The email began with the promise of particularly fine blog schwag:
Because you are a green parent I thought you might be interested in an opportunity to experience one of General Motors’ green and family friendly vehicles, the Chevrolet Equinox.
Ah, yes: Since I’m a green parent, they’d love to send a new car over for me to try. I’m thinking it has more to do with the fact that I run this site, and also Lighter Footstep. The third-party public relations firm making the pitch states plainly on their website that they “reach targeted audiences, such as the people behind blogs, podcasts, vlogs, and social communities.” Not a thing wrong with that. But I really must decline.
No car is green …
… Greener, perhaps, but no automobile is really green. Not even those pricey hybrids. When you consider that the vast majority of U.S. car trips are carried out with a single occupant, the idea of moving some two tons of plastic and steel to transport a couple hundred pounds of human cargo makes very little sense. Our dependence on individual car ownership is unsustainable.
Don’t get me wrong: My experiment in bicycle lifestyle hasn’t turned me into an anti-car snob. The Equinox is a nice-looking crossover SUV, I wish General Motors well, and the PR company that approached me was kind to think I’m worth asking.
Still, I’m happy on my bike. Every trip I take on two wheels is one less car on the road. It keeps the air a little cleaner, a little more oil in the ground, and a bigger smile on my face.
What families really need
Our whole economy, from the way we build our cities to a substantial portion of household monthly budgets, revolves around automobiles. We’re prepared to throw thousands of dollars a year at auto financing, repairs, gasoline, insurance, and parking. Multiply this times two (or more) for multi-car households. It’s no wonder we’re working ourselves to death: We have to pay for the expensive cars that make it possible for us to go to work each day and earn money to pay for our expensive cars.
What 21st century American families really need to lead simpler, healthier, more sustainable lives isn’t greener cars — it’s fewer cars. While it would be nice to think that education can move significant numbers of people from auto showrooms to the local bike shop (and, yes, we can do better in that respect), it will take many years to create the conditions necessary for widespread change.
A cycling family with two tandems (click to enlarge)
We tend to think of cycling’s success in places such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam as a function of gentle terrain and European urban compactness. In fact, it has taken city planners decades to craft dedicated bicycle throughways and the traffic-calming features necessary to make people feel safe on two wheels. In the case of the United States, it will also take a sustained commitment to affordable and convenient mass transit, which hardly exists beyond the city limits of major population centers.
But it all starts with individual decisions to think beyond the narrow horizon of a car windshield. Here’s mine.
Family bicycle photo courtesy of the Missouri Bicycle Federation and Caryn Giarratano / CC BY 2.0
