transportation

October 17, 2010

I Wish I Could Do the Walk to School Challenge

More than 2 months into the school year, I am still in awe that my daughter is in kindergarten. Finally, she’s in “big girl school,” as she likes to put it. I’m also still in awe that she rides the bus alone every morning. It is a short ride of about 5 minutes, but I never thought I’d be able to let go enough to allow her to ride the bus.

Still, between our choices of taking her to school every morning in the car or letting her ride with all the other kids who live in our apartment community, we chose the bus for several reasons:

It seemed silly to drive such a short distance every day when there was another alternative
We have no desire to sit in front of the school every afternoon, potentially for hours, when it’s time for pickup
Letting her ride the bus is clearly the greener choice

Still, I wish we could walk her to school. First, it would force me to get some much-needed exercise. If I can’t get out of walking, I’ll have no choice, and I lost the most weight in my adult life when I was walking my daughter to preschool. But secondly, walking would give me a precious few minutes with her that are becoming fewer and further between now that she has school, homework and other activities taking up her time. But although the school is a short drive from our home, we live too far away to walk.

All of this means I can’t participate in the Green Works Walk to School Challenge, but YOU probably can. The challenge is simple. All you have to do is walk to school with your child every day, and log in to the Green Works Facebook page to record your footprints. When you do, you’ll be competing with others to win a $5000 grant for your school. You can also unlock a variety of eco-friendly goodies for your family.

I can’t think of any school that couldn’t use a $5000 grant. However, even if all you get out of it is some exercise and quality time with your family, wouldn’t that be worth it?

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox Green Works and received a $30 thank-you gift certificate.

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August 14, 2009

A Parent’s Guide for Going Back to School Green

At this time of year, it’s not uncommon for parents to be doing a lot of back-to-school spending. After all, when you walk in to your nearest big box store or mall, there are signs touting back to school specials and savings, and with folders and notebooks costing only a few pennies, what savvy parent wouldn’t take advantage, right? A green parent, that’s who.

You will find aisles upon aisles of inexpensive school supplies, but how many of those are made of toxic chemicals, were made overseas, or are products of old-growth forests that were destroyed forever? Here’s a handy guide to school shopping for parents who want their kids to walk into class glowing a nice shade of green:

Take inventory

What supplies do you have left from last year? Does your child really need a new bookbag, or will their old one suffice? If you have more than one child, are hand-me-downs in order? Can you make or repurpose supplies from items you already have on hand? (Think a small cosmetic bag as a pencil case or folders from leftover pieces of cardstock). After you’ve done this, THEN decide what you really need to purchase.

Shop thrift & consignment stores

See what you can find at your local thrift store, consignment shop or yard sales. You can often find quality clothing and shoes, bookbags and more in great condition. If you must buy new, buy green. The following list will help you source green products.

SHOPPING GUIDE

School Bags

Ecogear makes awesome backpacks from organic cotton and recycled materials. Check out my review of their EcoZoo toddler backpacks featuring a variety of cute animals and made of organic cotton. And their backpacks for older kids are now steeply discounted to $19.99 from $79.99.
Terracycle is one of my favorite companies, not only because they make useful products from recycled materials, but because they get people from accross the nation involved in the collection of those materials. Their direct website is currently undergoing updates, but you can get a Terracycle backpack made of recycled Capri Sun pouches at Target for just $17.99.
Land’s End makes a great, durable eco-friendly backpack made of 100% recycled fabric. I received one of these babies at BlogHer, and it is perfect for my 10-year-old son, who needs a bag that can take a beating and still last the whole school year. It is now on sale for $44.50.
GreenSmart makes a line of affordable messenger-style bags, laptop cases and shoulder bags that are made of recycled plastic. From what I hear, they are very durable and lightweight.
Check out these little and big eco-packs from Dante Beatrix, all made of recycled plastic bottles and featuring cute, bold graphics in bright colors. Priced from $46-56.
Want something handmade? Head over to Etsy, where you’ll find dozens of options like these organic cotton messenger bags by Sewn Natural.

Lunchtime

The Kids Konserve Waste-Free Lunch Kit is a recycled cotton lunch bag that comes stocked with everything you’ll need to pack a green lunch, including the bag with a recycled aluminum name tag, a cloth napkin, 16 oz. stainless steel beverage bottle, Food Kozy and two stainless steel food containers. (aff)
Land’s End makes an eco-friendly lunch pack made of recycled materials to match the backpack mentioned above. It is currently on sale for $24.99.
Looking for a more affordable option? EcoBags offers a certified organic cotton lunch sack for just $7, or you can get this insulated lunch bag made of recycled PET plastic under fair labor guidelines.
Try a bento box, which is a lunch box that includes separate containers that will allow you to eliminate individual packaging. Instead of a bag of chips, send your child to school with a container full of grapes instead. (aff)
If you must use packaging, try reusable sandwich and snack bags from ReUsies or LunchSkins.
Put their drinks in a reusable water bottle. Companies like Kleen Kanteen, Sigg, EcoUsable and others make bottles with great, kid-friendly designs from materials like stainless steel, recycled aluminum and BPA-free plastic.

Supplies

Look for pencils made of alternative materials, like Paper Mate’s EarthWrite recycled pencils, It just doesn’t seem right to clearcut hundred-year old trees to make pencils that will sharpened down to nubs, chewed up, lost and discarded. You can even find pencils made of recycled denim, recycled paper and even scented, recycled newspaper Smencils!
Pentel’s line of “Recycology” pens and pencils are made of recycled plastic, and many of them are also refillable. (aff)
Yesterday’s News colored pencils are made of recycled Chinese newspapers, and let them color with or crayon rocks or affordable soy crayons instead of traditional options made of potentially toxic paraffin.
For paper products, head over to Treecycle for their recycled filler paper and spiral-bound notebooks. If you want to buy from a brick and mortar store, head to your nearest Office Depot, Staples or Office Max, which all offer a wide range of products made from recycled paper, including notebooks, computer paper, binders, folders, pads and even sticky notes. Better yet, go tree-free with notebooks and journals by Ecopaper, which are made from banana, coffee, mango, and other types of agricultural waste.
Nontoxic MagiGlue emits no VOCs (volatile organic compounds), contains no animal by-products and is completely reversible in water.

Clothes & Shoes

Because there are so many companies making great eco-friendly clothing for kids, I’ll just make a list of designers and retailers:

barley & birch: Organic kids’ tees and tanks up to size 6
Kate Quinn Organics: Stylish organic clothing for kids up to age 8
Green Edge Kids: Eco-friendly clothes and accessories from a variety of manufacturers. And be sure to check out their sale section, with items up to 75% off. I’ve gotten some great deals from this page.
Fig Kids: Fashionable, high-quality organic kids’ clothes, although it is pricey
Gretchen & Grace Greenwear:
Sage Creek Organics: Check the toddler boys and toddler girls sections for clothing up to size 6
Tees For Change: Organic cotton tees with positive messages for juniors and teen boys (aff)
Tiny Revolutionary: Organic tees printed with soy-based inks up to size 10
Simple Shoes: I love this company! They make great, durable shoes from sustainable materials like organic cotton and recycled rubber. And in the clearance section, you can get shoes for as low as $9.90! (aff)

Getting them there

Simply put, the most sustainable way to get your kids to school is on the school bus — unless, of course, you happen to drive an electric vehicle or a hybrid with great gas mileage and super-low emissions. And even then, it’s still a toss-up.
If you must drive your kids, try setting up a car pool with other parents in your neighborhood.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to share your tips for sending kids back to school with the Earth in mind in the comments section below! I’m sure all the other green parents out there could benefit from your knowledge!

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August 13, 2009

230 mpg? That’s the Projected City Mileage of the Chevy Volt

Even though my family has been living without our own car and therefore not paying as much attention to gas prices as many car owners, when any car claims to get hundreds of miles per gallon, I perk up and listen. Chevy announced the anticipated fuel economy for the new, electric 2011 Chevy Volt: 230 mpg in the city.

Yes. I said 230 mpg.

My first instinct is to believe that this number is inflated, but apparently the EPA anticipates that this number is pretty close to the truth. I’m no scientist, and I have no clue how Chevy came up with this number, but let me offer you some details:

The Volt is expected to run approximately 40 miles on a full battery charge. So in theory, if your commute is less than 40 miles total before you’re able to plug in again, you won’t need gas. At all. After those first 40 miles, a combustion engine will kick in to generate electricity for a projected range of 300 miles. The battery can be recharged from a standard home outlet.

Given that the EPA has not yet tested the Volt, I’m still curious to see how it will perform once consumers actually get them on the road. Keep in mind that the 230 mpg projected is only for city driving. On the highway, the number is expected to be closer to 100 mpg. Even so, that’s an incredible step up from anything that’s commercially available today. I was able to speak to some reps from Chevy while at BlogHer, and they told me that the Volt will, in fact, be on the market by mid-to-late 2010 and that it is already in production. And that makes the Chevy Volt an incredible contender for our household car.

The downside is, of course, that the first-generation Volt is expected to cost just under $40,000. Not exactly affordable for many consumers. When we consider longer-term savings, it seems well-worth the investment, but the fact still remains that buyers would have to secure a nearly $40,000 loan to drive it off the lot (or walk in with a huge down payment).

Still, the incredible level of innovation required to create the Volt is intriguing. I won’t lie to you — when it comes to cars, I still prefer imports over domestics despite my love for all things made in the U.S. In fact, when I bought my last car, my only requirement for the dealer was that I wanted a import. I was averse to GM and Chevy in particular given the trouble my husband and I had with our cars a few years back and information from my sister, who used to work for GM. But if the Volt is as impressive in real life as it is on paper, I may change my opinion of Chevy yet.

You can see Chevy’s announcement and press release for yourself.

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August 10, 2009

How Do You Live Carless? There’s Only One Way to Find Out

At the end of last year, due to unforeseen circumstances, we lost our car. There’s no quicker way to figure out how to live without convenient transportation than to find yourself suddenly without it. We did not welcome the change willingly.

At the time, we were living in Clarksville, TN, a small military town about an hour away from Nashville. Public transportation there existed and was fairly reliable, but it started late in the morning and ended early in the evening. The buses also came only every hour or half hour, depending on the route. This severely limited our ability to get around, especially since my husband was in school at night and got out of class after the bus had already stopped running. Thankfully, I was working from home and my daughter’s preschool was within walking distance. Of course, walking anywhere with a 3-year-old in the dead of winter is a challenge, but those daily walks are largely responsible for the 40+ pounds I’ve lost over the past several months.

I won’t lie to you — the first few weeks without a car were really difficult. We didn’t even have bikes, so we were truly unprepared to handle the situation. Tasks like grocery shopping had to be well coordinated so we didn’t wind up waiting an hour for the bus after we’d finished shopping or walking back to the house from the bus stop (about a half-mile walk) with too many heavy bags. And though snow days were just a minor nuisance when we had a car, they were a real problem when we had to walk.

It took some time, but we eventually got used to our new car-free lifestyle and started embracing the change instead of resenting it. Sure, there were still times when we wished we could hop in our car and just go wherever, but taking the bus wasn’t so bad, and the walks were refreshing. I learned to put my daughter in a stroller instead of making her walk alongside me on our way to and from preschool, and a neighbor often gave us a ride, particularly on rainy days or when the temperature really dipped. I owe her a lot of gratitude, because she really was a blessing to us, and she’s one of the few friends I made during the 5 months or so we spend in Tennessee. We got into a routine and started enjoying the fact that we no longer had to worry about gas prices, car insurance or maintenance. All it took was a shift in perspective. We also realized that we had probably cut our household carbon emissions by more than half simply by living without a car.

But a carless lifestyle isn’t practical everywhere. Whether you’ll be able to do it depends greatly upon where you live and the size (and ages) of your family.

Now that we’re back in Georgia, we still don’t have a car of our own, but we do share a car with family members. This is essential for getting my husband to and from work and my daughter to and from preschool. We live outside the range of public transportation, and the nearest grocery store is about 12 miles away. Nothing is in walking distance, except my niece’s middle school and a bunch of cows and horses on the ranches that surround us. If we lived in Atlanta, or even near downtown Athens, Clarke County, we could easily swing it. We’d be close to shopping, restaurants, public transportation, schools and, if needed, rental cars or car-share programs.

But here in Athens, Jackson County (the city spans 2 counties), life demands transportation. For my husband, that means riding a bike when he needs to go to the corner store. With a 4-year-old in tow and a major road standing between us and any of the places we’d need to go, biking wouldn’t work for most circumstances. While car-free living was possible in Clarksville, I don’t see how it could work here. We will have to get a car.

That said, I’ve been doing a lot of research about sustainability, emissions, fuel efficiency, etc., and I’ll present my some of the greenest cars I’ve found and some of my other findings here in the Transportation & Travel category. (Anyone heard of the Chevy Volt? )

So what about you? Are any of you living without a car? If so, where do you live (major city, pedestrian- or bike-friendly town, etc.)? Are you single or do you have a family? How do you make it work for you? I’d love to hear everyone’s stories!

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