Being An Example to One's Peers

I was reading a post on a blog that I follow called Eco Cat Lady Speaks, and she did a yearly wrap up on how many miles she put on her bike vs. how many miles she put on her car.  By bike I mean a real bike, not a motorcycle, but one you have to pedal.

I was shocked at how few miles she put on her car in one year, 668 miles! I probably put that many miles on my car in a month! Yep, I figured it out and I put 800 miles per month on my car!

As to the number of miles I put I my bike, well…that would be a bit fat zero since I don’t even own a bike!

I find it admirable that she is doing something to reduce her carbon footprint, but as she says in her post, it’s not the tiny amount of carbon emissions that she saves, but it’s to serve as an example to one’s peers. Bravo Eco Cat Lady!

I make myself feel better by telling myself that I do bring my own lunch to work almost every day, thereby reducing the amount of miles I would be driving if I went out into the world every day to hunt and gather my burger and fries right?

I’m hoping one day to not have to commute as much, commuting is rough! Not just because of the traffic and wear and tear on my car, but I figure with traffic it takes me a half hour to get to work and a half hour to get home, meaning I lose an hour of each day just sitting and driving.

The worst part is that on the drive home I unwind and relax by listening to the radio and by the time I get home I’ve lost any motivation I might have had to get home and clean or cook or paint. I bet that if I lived a mile away from my job and I walked to work, I would have tons of energy, after all…a body in motion stays in motion.

But I also bet that if I lived a mile away from my job I would probably drive and not walk, it’s not easy to be an example to one’s peers.