Today is Blog Action Day, and this year’s topic is Climate Change. This is right up the Bus Party alley since transportation is one of the biggest impacts on our environment! Even though I started riding the bus out of convenience, I feel good knowing that I’m keeping one more, single rider car out of traffic. For every person who chooses an alternative form of transportation, we have less pollution, less congestion, and less wear and tear on our roads, which saves us money, too and I don’t know anyone who isn’t for that.
Public transportation also promotes a change in health. Walking a block or more to a bus stop instead of a few steps to your car is a great way to get light exercise with a purpose. I was chatting with a fellow, regular rider who shared that she has noticed a slight difference in her health since she moved closer to a bus stop and sometimes wishes that she still had to walk a quarter of a mile, although not once winter rolls around. Pairing bikes with the bus system is also a good way to get exercise, cover more area, and reduce the amount of emissions in the air.
A well planned transit system benefits local economic development and land use. The Midwest is notorious for sprawl because we have the room, but think of how many more residential and commercial development opportunities there would be if we didn’t have to spend so much space on vast parking wastelands. To get a better idea of what I’m talking about, check out Brady Dorman’s figure ground diagram of the Collins/1st Ave area at Urban Thinking. There could definitely be a better use of space there.
But layouts like this are exactly why people need to have cars, so what are we to do? Start small to make a big impact. Take a bus or other alternative transportation once a week. Move up to two days a week, and then try a whole day. Could you go a whole weekend without driving? What about one week every year? Every month? If you like a good challenge, see how far you can go and you might start to see less money going into your gas tank and smell cleaner air from others trying the same changes!
Climate change can be a hot topic, but there are some things you can’t argue with: less road repair, cleaner air, better land use, and healthier citizens. Now check out what other blogs have to say on Blog Action Day!
Tags: Blog Action Day, climate change, corridor
2009-10-15 at 8:26 am |
This is a wonderful idea! I’ve often thought that I’d like to take the bus (when I lived in a larger city that had buses, that is) but found the system to be a little intimidating–a bus party would have been a big help!
I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to feature your blog on mine in an upcoming “Good News Tuesday” feature, that will take place some time in November. May I have permission to quote from your blog and to direct people to it?
By the way, I found my way here via the Blog Action Day website. Thank you for participating.
2009-10-15 at 8:41 am |
I’m glad you found the site, and thanks for visiting! Feel free to share us with your readers and quote content from the site. Happy Blog Action Day :)