Reflections on Transport Choices: To Guzzle or To Pedal?

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart."~Iris Murdoch

The past few days I have begun reading Planetwalker by John Francis, an autobiographical account of an environmental activist who makes the conscious choice to (among other things) completely stop using a car, or any other form of motorized transportation. I have only read the first forty or so pages, but already I have begun to think a little about my own choices around transportation, which of late, have included occasionally riding my bicycle to work.

Unfortunately, truth is, to this point I have only done so when it suits me best—decisions like making this sort of change a really NO change if it only takes place when it is easiest. That admission, while necessary, also does nothing to allow me to further my commitment without having to miss out on certain things. For example, on certain days of the week, when my son is staying at my home, I need to drive him ten miles East of the city to his mother’s home (wherein he attends school), then travel back past my home and then ten miles further West to the district that I work in.

The more that I think about it, the problem is not really an insurmountable one, as much as it is a matter of convenience. Like most folks who want to “do the right thing,” I like doing so best when it is convenient. This, of course, is bull.

When I noodle it through, the only real downside is that I would be unable to make it to school as early as I currently do. Which probably isn’t necessary, anyway. The problem is not so much in my ability to drive my son to school and then myself to work, but in my desire to take the easy way out rather than stopping and dropping my car off at and switching modes to bicycling, I suppose,

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!