[Vision2020] Inconvenient Truth -- What WE gonna do

[Nils Peterson]

Ted asks:
> Why is it hard to take advantage of the CO-OPs offer living on the south side
> of Hwy. 8? 

That¹s a good question.
I live out by Tidymans, Joe lives a block closer to downtown.

This link explains why I don¹t walk downtown, since I own a small car and
eat meat ( http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/beef.html )

> In fact, meat production is so wasteful that walking actually uses more fossil
> energy than driving, if the calories burned from walking come from a typical
> American diet:
> 
>     "It is actually quite astounding how much energy is wasted by the standard
> American diet-style. Even driving many gas-guzzling luxury cars can conserve
> energy over walking -- that is, when the calories you burn walking come from
> the standard American diet! (62)²

But, taking MeganPru¹s suggestion, if I shift my walking power to carrots
then I need to give you a more serious answer

There are two routes I have explored, see map
http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/22870 (If you don¹t know wayfaring,com,
you should)

Both routes are over a mile.

When we were in Scotland, my wife and I didn¹t have a car and we took a
weekly walk to Safeway. It was about a mile. Hauling stuff back by hand is a
drag. (I did lose weight, however).

I think an even bigger issue is a sense of not having time. Scotland had a
different pace. The campus where I worked stopped at 10AM for tea. Really.
The switchboard operators would not put through any long distance calls.
Nada.

Also, we walked and talked. It was a social thing. And being tourists, we
had lots to look at and talk about.

So, I¹m sensing that the problem for me is deeply structural. Joe and I ride
the bus, and its social, and I¹ve structured some of my life around it.  I
could get off the bus near the COOP, buy stuff and walk home. And then cook
my carrots for dinner. It would work better if I ate at the COOP.... It
ripples out and out.

So, the question is not why is it hard to walk to the COOP, but how are you
going to re-structure your life? And if I change mine, will you change your
expectations of me, or will your expectations for my dress, timeliness,
level of energy for other activities, etc, still be based on your car
culture?

If Donovan¹s dream world of $10 gas happens, then you and I would both be
re-structuring our worlds and it would be easier for me to not be out of
sync with the world¹s expectations for me


On 8/24/06 10:30 AM, "Ted Moffett" <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:

> All-
>  
> The Moscow Food CO-OP's "twenty human powered shopping trips of five dollars
> or more for a five dollar discount" card applies to all human powered
> transportation, walking, biking, running, skateboarding, blades, wheel chairs
> (don't forget the wheel chair racers at Bloomsday beat the fastest runners),
> ... 
>  
> Why is it hard to take advantage of the CO-OPs offer living on the south side
> of Hwy. 8?
>  
> Ted Moffett
> 
>  
> On 8/24/06, Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> wrote:
>> I think the most important thing that we can do as a community is increase
>> and encourage alternative forms of transportation. I don't have any answers
>> but I do have some more detailed questions.
>> 
>> I've always been a big walker but in my present location I walk far less than
>> I ever did. If you live on the south side of Rt. 8, as I do, it is difficult
>> to take advantage of the Co-ops wonderful offer. What can we do to increase
>> and encourage more walking and bike riding in town, especially from the south
>> and east to the downtown area?
>> 
>> Similarly, I take the bus to work -- from Moscow to WSU -- pretty often. But
>> I rarely ride the bus in town. There are two bus stops near my house and I
>> know where they are but I still don't make use of that option. And I doubt
>> that I'm atypical in this regard. How can we inform people about the Moscow
>> bus schedule and encourage folks to use that form of transportation?
>> 
>> --
>> Joe Campbell
>> 
>> ---- Nils Peterson <nils_peterson at wsu.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> =============
>> I'm not too surprised that there was not an outpouring of personal actions
>> to my previous question -- I'm about immobilized by the challenge as well.
>> 
>> Carbon neutral is an interesting concept, but knowing if something is carbon
>> neutral is hard, and, given that most things include a transportation
>> element, its going to be hard to be neutral.
>> 
>> Megan's veggie idea, as subsequently modified by other suggestions is one
>> that resonates for me -- eat lower on the carbon input chain, which means
>> eat local. That's something I can work on.
>> 
>> SO now,  I want to move the discussion out a level, what are WE, as Moscow,
>> gonna do?
>> 
>> I got a piece of good news last night, PCEI has converted a vehicle to
>> bio-diesel and they are talking about how to work with other fleets in town
>> to convert them, and have a local bio-diesel supply. I know a couple other
>> bio-diesel drivers around already and having a supply closer than Lewiston
>> would be welcome news to them.
>> 
>> The COOP gives a discount for getting there by foot. One of the businesses
>> in Alturas Park (Anatech maybe?) gives employees a financial incentive per
>> mile that they travel to work by foot power. WSU & UI run a bus between the
>> campuses and its free to students and employees (but UI almost cut the
>> service this summer -- sad statement on their green commitment)
>> 
>> What else can we, in whatever collective groups, begin doing?
>> 
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> 


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