A drop in the bucket
It starts with a drop. My drop. Into the bucket. One small change that perhaps inspires others to do the same. Then. Your drop. Their drop. Our drops. Soon the bucket begins to fill and overflow as each of us contributes a drop or two, here and there. Well, as the bucket continues to overflow, and with further investment in changes that may involve time, sometimes money and most certainly advocacy, those drops can now become powerful waves of change.
So, where to start? “Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better” (Maya Angelou). It really is that easy.
This commuting challenge has well, challenged us to do just that. Do better. And so can you!
What is interesting is that as we have been reviewing and sharing our changes to our current commuting practices, we have noticed that others have made simple, easy (and may I mention free) changes too. A friend turning her car off, while chatting with me in the driveway, vs. leaving it idling; another friend choosing to stay in town while waiting for her kids to finish activities rather than driving back to home and back to town again; coworkers offering to carpool.
Drop. Drop. Drop.
Collectively all these changes contribute to lowering carbon emissions. Lower carbon emissions mitigate climate change and contribute to improving public health. AMAZING!
As we have faced commuting challenges, it has occurred to us that so many of us are all in the same boat, especially those that live in rural communities with lack of access to transit. Just as there is food insecurity, there is also transit insecurity. In the past week alone, I have witnessed this firsthand in our community. The need to drive 6 or more km to access transit; no safe options to bike along a rural highway, yet a community plea for a bicycle for a new family who does not own a car and a bicycle will be their sole method of transportation; a family struggling to attend medical appointments due to being transit insecure; and a recently widowed young mother who does not drive and who has children at home and a job in the city.
What to do? Ignore? Carry on? The changes needed seem insurmountable, yet something needs to be done.
How to do it? Talk. Talk with friends, coworkers, and family. It is amazing the ideas they have and the connections they have as well. Dig. Search high and low for information on the topic at hand. As I dug around on the internet about school buses and carbon emissions, I found a petition for electrifying New Brunswick school buses and a template letter to send to the government. Sign. Send. Done. It really does snowball from there! Then speak with your local municipality, your provincial government, your government representatives, the media.
A drop soon fills the bucket. A drop fills your bucket too.