So I'm at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, which is a 10,000 person conference held every year in Washington DC.
I'll elaborate further when I'm back at home with a real computer (I'm writing this from my phone) but I wanted to share one thing with you before I forget. I was at a presentation on making our transportation industry more sustainable, and a presenter from the UK pointed out something we tend to ignore when sitting around debating using recycled materials and reducing rolling resistance to improve fuel efficiency. Roughly, it was this:
"Ghandi said 'be the change you want to see'. I spend an hour getting to work on the bus, when it would be a 20 minute drive."
It was really cool to hear that, especially since most people at his level in organizations don't practice what they preach. And it made me proud that we chose our house close to Stefano's office, he takes the bus 95% of the time, I work from home, and we only own one (partial zero emissions) vehicle.
That is awesome! I agree -- you so rarely hear that.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I chose to work in Pittsburgh was the mass transit. One of my criteria when looking for an apartment was that I be able to walk to the bus or the streetcar. It is awesome that I have days where I don't move my car at all! My friends from back in Mississippi can't believe i do this, they thought I was crazy to want to give up my freedom to come and go. I couldn't be happier about it. I'm also proud of my paretns who were a 1 car family most of my life with my father taking the commuter train downtown. They were great role models in showing me the importance of mass transit.