Elenor Hodges, Arlingtonian, Executive Director of Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE), and originator of the Green Living Challenge, walks the walk when it comes to green living. This D.C.-area native moved to Arlington about 10 years ago and has left quite a footprint Countywide. Read on for more about Elenor...
Meet Elenor and other local green living champions as Arlington rolls out the green carpet at the Green Living Gala from 7:00-8:30 p.m. on Monday, November 26. This free event includes the world premiere of the documentary Upclose: Fresh AIRE!, presentation of the Green Living Challenge Awards to Arlington's greenest residents and neighborhoods, and even light refreshments, all in the environmentally friendly setting of Courthouse Plaza! Open to the public! Families welcomed!
Just in Time for the Holidays, Arlington's Car-Free Diet Hits the Streets
Want to save cash, burn calories, and clean up the environment? Why not try the Car-Free Diet, Arlington's new, easy, and fun way to realize firsthand the benefits of a car-free or car-lite lifestyle!
Launched by Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS) on November 1, the Car-Free Diet campaign encourages folks to leave the car at home and give transit, biking, walking, and teleworking a try.
To help people get started, ACCS inserted the Car-Free Diet brochure, which includes a comprehensive list of transit options, contact information, and resources on walking, biking, carpooling, carsharing, and teleworking as well as an information-packed fold-out map, in the November/December issue of The Citizen, mailed to every Arlington County household earlier this month. To receive a copy of the brochure, just send an e-mail with Car-Free Diet in the Subject line and your name and complete mailing address in the Message to lhassel@arlingtonva.us
If you prefer cyberspace, ACCS has also launched the Car-Free Diet website, which includes an interactive calculator that helps you compute how much money you spend driving, how much carbon dioxide your car emits, and how many calories you burn by driving. Once you've entered your information, the Car-Free Diet calculator shows the considerable impact of a single car-free commute on your wallet, your waistline, and our environment.
The Car-Free Diet has already gotten noticed throughout the region, most notably by the Washington Post's venerable Dr. Gridlock, who featured the campaign in his November 8 column.
Who can deny the appeal of a diet that lets you lose 2,000 pounds in one day (by leaving your car parked in the driveway)? Best of all, this diet doesn't require sacrifice because there are so many convenient transporation options in Arlington, including, of course, walking!
So why not get a head start on your New Year's resolution by taking the Car-Free Diet Challenge today? Just pledge to try alternatives to single occupancy vehicles (SOVs), then make it so, and you'll be on your way to a greener, fitter, car-free new year!
Two More Reasons to Ditch Your Car
Here's a little competitive incentive for Arlington residents and commuters who are considering the Car-Free Diet: A recent ranking by Money magazine of the nation's "skinniest" communities put Arlington at 22. The survey, which is based on average body-mass index, ranks neighboring Fairfax County at 15 and Alexandria at 10. According to federal guidelines, all three communities fall into the "overweight" category. The rankings were covered in the Sun-Gazette newspapers last summer.
But help is on the way. In response to the increasing number of inquiries that WALKArlington has been fielding about walking groups, not one but two new walking groups have been formed in Arlington! One meets in Clarendon on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 p.m., and the other meets in Virginia Square on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.
If you are similarly inclined and would like to join one or both of these walking groups, contact lhassel@arlingtonva.us for more information.
We may not singlehandedly improve Arlington's overall "skinny" index, but we might just melt away unwanted stress!
And a Third, Standard-Timely Reason
According to a recent USA TODAY article, "Americans are leaving home earlier and earlier to beat the rush and get to work on time." Census data released in September revealed the following about America's ever-lengthening commutes:
In 2000, one worker in nine was out the door by 6:00 a.m.; by 2006, one in eight workers was leaving home by 6:00 a.m. Put another way, this change in routine means that more than 2.7 million additional drivers are on the road before sun-up, bringing the national total to 15 million.
The change in commuting trends is largely due to drivers' desire to beat the traffic by getting an early start. But something has to give, and these early-to-rise car commuters are also early to bed. The trend is affecting everything from late-night and early-morning television viewership to newspaper delivery times, traffic signal timing to carpooling patterns, and personal fitness routines to workers' relationships with their families.
Come to think of it, with the return to Standard Time, many of these pre-dawn car commuters may not see daylight until the weekend!
It's time to stop the insanity, embrace the Car-Free Diet and reclaim our lives! And once that's done, please share your Car-Free or Car-Lite stories, tips on how you've incorporated walking into your commute, and maybe even your pre-Diet horror stories as cautionary tales for others headed down the wrong road -- on the Car-Free Diet blog!
There's a Car-Free Diet t-shirt and a special Arlington edition of Chris Balish's book How to Live Well Without Owning a Car in it for you if you do!
Living Car-Free in Arlington is Easy-Just Ask Chris Balish
According to Chris Balish, author of How to Live Well Without Owning a Car, "Arlington is one of the easiest places in the country to get around without a car." Balish was so impressed by Arlington's car-free options that he agreed to co-author an Arlington County supplement to his book, featuring testimonials from locals, an overview of the County's transit resources, and tips on adopting the car-free lifestyle!
Here are a few insights from the book's section on walking in Arlington: "With all of the consideration given to moving people around Arlington, walkers have not been left out. In an online questionnaire, about 83 percent of respondents said they walked regularly or occasionally. According to the U.S. Census Journey to Work data, about 6 percent of Arlingtonians walk to work, a percentage that is significantly higher than in most cities..."
And on the subject of Arlington's pedestrian-friendly planning, Balish offers the following: "... more than 95 perrcent of Arlington's arterial streets have sidewalks along both sides of the street. Nearly 85 percent of local streets have a continuous sidewalk along at least one side of the street and many have sidewalks on both sides. Nearly all of the traffic signals are equipped with pedestrian crossing signals, and the majority have countdown indicators so you know how much time you have to cross the street."
Balish closes by lauding WALKArlington and the value of walking for commuting, fitness, or just to get around! To get your own copy of this limited edition publication, just share your story on the Car-Free Diet blog or take the Car-Free Diet Challenge!
