Post Tagged with: "Walking"

Don’t forget to leave your car behind! September 22 is Car Free Day

September 21, 2009 at 5:29 pm

(Source: CarFreeMetroDC)

Car Free Day is an international event celebrated every September 22nd in which people are encouraged to get around without their car – highlighting transit, bicycling, walking and all alternative modes of transportation. By taking a fair number of cars off the roads people who live and work there are given a chance to consider how their neighborhood might look and work with a lot fewer cars. Click here for more information about World Car Free Day.

Washington celebrated Car Free Day for the first time in 2007 with about 1,000 District residents committing to be car free for the day. Last year, Car Free Day expanded to the entire Washington Metropolitan Area, and 5,445 residents throughout the region pledged to be car free. This year we hope even more drivers throughout the region will leave their cars at home or go “car lite” by sharing a ride to work. By taking the Car Free Challenge, participants not only help to improve air quality, save money, and reduce their carbon footprint, but also get a chance to win great prizes at the event.

There are a number of regional resources that can help you be Car Free or Car Lite.

While you are on the website, don’t forget to take the Car Free Day Pledge and try your hand to win an iPod and other great prizes! You can still pledge and win prizes even if you’re already using alternative transportation modes, such as bicycles, transit, teleworking, and carpooling.
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Trailblazing 71 year old Mayor of Berkeley, Calif. gives up his car; sends a strong & green message!

April 23, 2009 at 11:36 pm

(Source: SF Gate)

Some mayors tool around in Priuses and hybrid Civics. But Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has taken green transit a step further.  

Image: Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

No more cars for him, at all.

The 71-year-old mayor is trading in his 2001 Volvo for an AC Transit pass and a sturdy pair of walking shoes.

“I’m trying to reduce my carbon footprint to the absolute minimum,” he said. “I figure, if I really want to go someplace I can just rent a car.”

Bates’ long farewell to the Volvo began about a year ago, when he started walking to work as a way to lose weight and stay in shape. The 18-minute trek from his home in South Berkeley to City Hall was so invigorating he started walking everywhere he could – to Berkeley Bowl, the BART station, city council meetings.

He even bought a pedometer to tally his footsteps. His goal: 10,000 steps a day, which he has achieved nearly every day since the tabulations began May 10, 2008. Since then he’s walked 4,908,970 steps, according to the daily log he enters in his computer.

The Bates household is not entirely automobile-free. His wife, State Sen. Loni Hancock, owns a Toyota Camry hybrid, which she uses to commute to Sacramento. Hancock and the Camry are at the Capitol four days a week, however, leaving Bates with nothing but his TransLink card and his Rockports.

Bates’ decision to set the Volvo free was not easy. Like most Americans, he has a deep passion for the open road, quick acceleration and a good sound system. He has fond memories of cruising in the Volvo down Highway 1, Beethoven on the CD player, sunroof wide open.

“A car represents freedom,” he said. “For a long time I kept thinking, how would I really feel about getting rid of it? Finally I just came to the conclusion that keeping the car was ridiculous. It was just depreciating in my driveway.”

Many Bay Area mayors are taking a greener approach to transportation. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom rides in a hybrid police car for city business, and on weekends he drives his all-electric Tesla Roadster.

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