Advancing Dane County Transportation Options
by Cara Lee Mahany
We’ve all read big picture, big issue pieces like the one below from the United Nations: “Climate Change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.”
We know human-induced climate change is very real and every one of us is contributing to our own demise. But none of us on our own is going to save the world. So. . . what can ordinary individuals possibly do to help fix this global life-style induced problem?
First, don’t try to save the world. Bring the problem back to human and personal scale. Changing our personal transportation habits can be an important tool, and simple steps like choosing to take the bus, bike, walk or use ride share whenever possible really make a difference. However simple these choices may seem, many of us need some help in learning how to use our rapidly improving transportation options.
On June 30, a dozen League members, friends, and elected officials gathered in downtown Madison to learn the basics of using BCycles. With bike helmets properly secured and sporting freshly applied Bicycle Benefits stickers, we demoed BCycle’s electric bicycles, riding as a group on designated bike paths and surface streets. City of Madison professionals—Zia Brucaya, Roundtrip Program Manager, Colleen Hayes, Pedestrian and Bicycle Outreach Specialist, City of Madison, and Lissy Kettleson, Marketing Intern, Trek Bicycles/BCycle were our guides. At Garver Feed Mill we enjoyed coffee, doughnuts and discussions on city plans for carbon-cutting transportation options, then rode back to our starting point.
Over the course of the past year, we have learned how to take a bus, optimizing our trips using Madison’s new interactive transportation map. We’ve learned to combine errands, share rides, and walk whenever possible. We know how to use BCycles and what is on the horizon for improving bike riding, walking, and mass transit, all while shrinking our own personal carbon footprint.
We, the LWVDC climate volunteers, believe that ordinary people doing ordinary things is useful and doable. We believe that with many of us doing our part we can create an extraordinary energy and environmental future. Please join us by pitching in for Dane County’s climate commitment goals, helping our community by first helping ourselves. Here are a few more steps that ordinary people can take to advance these goals.
Compost kitchen scrapes—In a backyard composter, or through City of Madison Food Scraps Recycling, Curbside Composting, or Green Box, a centralized, commercial-grade composter that returns your waste back to farms.
Establish one day a week for errands and take a neighbor with you.
Keep your water heater at 110 ºF.
In Wisconsin almost every drop of water you use requires electricity for pumping, turn off the taps and fix leaky faucets.
Lawns should be cut 2.5 to 3 inches in height.
Establish one day a week as “a meatless meal.”
Got questions or need specific advice on how to get started on a car-free, community-centered adventure lifestyle? Just contact the pros:
Zia Brucaya, Roundtrip TDM Program Manager
Colleen Hayes, Pedestrian and Bicycle Outreach Specialist, City of Madison
Lissy Kettleson, Marketing Intern, Trek Bicycles/BCycle
Or join the LWVDC climate crew. Contact Advocacy Chair Lili Crane for more information.
Photo credit: Lissy Kettleson.
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