Go Greener Tips

div class=image style=float: right; padding-left: 8pximg alt=family using bikes height=200 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/amorylovins/amorylovins-34172190-1242927711.jpg?ymfZySBDPvFBQL1d width=300 //divpAmong the many solutions for dealing
with the environmental impacts of transportation, driving fewer miles is by far
the least controversial. After all, who doesn’t want to spend less time in the
car?  Planners and politicians alike find
the safest bet for greening transportation lies in reducing our vehicle miles traveled (VMTs), /ppemImprove
public transportation,/em they say. emDevelop housing near mass transport
nodes. Form carpools at the office./em
These are all effective and viable measures to address the average American
business commute, and we should indeed do all of these things. But what if our business commute isn’t
necessarily where we have the most influence? What if it’s our kids’ activities driving us
to drive more — our child miles traveled (CMTs)?/ppAccording to the a href=http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001 National Household Travel Survey/a, the
average vehicle travels 3,956 miles for family and personal business. In 1969, that average was 1,270 miles. We’ve
tripled our family business mileage, but VMTs for business commuting only
increased 36 percent during the same period. Looks like our family miles are to
blame. /ppWe want to give our children every opportunity for growth
and exploration of their talents, and approximately 80 percent of American
children participate in organized extracurricular activities outside of school.
Most of these activities are not part of an after-school program but require
travel to a separate location for sports, dance, music, and the required
competitions and performances that accompany these commitments. That translates into a lot of mileage
traveled and time in the car, or too often the 8-seater SUV — with only 2 or 3
seats occupied./ppAside from keeping our children in a shoebox, there are a
number of valid solutions to this dilemma:/pullistrongUrban planning/strong — Get these
kids out on their bikes. Provide safe
bike routes connecting schools, parks, libraries, and small commercial centers
likely to host dance classes and other activities for children./libr /liMake this effort a strongcommunity-based
contest or pledge/strong — Children can get involved by calculating fuel savings
and reducing their carbon footprints./libr /listrongSchool district policies and public/private partnerships/strong — Lease space
within schools to extracurricular activity providers, and offer ongoing classes
and activities immediately after school. Bring back school-affiliated K-8 sports teams, or partner with community
sports leagues to use school fields for practice after classes let out./libr /listrongSelf-assessment/strong — Read emLast
Child in the Woods/em by Richard Louv, and talk to your kids about how much
they actually get out of their extracurricular activities. How much time do they really have in their
schedules for creative play?/libr /listrongPublic transit/strong — Provide
free passes for kids, and create programs to teach them how to use the bus or
train systems safely and effectively. This can embed lifetime habits for using mass transit and create a
sustainable future for these services./libr /listrongCarpooling/strong — Put those
8-seaters to good use, and go out of your way to organize shared rides on the
first day of practice or class. Maximize
the benefit by asking each driver to both drop off and pick up, so that by
sticking around and watching, they can spend time with their child and avoid
round-trips by separate drivers. /libr /listrongEconomic development and arts funding/strong — Municipalities can provide
incentives for arts organizations that locate near public schools or provide
supervised walking or shuttles from school to extracurricular activities. Music, dance, and visual arts are big players
in the distances we spend transporting our children./li/ulpThe answers will not be found in a single solution, but
certainly the challenge of reducing child miles traveled can be part of urban planning and school board conversations as
easily as it can be part of the family dinner conversation. /pbr /pemElaine Gallagher
Adams is a senior consultant on Rocky Mountain Institute’s a href=bet.rmi.orgBuilt
Environment Team/a, and Hiroko Kawai is a principal on Rocky Mountain
Institute’s a href=move.rmi.orgMobility and Vehicle Efficiency Team/a. a href=http://www.rmi.org/Rocky Mountain Institute/a is an independent,
entrepreneurial nonprofit think-and-do tank. We drive the efficient and
restorative use of resources. Sign up for a href=https://nc.rmi.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=186tab=3RMI e-lerts here/a. /em/p

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