Now that my office is in Cambridge, I have been commuting by bike, about 6-1/2 miles one way. I have found routes that are smooth, on side roads or roads with a good margin, and figured out how to cross major intersections safely and quickly. The ride takes about 1/2 hour each way. And yes, it can be lovely.
This may be the first real means of incorporating exercise into my daily post-children life: it’s possibly faster to ride than drive, and it’s great to feel like I am getting in shape. But I also think this is a good additional step to reduce the amount of fuel I use.
I also bought various items for the bike including a flasher for the rear, a light for the front, some new wider, grippier, and tougher tires, and a very bright jacket. I still drop off my daughter at school in the morning, and pick up her and my son in the afternoon. My new office space has a shower and I have worked out the logistics of clothing and so on. I don’t think the cold or rain of Fall or Spring should bother me, but snow and ice will likely cause me to try public transit.
So now my car commuting is only a couple miles, twice a day for pickup and drop-off. (more…)
I have spent some words on energy, in particular how we can use less of it. Our program has been successful by all measure, I think. For those reading and practicing some of the same simple tactics or others, well done. For the other 200M people in the USA, c’mon, give it a try. It’s fun!
I have been reading a lot, and learning a lot as I write. My wife recently finished The Omnivore’s Dilemma (next on my list) and I finished 1,000 Barrels a Second, and am in the middle of Outgrowing the Earth. I saw Brokaw’s Global Warming special (and am going to an Inconvenient Truth any day now). Earlier this year, I read Cradle to Cradle. And I watch the news every night on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show (some of the blanks filled in by The New York Times). This is all delightful, nice, light, summer entertainment which will warm the cockles of your heart. Not to mention the cockles of the earth.
What is striking is that there’s a common thread amongst these disparate subjects. (more…)
I just washed my hands and was about to go for the second pump of soap when it occurred to me that one pump was plenty.
I recall washing my hair for the first time when I was 7 or 8 and reading the instructions on the bottle: “lather, rinse, repeat”; it occurred to me later (much later) that one washing was plenty, and later still that the “repeat” part effectively doubled how much product Proctor and Gamble sells.
Have you noticed the great convenience of “ultra concentrated” dish soaps; they charge twice as much but you don’t use half as much? I was hungry when I shopped for dinner last night. We made stir-fry, and I got about twice as many vegetables as needed. Would you like to super-size that? (more…)
