The Consumption Assumption....

This post isn't directly related to being carfree or even being car lite, but does speak to a peripheral issue that drives much of our car use. And that is convenience and consumption.

Yesterday I was grabbing lunch in my cafeteria, I'm heading out on a trip and I'm in "hoover" mode as I try to clean out my fridge of anything that will go bad while I'm on the road. (complete aside, I just checked the weather in upstate New York and it is cold.) So I created some stir fry and brought it in for lunch. I need to pick up a side of rice to go with the stir fry, and had them put it in a styrofoam bowl, I just barely made it in time for them not to put on a plastic lid. I was eating the food "here" not "take away".

On some days we have sushi, and I just couldn't resist getting a few pieces. And I just put it on top of my rice. My friend said, you can get a plastic container, and I said, "nah, I'll be fine" and he recalled oh year, "reducing your carbon count"

Now this guy is a good guy, so there's nothing on him. But it got me thinking that we've become so use to convenience as a free cost. We don't have to deal with the disposal, so it really is a case of out of sight out of mind. I think that's why car use is so high is that we don't have to think about the exhaust, we simply drive away. But the cyclist or pedestrian behind a car notices it deeply and either

a) complains
b) can't beat them join them

And so we assume that we must consume...

I'm so looking to walking around Park Slope and a real bagel.