“opponents of radical change have successfully categorized efforts to protect the environment or reverse the effects of climate change as personal sacrifices. We focus on the inconvenient downsides of taking the train over a car-share service, for instance, instead of imagining or working toward a world where driving in cars simply doesn’t exist because cities are designed with people in mind. We choose to keep funding fossil fuel companies because they’ve spent billions of dollars making sure our lives appear easier when we buy their products. The status quo is comfortable for a reason: it makes daily life easier to manage, especially when the alternative doesn’t yet exist — or, more accurately, when those in power are actively opposed to making a better world a reality.”
– Eric Holthaus in “The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What’s Possible in the Age of Warming”

It’s no sacrifice.
It’s also not impossible.

World Car-Free Day is September 22 — ten days from now. This feels like something we should be talking about before it happens.

It’s a few years old now, but there was a study about how people consider certain actions to be impossible. In it, they were asked to consider “immoral and irrational” actions, but I think the takeaway is applicable here: when people take no time to reflect, they are more likely to consider something impossible. It’s one of those things that seems so obvious it shouldn’t need a study, and yet given how many times someone has told me something I do is impossible while I am doing it, I guess we need it.

Leading a life that is not car dependent is neither immoral nor irrational, but it definitely is outside of the middle class status quo and those belonging to that part of society will give a knee-jerk “living without a car in Connecticut is impossible” reaction.

On the one hand, this tells us a lot about the ways people continue to live segregated lives. Had they more interaction with those in neighboring towns — or even in the less posh sections of their own — they would just know. If they regularly rode local buses, they would know. They would see it for themselves. Parents and caregivers take kids to school on public transit. People ride the bus to the grocery store, medical appointments, social events. They bike to the library. Return cans to the grocery store by taking bags on their bike or on buses. Walk to pick up fresh bread at the bakery. What we are told is impossible is how many of us already live our lives.

It is not a sacrifice to walk to work and be in touch with seasonal changes, watching as the community gardens go from snow-covered to tawny to green, to how they are right now, a rainbow of colors from raspberries, sunflowers, zinnias, squash flowers, and marigolds. I don’t need to be told by a calendar or a special coffee menu what time of year it is.

It is no sacrifice to bump into one or two people I know almost every time I leave the house, giving small moments to establish connection with other humans. This requires no artificial settings. No cocktail hours. No dressing up, going to parties. No seeing people only when they are “on”. I’m talking to people when they are escorting their children home from school — one kid on a kick scooter, the other on a tiny bicycle with training wheels. When they are sweaty from a long hike in the woods or from trying to walk something out on city streets. I see them strolling with their dogs. These are not moments I ever had when driving from place-to-place. If you are someone obsessing over “the epidemic of male loneliness” or “how it’s so hard to make friends as an adult,” ditch your car and say hello to people you pass.

If you spend time in online spaces, you might have seen the deserved backlash against hustle culture. The secret: slow down. Literally. Rethink movement. There are uses for the automobile, but we should have far fewer of them and use them infrequently. Most of us are not taking six hour drives into the mountains every day, yet we keep vehicles around as if this were the case. Or, because we might make one or two large purchases per year we buy an overly large vehicle when we could do with much smaller and simply rent something on the occasion that we do have a large bookcase to cart home. This is an obvious place to begin rebelling against hustle culture or the rat race or whatever you’d like to call it. Take inventory of what you need, what you want, and what other options are available. Would it make more sense to use green transportation 50 weeks of the year and then rent a car the other two weeks?

It is no sacrifice to live in the urban core. It’s also not impossible to make other choices while living in the suburbs. I could talk about my friend who bikes to work all but a handful of days each year, reserving her car or bus for truly terrible weather days.  I could talk about another friend who is part of a four-person family where there one car; he either works from home or commutes by bicycle, and uses bicycle to take one of the kids to school. Another friend uses the bus to travel from a non-adjacent suburb to Hartford, also taking child to preschool that way. I could keep going, but my point is that none of them have ever suggested that they suffer from a decreased quality of life because they are existing without having to make excessive car payments or call out because their car is in the shop . . . again.

Alright, so, you’re curious. Nobody is directly asking you to get rid of your car, but if you are considering experimenting on World Car-Free Day, or maybe even giving it a go for a week, here are some things you might do – especially if this is your first time trying it:

  • Plan ahead like a grown ass adult
    Look at that calendar to think about what you have committed to for the day. Is there anything on that list that isn’t necessary or doesn’t spark joy? Cross it out. Which things are tied to a schedule? Are there any activities or errands that you can combine? [Ex: You have vague plans to have coffee with a friend and want to do grocery shopping. Meet at the coffee shop near the grocery store. Or, if they’re into it, do your chatting while you both go grocery shopping together.]
  • Be realistic
    If you have not ridden your bike in 15 years, taking it out that morning for a 10-mile hilly ride is setting yourself up for frustration, and if you do that, you’ve given yourself an excuse to never do this again. Take the time to ease into it and get that bike tuned up, or pick a different mode for a one-day experiment. That other mode could be the bus, and if you haven’t take the bus in 15 years, that’s fine, but you should review the route and schedule; pay attention to what day and direction the schedule tells you  After doing that, if it turns out the bus won’t work for a day where you have a mandatory in-person meeting at 7 AM, then three different appointments after work, choose another day for your car-free experiment day. Maybe try this on a day off when you have errands to run that are not time dependent. Be sure to check out payment methods (for a one-day thing, the Token Transit app is probably easiest, unless you’re someone who hoards quarters and irons dollar bills and is fine holding up the bus while you pay) and check the weather forecast. Dress for comfort. Don’t come crying that you got too sweaty or too cold or too wet.
  • Look at maps
    Do not rely entirely on Google Maps for transit information. I will repeat this until I am blue. But, Google Maps is useful as long as it’s not used by itself. Look at it on a day and time (weekday vs. Saturday vs. Sunday) to get a sense of what buses serve the areas you want to visit. Zoom in and hover mouse over the blue bus icon. This will list various buses that use stop. Check that info against what the bus company provides for schedules. It comes in handy for those who are trip chaining: combining several errands or activities into outings rather than going simply out and back. [Ex: You decide to go from home to Alvarium Roasting Company and Small State Bakery, but you are not going right back home after. Instead, you decide to travel from there to West Farms, then home. The first leg has you on the 128 so you don’t have to cross New Park Avenue, but then you can decide if you want to take that same bus to the mall, or walk around the corner and pick up another bus route on New Britain Avenue. Then at the mall, there are several buses, and it’s possible that there’s another route that gets you closer to home. Put the Transit app on your phone so that in real time, you can see all available transit options near where you are.]
  • Ask for help
    If logistics are a nightmare for you, contact CTrides to help you figure out a mode and a route. You can also contact me for specifics, but this is the actual job for CTrides people and they might even have a free bus pass for you. If taking the bus, you can ask others at bus stop or ask the driver while boarding if you aren’t sure that this is the bus you want.
  • Ask for company
    If you aren’t dragging your friends into your misadventures, why do you even have friends in the first place? Trying new things can be less intimidating/overwhelming/confusing if you have someone there.
  • If you’re really nervous about getting lost but also really want to try this and can’t talk any of your chicken friends into joining you. . .
    Take one of the CTfastrak buses and stick to the busway. It’s a straight line. The stations have maps. The stations also have benches, bus time announcements, and emergency call boxes. They are well-lit, and while probably not relevant at this time of year, they also have heaters. The buses automatically stop at every station, so you don’t have to worry about pulling the cord to signal your stop. Service M-F, and for the most part, on Saturdays, is fairly rapid. If you feel semi-adventurous, you can get off at the Cedar Street Station, walk up the hill to get a coffee, walk back down and then turn right onto the multi-use path. Walk for 15-20 minutes and you’ll end up at the next station. From there, you can hop back on and take bus to end of the line in downtown New Britain. Do whatever in New Britain (admire their Complete Streets updates, go to the art museum, find more coffee, get a beer, get a billion pierogi) and then take the bus back to the station you started at. Take lots of pics of your pierogi, beer, and art to aggressively text to those friends who wouldn’t go have fun with you.

Climate Possibilities is a series about climate mitigation, along with resilience, resistance, and restoration. It’s about human habitat preservation. It’s about loving nature and planet Earth, and demanding the kind of change that gives future generations the opportunity for vibrant lives. Doomers will be eaten alive, figuratively. All photographs are taken in Hartford, Connecticut unless stated otherwise.