Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal :
       I will ride the bus to and from school 3 days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) each week.

The Wheels on the Bus go 'Round and 'Round...

I actually ended up doing pretty well in my lifestyle change.  Last week, I rode the bus on Wednesday and Thursday both to and from school.  This week, I took the bus to school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  However, the way back was interesting.  On Monday, I did ride the DTA bus back to my apartment.  On Tuesday, I ended up getting a ride home from a friend because I was too impatient to wait 40 minutes for the bus.  Today, I ended up taking the Boulder Ridge Shuttle back to my apartment which in my mind still counts.  Right?  The shuttle is basically like a bus, but it is only for residents of Boulder Ridge/Campus Park.

Challenges and Successes 

My main challenge in obtaining my goal was figuring out the schedule of the buses, and then making it to the bus stop on time.  I seemed to have no trouble in the morning, but at the end of my school day, I did not always have time to sprint to the Kirby Bus Hub.  One strategy that was helpful in my process was meeting other people who ride the bus and talking to them about what they like about it and how early you should get to the bus stop after class.  Most UMD students told me that it was a sprint most days, but it was definitely worth it.  I also found that by printing off the schedule, I felt more control over the timing of everything.

Another challenge that I mentioned earlier was my patience.  Sometimes, I need to talk to my professors after class or stop by someone's office, so I am unable to catch the hourly bus.  This means that I would have to wait almost another hour before hopping on the next bus.  I decided to bring something with me to read in case situations like that come up, or just do my homework at the Food Court for a while.  This is fine on most days, unless I have to work at night.

Let's Talk About Feelings

I generally had positive feelings about the whole process.  What better time to start riding the bus than in the winter?  I got almost a sick pleasure watching other residents of my apartment freeze in frustration as they scraped their cars in the mornings.  I LOVE that I can just walk outside and hop on the nice, warm bus.  I did get a little anxious when it came time to catch the bus at the end of the day, but it all seemed to work out.  As I become more familiar with the system, I think my anxiety about missing the bus will decrease.

What I Learned and the Homeless Man on the Bus

This week I learned that being environmentally friendly doesn't have to cost you, and it can actually benefit you in more ways than you think.  While reducing my carbon footprint, I have many luxuries because of public transportation.  I do not have to start/scrape my car, I don't have to worry about finding a parking space, and I don't have to deal with driving on the icy roads.  Can you say BONUS?!?

I also learned that there are some kind of goofy stereotypes about public transportation.  During this process, part of my change was telling others about my SMART goal.  When I did, I got some crazy responses...

     "Ew.  That's SO dirty.  Why would you ever go on there with such sketchy people?"
     "Did you get in a car accident?!?!  Buses are gross"
     "Do you see a lot of poor people?"  ( <-----wtf? )

These are the three most shocking responses.  I feel like a lot of people think public transportation and instantly picture a dirty bus with a crazy drunk homeless person on it that wants to bite your ear off.  I mean, come on people!  The bus is actually very clean and the people aren't "sketchy."  I don't know where these comments/assumptions come from but they are so far off base.

Future Plans

My plans for next week are to keep it pretty simple and keep my goal the same.  I would like to include the shuttle as part of the "bus" part of my goal since it is still achieving the same goal.  I think that I could maybe push it to 4 days, but I am still not comfortable riding the bus on days that I need to get to work right after class.  So, I will say 4 days of the week (include Thursday) unless I happen to get scheduled on a Thursday (I realize that this is not really that specific but my schedule is all over the place).  Wish me luck!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by  Amy@ Amy in the Rain

Advocacy Project: Healthy People/Thomas

Healthy People Goal:  Promote health for all through a healthy environment (8. Environmental Health).
     Objective:  8-3 Improve the Nation's air quality by increasing the use of cleaner alternative fuels.
          Sub-objective:  there are no sub-objectives under this objective

Progress Quotient Chart

Under the Progress Quotient Chart for Focus Area 8: Environmental Health, it is stated that there has been an 8% improvement towards Objective 8-3 to improve air quality via cleaner alternative fuels. Compared to some other objectives, an 8% improvement was not too bad.  Some objectives had already been met, such as  poor sanitation and waste water services.  However, others such as waterborne disease outbreaks and alternate modes of transportation have reverted away from their target.  This shows that while some areas of environmental health are greatly improving, there is still a long way to go.  The target for Objective 8-3 is to increase it ten-fold.

Progress

There was not much information about the progress of Objective 8-3.  However, as stated earlier, it was one of the objectives that moved toward its target, achieving an 8% improvement.  

Disparities

Data was unavailable for cleaner alternative fuels under disparities.  

Opportunities and Challenges

One of the challenges of all air quality issues is determining the sources of harmful emissions and implementing effective programs to help reduce key air pollutants.  Another challenge is figuring out how to target large groups such as power plants or motor vehicles that are responsible for some of these air pollutants.  A final challenge presented is linking improvements in outdoor air quality with improvements in the health of individuals.  However, there is some hope.  The EPA will focus on market-based programs to encourage the use of cleaner alternative fuels.  They hope to improve these objectives by continuing to track progress and develop new strategies.  As far as linking air quality to health, that still remains a huge challenge.  

Emerging Issues

The main issues surrounding this objective deal with data collection and data accuracy.  Monitoring air conditions can be very difficult especially in certain countries that do not have monitoring stations set up.  Another factor that can effect the data is the annual weather patterns.  Since weather greatly varies, some statistics are not very accurate.  The page also pointed out that even though pollutants per mile have been cut down, that this has been offset a bit by the amount of miles being driven.  This makes me wonder where the 8% improvement comes from and how much it is offset.  

THOMAS:  S.1408 New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions

                   Title:  New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions

                   Sponsor:  Sen Mendez, Robert [NJ]  (Introduced 7/8/2009)  

                   Cosponsors:  Sen Begich, Mark [AK] - 1/28/2010 

                                        Sen Coburn, Tom [OK] - 10/14/2009
                                        Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] - 7/8/2009
                                        Sen LeMieux, George S. [FL] - 3/17/2010
                                        Sen Murkowski, Lisa [AK] - 7/21/2009
                                        Sen Reid, Harry [NV] - 7/8/2009
                                        Sen Udall, Mark [CO] - 10/5/2009

                   Latest Major Action:  Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance (7/8/2009)

Recommendation:  Vote YES for S.1408 New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions.  

My political representatives:      

Al Franken - Democrat St. Paul Office
60 East Plato Blvd Suite 220
Saint Paul, MN 55107
(651) 221-1016

Amy Klobuchar - Democrat
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3244