the amount of driving will be environmentally significant.
• Think twice before you purchase an additional car. Most households now own two cars, and quite a few own three or more. Sometimes that is necessary, but if you want the extra car only because it will be a little more convenient stop and consider two things. First, the mere purchase of a car harms the environment because it encourages the manufacturing of more automobiles. Second, not having an extra car will discourage you from making unnecessary car trips and force you to make more effective use of the car you have.
• Give yourself a concrete goal and develop a strategy to reach that goal. You can start by figuring out how much you drive in a typical month or year. Then set a target of reducing your driving by perhaps 10%. Perhaps you could make every Thursday a car-less day, or you could eliminate one big trip each month.
• Look for opportunities to carpool. With a little planning, you can probably find at least a few trips each month where you can drive with a friend, neighbor, or co-worker.
• Whenever practical, walk, bicycle, and take public transportation. Before stepping into the car, try to think about whether the trip is one you could make conveniently with public transportation, walking, or biking.

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