I started this blog in 2010 after reading an article by the National Academy of Sciences reporting results from a study indicating 33 specific household actions that will cut US carbon emissions by 123 million metric tons. I was inspired to step up to the plate and wanted to challange our family (and inspire others) to do our part. We made it only 17 days and then life ...(you know the story).


Fast forward three years: It's 2013 and I am re-inspired after attending three very eye opening films featured in our community's One Earth Film Festival. Our family is kicking off a new challange (more broad and perhaps less defined by a carbon metric) - to pursue one new action a day (for 365 days) that will positively affect climate change and sustainability. Let's see how far we make it!



Thursday, April 22, 2010

Day 1: Start to examine our driving behavior Reduce: Driving

Day 1:  Start to examine our driving behavior.  We are a house of 4 that owns 1 car.  A 2001 Volvo V70 that the EPA calculates to get 21 MPG.  I guesstimated that we put about 20,000 miles on our car annually in the post below re:carbon footprint calculations.  In an effort to accurately measure our savings I am noting our odometer today at 108,233 miles.

fueleconomy.gov calculates that our driving pattern contributes 11.7 annual tons of CO2. That is 1/8 of our total  footprint. Every mile not driven will reduce our footprint by .0006 of a ton. Today I am committing to using alternative transportation (walking or biking) to our younger son's preschool two days a week instead of driving. This is a baby step but one I know I can keep because it is small, yet it reduces our mileage by 2 miles/day or 200 miles/year.  

Goal: walk to and from preschool 2 days/week
CO2 Savings/year: -.13
Cost/year: $0, actually at $3.68/gallon this step saves us a whooping $30 a year
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