Mary Alice Drain

In addition to eliminating (I'm looking at electric cars) exhaust emissions and the health issues that addresses, I love to support innovative, problem-solving products; even if the makers of those products also make the traditional, polluting and fossil-fuel consuming (problem-causing) products. I also love to support the production of renewable sources of electricity, which I do by buying my electricity only from wind and solar production. (I'm so glad Illinois is in the un-regulated energy market.)
So added to the smiles plugging in my car will bring, I get to crack a smile for driving past a gas pump. Yayayay!

I live in a NW-suburb that does not really support walking or bicycling. However, groceries, work and workout destinations are all within 7 miles of my home. So I thought an e-bike would be a great alternative to my car. And, it turns out according to googlemaps, I can knock a mile off my longest trip by bike.

Unfortunately, the routes are fast-moving high-traffic roads I wouldn't ride an e-bike on. The upside is, I could ride my bicycle on most of the sidewalks - since there aren't any pedestrians on them ;)

I'm a little disappointed. I liked the ride and think the e-bike would be worth the investment. But I will ride my bicycle to work now that I've explored the route, when it stops snowing.

Absolutely it differs! When I'm driving I barely engage; I'm either focused on the mechanics of covering unknown territory or on getting to my destination as efficiently as possible. If there's little traffic, I might look around some. Bicycling isn't as much better as I expected before thinking about it, but I'm still moving along and watching traffic unless I'm using the bike for fun and not really for transportation. It's definitely better than driving though.

Walking is good for engaging with my surroundings and the folks in it, but I cover relatively much less territory than I would with a car or bike. Transit is the big win for engagement. There, the opportunity and motivation for engagement is best. I discover so much riding the L, Metra or buses. Most of the people-engagement is really from walking/waiting, except I engage with a lot of new faces (and familiar ones) because of on-transit discoveries!

I’ll intentionally look for perishable items with near approaching expiration dates and use them before that date in my meal planning. And I’ll buy items I know I can consume soon after the sell by date instead of avoiding them.