I haven’t read “Go Green, Spend Less, Live Better” yet, but I flipped as fast as I could to Chapter 4 — “Getting from Here to There without Breaking the Bank.”
The chapter begins with talk of “human powered transportation,” moves into some basic demystification of using a bike instead of a car (learn the law, practice, be prepared, be patient).
And then on page 127, the book reaches a thrilling climax in a sidebar named “Resources for Easier Biking.”
=== SPOILER ALERT ===
A link to our very own Commuting 101 Section.
Yay.
The book doesn’t pretend to thoroughly cover the topic of bike commuting, hence the sidebar. I certainly hope it will inspire some people to take the leap.
I only have one small quibble with chapter 4. It’s this:
Be patient. Don’t give up just because it’s a little more work, because it’s a whole heck of a lot more fun than driving once you get the hang of it!
What could possibly be my quibble with that? It’s the “a little more work” part.
Earlier in the same chapter, Trask writes that not owning a car can save the average person $35,243 over five years. I would argue that it takes quite an amount of work — in hours — by the average person to earn $35,243; far more hours than most people would spend on a bike or walking if they didn’t own a car.
Of course, she’s talking about proximate work — the effort you feel and do while the transportation is happening. As opposed to the amnesiac work — the effort that most people forget when they consider the work that goes into transportation.