The Smaller Footprint Project

This whole crazy idea came from our ongoing adventure in reducing our environmental footprint. This time, we were going to concentrate on the cars. See, like most American families, we own two cars. The question I had is did we really need two cars or could we get by with one? It seemed like a good idea — at least to try.

And truthfully, I couldn’t find a reason not to embark on this project. I could, however, find a lot of reasons to give it a try. For example:

• Spring and summer and fall weather in Wisconsin is ideal.
• The city I live in (Madison) is really and truly a bicycle friendly city. Lots of bike paths and lots of other people commuting to and from their jobs on bikes.
• One of my jobs is 5 or so miles away and is reachable by bike path. No busy streets to content with. The days that I work in my other job, I work with my wife so we commute together.
• I had a bike (actually I have two) that was perfect for commuting. Lightweight, not too fancy, pretty basic and comfortable
• I didn’t have to carry a computer or other heavy items. Most days, everything I needed I could fit in a fanny pack or in a backpack.
• Gas prices were going through the roof and I am too cheap to waste money.

So, why not. Besides, I figured that I could always fall back on my car if I needed to — say if the weather turned nasty or if I needed to carry something big to work.