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So you want to make a difference? |
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You want to help the planet survive. You want to leave a legacy for your children. You want to be ecologically responsible. You want to rebuild your community. You want to take better care of yourself. You want to breathe fresh air. |
Sell Your Car! That's right! It's possible, SELL YOUR CAR!! Its good for you, its good for the planet
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| Update:
The Canadian Automobile Association estimates that the average Canadian
spends about $ 9,000 per year maintaining a car. Car Sharing on the other hand is an alternative that costs the average participant only
$ 1,500 per year. Save money, build community and help the environment! |
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| Here is why. Most of us live in a virtual community. We drive everywhere. We drive to Costco. We drive to Wallmart. We tell ourselves that we are saving a buck. We drive right past our neighbour who is trying to earn a living here in our community operating a little store that could service our needs just fine. We are spending our money on oil and gas, steel, plastic and rubber, parking lots, roads and traffic cops, insurance, healthcare and diet plans not to mention the time wasted driving in the frenzy of traffic or zombying our way through the endless isles at the superstore. |
Do the math yourself. Most people spend between 4000 and 6000 per year on their car to drive 10,000miles. That's 40 cents per kilometer you pay directly yourself. Not to mention the hidden costs of infrastructure and health care due to the lethargic lifestyle, pollution and accidents caused by the automobile. Add it all up and you may be paying 80 cents per km. If you are an average wage-earner your time is worth about $15 per hour so if you spend 3 hours going shopping and driving 40km return to get there you have to save over $75 on your grocery order. |
| Buy Locally: I now buy my cheese at a local deli just down the road. They open early because they are also a coffee shop. Selling me cheese helps them keep their product fresh for the lunches they serve. This makes them more viable. I enjoy their hours because I can pick up my cheese on my morning walk. I feel good because I am helping to pay a neighbour's wages. I get to know the person behind the counter and they get to know me. We are building our community, one dollar at a time. |
Live in a real community: The virtual community is the one where you, yourself choose all the people in your life. It is virtual because you ignore the person living next to you and spend copious amounts of time traveling in your little box on wheels (spewing poison into the air we breathe) to get to the person you have chosen to include in your little insular community. Since we have given up the car addiction we have met more of our neighbours, have had interesting chats on the way home from work, have helped seniors with chores around the yard, and have enjoyed bonding with our real community. Our community is real because it is made up of the people that live and work in our neighbourhood directly contributing to our quality of life. |
| Go on vacation!! Walking, cycling, taking the bus are all great ways to get around. It takes a little planning but the rewards are huge. Not owning a car has saved us 400 hours or more per week at work. Then moving our work and our home close enough together to cycle back and forth has saved another hour per day in commuting time for a total of over 600 hours saved per year. That's like getting 3 1/2 months of vacation every year!!! |
The Time Machine Every time we get on our bikes we climb on board a time machine. Do your own math. Figure it all out and you will see the magic of it all. In our mid 40s we think we have gained almost 10 years of healthy productive life. Imagine how much more living you can do if you start even earlier!!
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Finally, when you really need a car, rent it. Most North American cities have discount rental locations that give you weekends for under $25 per day. Do the math again.