tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29774939.post8544315870365783261..comments2023-07-20T10:16:46.141-04:00Comments on TheGreenMiles.com: Attention Cheapskate Treehuggers: Save on Gas, Give a Free GiftTheGreenMileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15774630689123316690noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29774939.post-21808204632483918582007-08-05T18:11:00.000-04:002007-08-05T18:11:00.000-04:00Miles,Thanks for visiting my blog. While I applaud...Miles,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for visiting my blog. While I applaud the Arlington initiative, allow me to be a bit of a skeptic. I have spent the last few months documenting my own struggles as a green girl wannabe. One of the key insights from this exercise is how difficult it is to change one's behavior, even with the best of intentions. I just came back from a trip back to my home country, in Paris, and was struck by the importance of one's culture and environment. The US make it way to easy for all to use their cars. Gas is (relatively) cheap, and cars are just very much a part of the American culture. In Paris,on the other hand, people drive smaller cars, they walk a lot more, the city just launched a Velolib' initiative where people get to ride bikes almost for free, and people do not thing twice about piling four or five in their cars for small rides within the city. There is also the incentive of not driving as much because of the high gas prices. Taking the train and public transportation is also much more a part of the culture. <BR/><BR/>I believe the answer to the US car problem lies more in making public transportation more of a viable option, and also in setting in place some kind of external control on car use. London for instance, has this system, where people driving in have to pay a high fee, which makes it a very effective deterrent. <BR/><BR/>marguerite<BR/>green blogger, "My Inconvenient Truth;the Daily Sins of a Green Girl Wannabe"<BR/>http://lamarguerite.wordpress.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29774939.post-1528097695758236352007-08-02T22:25:00.000-04:002007-08-02T22:25:00.000-04:00Miles, I haven't owned a car for almost 10 years. ...Miles, I haven't owned a car for almost 10 years. Last year I bought a bike. Apparently, according to Commissioner X I'm an idiot who doesn't deserve to have a bike. So, I may have to buy a car after all.Googla Monsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01726303149334178334noreply@blogger.com