Not very far

According to a recent controversial study, people don't move around very much in their daily lives.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004458530_track05.html

Tracking 100,000 cellphone users, the study found that most people spend the majority of their year traveling within a 20 mile radius, and that this pattern appears to persist even when those people traveled to a farther distance. 

As we think of our world's expansion because of film, planes, and the Internet, it's fascinating to consider that we may be no different than our ancestors, who were limited to horseback or foot. They didn't travel too far either, and when they got somewhere, they usually stayed put. 

On the good side of this, the more we push people to consider investing locally, the more we're going to see this pattern remain true for a larger population. On the not so good side, I'm sure some of us are wondering how ethical it is to be secretly "followed" through GPS tracking via your cell phone. And finally, it really does show you how people follow the cities where the jobs are. Places like downtown Bellevue are literally banking on this. For all the workers of Microsoft that will be transferred to downtown Bellevue, I believe some will be looking into housing options within 1 15-20 mile radius. 

More than a 25 cent increase

What do you think about fare increases on Metro transit, because of the recent increased usage due to rising gasoline prices? Metro also sees rises in biodiesel prices and the need to increase the number of buses in peak times to neighborhoods like Ballard and West Seattle (yeah!). 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004456319.busfuel04m.html

Gas Prices and the Cost to the Environment

It felt like a discussion from Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemna."

The women of my dance troupe I'm in have been emailing back and forth, creating a schedule to accomodate practices and rehearsal times that not only met the minimum requirements, but were located close enough to alleviate the strain of long commute times and the price of gasoline. Our troupe members are spread across West Seattle, the Eastside, and Mountlake Terrace, so for non-locals, that's up to an hour one-way for some of the members. 

Nearly everyone had a concession to make, involving a practice that wasn't exactly close by. 

But a few of us got talking about the costs to the environment for the everyday choices that we are making, even the seemingly innocuous -- and brave! -- choice to be in a dance troupe. Few of us have the kind of jobs that would support buying a hybrid (or better yet, saving up for an electric car), less would be interested in risking life and limb to ride a motorcycle (and with our gear, not very feasible) or a Vectrix, and with how poorly our Metro transit system is, it would take some over 2 hours and up to four transfers to make a practice, and have no way to return home before midnight! We came up with the schedule and location that we could.

At the same time, we're all wondering what biodiesel made of corn is doing to our country, and to the world. We've all been made aware that there is a food shortage, and that America has traded much of its exporting of food into corn for biodiesel. I walked into Thriftway a few weeks ago, and read the sign in the Asian food section: 

LIMIT ONE BAG OF RICE PER CUSTOMER, PLEASE

I couldn't help thinking about people across the planet that aren't even getting that sign. There is no rice. 

While I appreciate that my husband (and co-founder of Dream Yoga and Dance Studio) rides his bike to work and commutes with the bus every day of the work week, my experience of riding my bike to work with him two weeks ago made me aware that our problems are still massive. Just through the industrial portion of south Seattle, I nearly had an asthma attack because of all the trucks delivering goods or passing through our city. The cost of not paying more at the pump can also mean an extra trip to the doctor's office. Don't ask me the color of the stuff I washed out of my nose with a Neti pot that evening. 

I wondered how many other costs we're paying that we don't know about. 

For now, we just make the choice to not drive much. And when we do, I notice I don't open the car windows anymore, because I can't really breathe the air. 

I can't wait until technology in bio fuels and electricity catch up with our desires.