Earth Day insights...

A bike can be a real alternative to driving

I knew Earth Day was coming up but didn't realize today was the day until after I'd arrived home and settled down for the evening (actually my wife mentioned Earth Day when I went on a short errand with my daughter - we took the Ford Escape hybrid - it seemed appropriate!).

Realizing that today is Earth Day caused me to pause and reflect on what my family is doing to try and be more responsible with this great planet of ours.

While I recognize we can do so much more, I'm proud of what we've accomplished so far...

• Including today, I've spent 56 hours and logged 625.11 miles commuting to/from work on my bicycle. This has resulted in preventing over a half ton of CO2 emissions.
  

• My wife owns a Ford Escape Hybrid and we use this vehicle for most of our car trips when possible. This vehicle consistently provides 30+mpg tanks and is a low emission vehicle that doesn't burn gasoline when you're stuck in the many traffic jams that litter our immediate area.
  

• Despite living in a gated community that does not offer curbside recycling, we recycle hefty volumes of paper, plastic, aluminum and more in a pair of recycle bins we keep in our pantry and periodically empty at our parent's house (where curbside recycling DOES take place!).
  

• We use reusable (and cool) grocery store bags virtually eliminating the need for using plastic bags (not to mention that the rebusable grocery bags hold more and equal far fewer trips between car and kitchen when unloading).

What are YOU doing to reduce your impact on the environment? Give it some thought!