Starting the Low Car Diet

Yes, that's right: car not carb.

Yesterday morning we hosted the launch of Zipcar's Low Car Diet Challenge at the downtown Seattle Art Museum next to the Hammering Man. Through the program, 30 participants are committing to live without their car for the next month, and instead will walk, bike, ride the bus, and use car sharing. I am one of the participants, and will be representin' for SAM.

The event was great - 20 of the 30 Seattle-area participants came out, and we heard from past participants, all ceremonially turned in our keys, and received an awesome goodie bag of SWAG. It was great to meet some of my fellow participants, and I can't wait to learn more about them as we all blog about our experiences.

Zipcar also brought out a couple of stylish cars, and now they have me excited about trying out fun options like the Mini Cooper convertible and some of the new hybrids. Why would I want to stick with my same old car when I can car share and keep trying something new?

So what are my goals for the challenge? For one, I hope to assess our ability to live as a one-car household. I haven't used my car more than a couple of times a week in a long time, and now that I've moved in with fiance-with-the-mostest, it seems silly to have my little Honda sitting on the street all the time. I already take the bus to work, we can walk to our garden, the grocery store, and many restaurants, and we carpool most evenings and weekends anyway. Now that I'm headed back to school and we're planning our wedding, having the extra money from selling my car would be nice.

I also see this as a next step in living sustainably. Being free of my car means one less car on the road, and it will give me the extra incentive to not use a car when it isn't really necessary. I feel like having a car naturally leads to laziness. If I have a car, I have a place to park it, and it means I can sleep for 5 more minutes if I drive, it's hard to break the cycle of car culture. Even when I combine trips, I still feel guilty when I have my car at the garden or grocery store that is 5 minutes from my house. Maybe I'm not using a lot more gas, but I am adding to congestion, not getting extra exercise, and not setting a good example.

But, it's not going to be easy. 95% of the time it won't be an issue, but those other 5%...

What I've realized, though, is that I just need to do my best. Like any other diet, it has to be sustainable. I want to approach this challenge from the perspective of how we would manage transportation without my car. That means recognizing that I will still ride in a car sometimes, and this is the "low" car diet rather than "no" car diet (I don't think I'm ready for that one yet).

So, wish me luck!