What do you do to make the world a better place?

I'm a teacher (overeducated and underpaid) and I don't drive, period. Mass transit (not so easy in Atlanta, where I live) and my own two feet take me wherever I go. I'm comfortable with my carbon footprint. (And, of course, recycling, which my home town makes it very easy to do, so I can't really take credit for it.)

I recycle a lot of stuff, and I provide cheap services. Enough that it keeps older computers out of the dump, since i don't charge normal store prices. I also will take people's machines off of their hands, and get them setup for places like thrift shops to sell. as long as it keeps them from being thrown out.

I do a lot of disaster training volunteering. I also donate money to charities, as well as volunteer for various other events that go on. I help out at the local community center when I have time. Other things include donating food for the open door mission (local poor house) and do habitat for humanity.

Other stuff which are too numerous to count, but I try to do my best

music and love

Baow baow chikka chikka

No, seriously, I'm with him.

I help run a community managed artist's and craftspeople's workspace, where I live. I have volunteered for rainforest saving campaigns, been a political and environmental activist, started a community managed bank, a community wireless network, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember because I'm too drunk. Werd. All you need is love, and a good pair of funky dancing boots.

I've halved my personal carbon footprint by holding every other breath... da-dunk-dump-chisssshhh!

I use my bicycle combined with public transit to get to and from work. It's about a 50 mile round trip.

I ride 3 miles to the closest bus stop every morning, put the bike on the bus's rack (in front of the driver), and I share an express bus with about 35-40 other people to go downtown. Once there, I use my bike for errands, lunch, and getting between the bus stop and my office.

Occasionally, I'll ride all the way back to my home in the suburbs from downtown, but it's a hell of a ride. More often, I'll take a bus that lands me 6-15 miles from home on the return trip, and ride the rest of the way.

I do this for a LOT of reasons:

* Parking a bike downtown is $0.00 per day; Car is $3-$8 per day, and if you go anywhere, you have to pay for your parking space again.

* A bike gets me around downtown faster than a car. I can take back alleys, sidewalks, ride through parks, and if I do decide to take the main roads, most cars won't be going any faster than I can go on my bike anyways.

* My employer subsidizes the bus so that it costs me $15 per month. My fuel-efficient focus would have cost me almost $200 to drive to and from work, counting only fuel and parking expenses.

* I am losing weight and feeling great

* It's a great stress reliever, and you see, smell, and hear things you'd miss in a car

* For waking up, coffee has nothing on a 3 mile bicycle ride.

Of course, I just picked up a new road bike (after selling Jon one of my fuel-efficient cars). So much for saving all that money. It just went back into bicycling.

Those are all great things! I have lots of things that I'd like to be doing, but only a fraction really happening.

First and foremost my wife and I are trying to raise decent kids. Kids that don't watch crap TV, kids that like to play outside, and kids that know what critters and plants are around them (and aren't afraid to touch what can be touched)

We recycle what we can, which is not always easy in the county we're in. We do our distance driving in a '02 diesel Jetta- which will run off homemade biodiesel just as soon as I can clear my project plate off. I need to walk and bike more- but we live out from town, so I do what I can.

I learn everything I can and try to help others with what I've learned. Sometimes that works, and well, sometimes not.

I hope that some of this stuff will help make a little part of the world better...we'll see I reckon.

mike

Antipolitical music (the less politics in the world, the less governmental influence on our thoughts)

Trying our hardest to eat locally grown fish and vegetables.

No (for me) or very little (for my wife) land animal meat.

No kids until we're ready to pull our own weight in the world.

I drink only high quality beer. (I'm still trying to figure out why that makes the world a better place...but I know it does)

I meant to add that I homebrew when I have the time, and drink good beer any other time. Amen, Reklus.

mike

Well, if you brew your own beer, biodiesel is probably a snap. Did you consider the SVO option?

It's Bike To Work Week, and I did just that!

Instead of riding 3 miles to the bus stop and letting it take me the 20+ miles to work, I rode my bike all the way in today. 22 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes.

At 5:40 or so this morning, I was about half-way to work and it was still 72 degrees!