A trip to Home Depot

The trip to the Home Depot is always an interesting one.  I have to get what I need, but it has to fit in the panniers.  Sometimes, I will plan ahead accordingly and take the trailer, but usually I don't.  Today I had to pick up a filter for the whole house humidifier.  The bike is good for one thing.  I do not buy a lot of extra things I do not need.  

The trip is a round-about one.  Using this route, it is 3.8 miles each way.  Usually, I simply head down Route 40.  That was, it is about 2.5 miles one way.  Although it is a state route, it really really is not that bad. It has decent shoulders and the stop lights keep the speeds down.  I just did not feel like dealing with the traffic today.  It was about 40 degrees and raining.  It is easier to ride on the less used side streets rather than fight my way through less than optimal conditions.  

CO2 saved today: 4.9 pounds

CO2 saved to date: 11.7 pounds (includes two un-blogged trips to Kroger)

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Introducing... the trip to Kroger

This is probably the most common route you will see me take during the next year.  This is a simple two mile round trip from my house to Kroger.  I have done it so many times in the past, it is almost second nature.  The minute I say I am going to Kroger, Lindsay  (my four-year-old) gets ready for her trip in the trailer.  

It has taken a while, but I have found several reputable sources that state the average amount of CO2 emissions from a car to be between 1,200 and 1,500 per 1000 miles.  I have figured my car to give off just over 1,300 pounds of CO2 per 1,000 miles driven.  Given that, this two mile trip has saved about 2.6 pounds of CO2.  While that may not seem like much, it is the little things that begin to add up over time.  Am I looking to change the world in one day?  Hell no.  It does not happen that way.  Instead, change happens a little bit at a time. 

So this post introduces one  new item. The  amount of CO2 saved to date.  This  early in the game it is only 2.6 pounds.  

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What is the 2 mile challenge?

A while back, I was searching for information about the Xtracycle and I came across the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge website.  The fine folks at Clif Bar were challenging people to ride their bicycles on any errand that is less than two miles for their houses.  While I am normally apprehensive about corporations and their causes (after all, most corporations are only worried about the bottom line) this one really struck a cord with me.  

According to the 2 Mile Challenge website, about 40% of automobile trips are less than two miles.  If one million people replaced a 2 mile car trip with a bicycle ride once a week, carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by 50,000 tons per year.  To put that into perspective, the average person creates 7.5 tons of emissions in a single year.

So here is my map.  It is my goal for 2008 to ride my bicycle to any place that falls within my circle.

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Coming Soon!

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