Campfyre Stories

(Apologies to Kermit the Frog.)

Not only easier, but cheaper and healthier, too.

People are amazed when I tell them that not only do I not own a car, it’s by choice, I’ve been without one for nearly 8 years now and I don’t particularly want one.  There’s a certain measure of sympathy that people give me when they first learn of it and I have to actively convince them that it’s not a burden to me.

The first question they ask, almost without fail, is "How do you do your grocery shopping?" and the answer is simple, I take a cab home and the driver helps me carry my groceries to the door.  The next question they ask is about laundry, but I live less than a block from the laundromat.

Most people assume that, because I don’t have a car, everything is less convenient for me, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  I’ve made life decisions that make it easier for me to live without a car.  Things like proximity to bus lines, laundromat, shopping, etc. are key to making this type of lifestyle work.

My transportation costs are less than anyone else I know.  Except for the rare occasions that I rent a car, my monthly transportation costs are less than $100.  Annually, including car rental and whatever bus or train trips I take, probably I spend between $1500 - $1800.  I don’t have to pay for gas, maintenance, insurance, etc.  As a result I never have to rely on credit to "get through".

It’s interesting to me.  The whole Climate Change/Global Warming argument consists of a question of whether or not humans are the cause of the climate shift that is occurring the world over.  There is evidence that the current climate change started around the time of the Industrial Revolution, but no proof that it was the cause.  It’s possible that it may have been a coincidence.

Ok, I’ll accept that.  But why does the lack of proof of human-driven climate change preclude the benefit to everyone of being more green in their daily lives?  There is this assumptive arrogance that we somehow deserve to have everything we want the moment we desire it and it is causing our society to become something less than it really ought to be.

People buy on credit to the point of being drastically in debt.  Even our government is guilty of this, and it’s not for the good of society or for the good of greater than ourselves, it’s a selfish instant gratification that we’re after.  This is fleeting, so we crave it over and over and over again until we are addicted to STUFF.  To buying.  To "free money" that winds up being way more expensive in the long run than we ever really realize.

I look at the current economy, where the value of our dollar is falling, where credit card debt is eating people alive, where people are losing their homes because they took the lenders up on a deal that really was too good to be true and I can’t help but wonder how much of this could have been avoided by being more green in our daily lives.

I shop biweekly for groceries and I spend around $125 each time.  This is to feed 2 people and 3 cats and it seems exorbitant to me.  One thing I’ve noticed is that most of that cost is from fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh fish and soy meat-substitutes.  Eating healthy is more expensive than eating crap foods.  This is actually something that’s been getting a lot of media attention lately as they’re starting to make the connection between cheap junk foods, poverty and obesity.  I rarely "cook" prepackaged foods, preferring to cook real food and have a real meal.  I think that pancakes taste better when I make them from scratch than when I use pancake mix.  I think that macaroni and cheese is sublime when it’s made with a mix of cheeses and simmered on the stove, but I find that colors that do not occur in nature turn my stomach when they turn up on my plate.

And, you know, even if I buy less food and spend more money, I find that it lasts me as long as I need it to.  My meals are planned out, not to the day, but for the two weeks and if, for some reason we don’t want whatever is left, I can create something from the ingredients I have in the house.  I can get ideas for new food creations from the packaged, processed foods, but I don’t have to deal with the sodium content or the excess packaging and, you know what?  Mine tastes BETTER, even if it takes a little longer to make.

Every workday I walk 2.5 miles.  Every single workday.  Why?  Because I have to.  Because in the morning my bus drops me almost a half mile from my building and in the afternoon I have to walk just over 2 miles to catch the bus home.  I don’t belong to a gym (that I never go to), I don’t have exercise machines (collecting dust), I just walk because I have to, and I do it without complaint.  In the rain, in the snow, in the wind, in the cold, it doesn’t matter.  I made a choice to not own a car and with that comes a requirement to walk.

People sometimes gasp when I tell them, with my rosy red cheeks and slight pant to my breath, that I walked 2 miles in the snow.  it’s inconceivable to so many people to walk that far, especially every day, but after sitting at a desk for 8, 9, 10 hours and about to sit on a bus for another hour, it’s actually quite a nice break.  Even Spawn who is, self-admittedly, one of the laziest people on the planet suggested that we walk a good distance toward our destination when we went out this weekend and it becomes simply part of going out.

People with children, I think, often underestimate their children’s capabilities.  Susie can’t or shouldn’t walk to or from school and Johnny couldn’t possibly take a bus across town to see his friend.  But they really can, and SHOULD, because it gives them independence and sets them up for a healthy life as they get older.  This idea that we must drive our children everywhere and rearrange our schedules to suit their whims and desires simply reinforces the entitlements that our entire society is about to see come crashing down around them in the form of a recession.

You see, you can’t disconnect the economic issues from the environment.  They are intrinsically entwined.  The availability of money leads us to consume in wasteful manners and to assume that we have every right to do these things because we can afford it.  But we can’t really afford it.

I’m hoping that the impending recession and the falling dollar and rising gas prices and bursting housing bubble will cause people to wake up a little to their actions instead of continuing the automaton borrowing cycle.  I hope that people will start carpooling in greater numbers or start using public transportation.  I hope that people will realize that 3 blocks isn’t too far to walk and that the kids don’t actually need a ride to the mall, when the bus runs right past their house.

Because, really, the biggest problem is that so often we can’t see past our personal bubbles, and so often we can’t get past our own entitlement.  I don’t want to see people hurt.  I don’t want to see people fail.  At the same time, I can’t help but think that all these people in severe credit card debt, all these people looking for something for nothing, all these people who think that it’s their RIGHT to do whatever they want with no repercussions, all those people set themselves up for a fall.  And right now they’re all teetering on the brink of personal economic collapse, while the rest of us hold our breaths to see what the bigger picture will bring.

But in the meantime, the greener I am, the greener I see people around me acting, the more money we save and the healthier we are and the less of an impact that we make on the whole world around us.  I just can’t seem to see any way in which that is a bad thing.  I think that a lot of people would wind up being personally benefiting from taking a broader view and doing things to benefit more than just themselves.  I just don’t know how to make that sort of thing happen.

Until then, I am trying to set a good example.