The Accidental Enviromentalists

We moved to where we live now for a couple of reasons: we needed more space and our neighborhood was being invaded by drug dealers.

I was afraid to walk down the street at night (and in the winter, it was dark when I got home from work). I didn't know if the people in the car pulled over on the side of the road where no one would pull over for legitimate reasons or if the someone from the car that pulled up next to them to do the deal might take offense and shoot me.

And we needed more space. Two middle-aged men with a lifetime's worth of accumulated stuff in a one-bedroom apartment doesn't work real well. Especially when there's only one bathroom.

So we moved.

I wanted to be close to work, because I was taking the bus at the time. I wanted at least two bedrooms and two toilets. And I didn't want obvious drug activity on the streets outside.

I got it all (with an extra tub and bathroom sink thrown in). And it was the best deal at the time.

We live in a nice neighborhood within walking distance of my office. In fact, I can walk to the grocery, drug store, dry cleaner, pet store, hair cut store and Steinmart (who pays retail any more?), as well as any number of restaurants and other businesses.

Convenient, and no drug dealers.

But it gets better.

When I went to buy a car a year and a half ago, I only wanted to pay a certain amount and I wanted something that wasn’t going to kill us at the pump. After being jerked around by dealers who wouldn't even tell me how much one cost ("How much do you want to pay a month?" instead), I lucked out with a nicely appointed Ford Focus that gets 30-40 mpg on the highway. I walked in at the right time and talked to the right person.

And it was the best deal I could find.

A very good deal, actually.

I got it for 30% off of sticker price. At that time, small, fuel-efficient Fords weren’t selling real well. Which means I got all sorts of stuff I would have never paid for otherwise. Lots of bells and whistles that I don’t need, but certainly enjoy.

Because of where we live, me and Shannon almost never leave our neighborhood. We use the car for running short errands, usually a few blocks. And if I’m not going to be lugging stuff home, I still usually walk.

Unless the weather is icky. As I told my boss, I didn’t go in debt to be walking around in the rain.

A year and a half later, we have 7,500 miles on it. And 2,500 of those came when I went to Tennessee in July when Daddy was sick and died.

We are model environmentalists, although that was never the goal of moving or buying a car. The car has almost no emissions (I'm guessing that's what all those plastic things under the hood do), and we live a very short distance from just about everything we need. I walk to work (it's good for me, both physically and mentally).

We used 4.75 gallons of gas over the last two weeks, even though we had a couple of longer trips rolled in there. Shannon’s doctors are in far-South Austin, so it’s a 30 minute drive, no matter how you get there. And my dentist is five miles northwest.

And there are other accidental ways we’ve gone green: Shannon has been using a canvas shopping bag for a while now because he can sling it over his shoulder. It’s easier for him to do than carrying any kind of bag. We keep several in the back of the car for when we need them.

And we (me, actually) finally badgered our apartment managers into replacing our AC unit. It works so well that I have to keep it around 75 degrees to keep it from getting too cold inside.

All of these things are also quality of life issues. I don’t sit in traffic two hours a day getting to and from work. If I lollygag and take my time, it still only takes 15 minutes to walk it. The money I could be spending on a car and gas can be dedicated to other uses.

We made decisions based on quality of life, but it turns out that quality of life often turns green. And not in a bad way.