Responding to: Meet the Americans who choose to live without a car in the US: ‘It takes some doing’
Last fall, when I was rearranging my life, I intentionally set it up so that I could be as car-free as possible. Right now, I’m probably around the 95% mark; I can do most things without driving, but not all. At this point I don’t believe I can make it to 100%.
I’ll admit that my reasons weren’t altrustic. I was tired of paying for gas and maintenance. I wanted/needed an excuse to get out and walk more places. After nearly 20 years fighting Atlanta traffic, I’ve somewhat burned out on driving. Not traveling, mind you — driving.
It’s possible to live car-free outside of a big city, but it’s not easy. You will need to live in a small town, at least, and accept the fact that your carbon footprint still won’t go to zero. (Grocery delivery still burns gasoline, even if it’s someone else’s.) And it takes a bit of planning and a lot of luck. I just happen to be in the right situation:
- I work remotely.
- I was able to afford to rent a place in town and to pay for a high-speed Internet connection.
- Heck, I knew of a town where I could afford to live like this. The ubiquity of car-based development means many people in the U.S. do not.
I still have a car and probably always will — and I make sure I start it and run it for a few minutes at least once a week, even if all I do is sit in my driveway. But I secretly delight in the fact that I’m now putting less than 5K miles per year on it.
And I not-so-secretly wish that walkable/bikeable/transit-based development could get more attention and resources in this country.