oil began spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, mine broke down and I couldn’t justify buying another one. At this point I was already riding my bike or walking to work and doing my best not to drive. The death of my car gave me the opportunity to go all the way.
[caption id="attachment_1567" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="It's time to relocalize our lives (montage: J Fowler)"]
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The first month or so was a mix of joy and frustration. I set my bike up with a rack and saddle bags. I rode to the grocery store. I rode to work. I rode to friends’ houses for potlucks and parties. I rode the 6 miles to the school farm I help with. But I also found out how much I was dependent on a car for so many little things—a meeting across town, an errand here and there.
The process of going carless has been a process of reducing the radius of my life. I have had to cut back on commitments that are outside of an easy bike ride. If I want to go somewhere, I have to plan to travel there at 16 miles an hour instead of 40. On a hot day I have to figure out how to deal with sweat and whether or not I’ll have a chance to change out of my sopping clothes. I do use a car from time to time when a friend offers it and biking or walking just won’t work, but these car excursions are limited due to logistical hurdles and availability.
What going carless has meant most of all is a reigning in of my desires. A car gives easy access to what we want. Ice cream? Just run down the road and get some. A new book? Just drive to the book store and get one. With a car the energy it takes to get somewhere is externalized. But with a bike or walking I have to put forward a significant effort. Ice cream? Why not just eat some frozen blackberries to satisfy my sweet tooth? A new book? I have more than enough to read already. If I want it, it better be worth the time and effort for a long bike ride (made unpleasant by the fact I have to share the road with cars, incidentally).
The limiting of my radius has also meant that I am rethinking my ministry. Where are the Christians in this place? What are the opportunities for ministry here? “Here” was once a radius of 30 miles. “Here” is becoming a radius of 3 miles—a radius I will know well, a circle of life I can engage in more fully than I ever could with the inhuman pace of a car.
I have not finished closing in my life to this smaller radius and I don’t yet know all of what this experiment will look like after a year or five years, but I am sure that it will lead me to a life of deeper layers rather than larger surfaces.
Not ready to give up your own car? No worries. Just limit its use. Try to live and think as if you didn’t have it. Think how much that expensive machine sits unused and share it. Over time you’ll find you’re enjoying “here” a little more, time will be richer, you may even save some money and lose a few pounds (I sure have).]]>
Hi Ragan and Jason
Great post this one. Resembles my own experience here, were our radius reduced to 1.9 miles after two years without car. And the reason for this magic number is that, as part of the crytical mass movement we have followed the intermodal challenge for the last three years and the conclusions are:
Bikes are more time/length efficient than cars, mostly in downtown areas, inside of limit of 3.8 miles.
if you are not able to find and do all you need in this perimeter, is better to re-evaluate your life.
the radius of this is 1.9 miles, taking one’s home as a center, biking this much in any given direction will make us able to deal with a lot of problems, including excessive sweating, time and stronger relationships within the neighbourhood.
Eventually this led our small community of faith to use bikes as a measurement instrument to fix the extension of our parishes.
Well… more to share about this if you both want to continue the conversation.
again… it was really a great post
Talk to you tomorrow morning Claudio!
We’ve gone the “limit the car use” route. We’ve had our car since 2000 and I think we recently hit 60,000 miles — which seems like a lot to me, but the guy at the repair shop repeatedly says things like, “When you told me the mileage I thought you’d be bringing in a 2008.”
Although we tend to bike and walk a lot most of the year, I usually have at least one day a week where I take the car out for a series of errands. (The farthest I go from the house tends to be within a 6 or 7 mile radius, though.) And I have to admit that I’m a wimp in the snow. I love walking in it, but I’m gutless when it comes to biking in it. My husband is much braver than I am in winter. (He also gets in a lot more scrapes than I do. *sigh*)
I recently outfitted the kids bikes with back baskets and now that they’re in the pre-teen/teen stage, they’re feeling a lot more freedom thanks to their bikes (and the fact that we live in the middle of pretty much everything in our town, means they can get places without needing a chauffeur to take them there).
We visited the in-laws this past summer in Southern California and realized just how car centric that society is. (No bike lanes. Very skinny sidewalks along busy streets. And no bike parking.) It has really helped us to appreciate Fort Collins even more, which is a very bike-centric town. Sometimes you don’t realize how good you’ve got it until you visit folks who are stuck in car-towns.
Meg: You live in a unique area. We are country folks and have to drive to get anywhere. As much as we can, we center our life and activities on the farm here but I’ve had to take a part time job recently in a nearby town/small city area so I do alot more driving now. Still we got rid of one of our cars and I’m dreaming of the day when I can get around in something that doesn’t use petroleum. Great to hear from you!
We’ve gone the “limit the car use” route. We’ve had our car since 2000 and I think we recently hit 60,000 miles — which seems like a lot to me, but the guy at the repair shop repeatedly says things like, “When you told me the mileage I thought you’d be bringing in a 2008.”
Although we tend to bike and walk a lot most of the year, I usually have at least one day a week where I take the car out for a series of errands. (The farthest I go from the house tends to be within a 6 or 7 mile radius, though.) And I have to admit that I’m a wimp in the snow. I love walking in it, but I’m gutless when it comes to biking in it. My husband is much braver than I am in winter. (He also gets in a lot more scrapes than I do. *sigh*)
I recently outfitted the kids bikes with back baskets and now that they’re in the pre-teen/teen stage, they’re feeling a lot more freedom thanks to their bikes (and the fact that we live in the middle of pretty much everything in our town, means they can get places without needing a chauffeur to take them there).
We visited the in-laws this past summer in Southern California and realized just how car centric that society is. (No bike lanes. Very skinny sidewalks along busy streets. And no bike parking.) It has really helped us to appreciate Fort Collins even more, which is a very bike-centric town. Sometimes you don’t realize how good you’ve got it until you visit folks who are stuck in car-towns.
Jason’s new replies brought me back to this thread and got me to thinking on it again. I’m curious to know how “living within a radius” affects your church life. (I’m not directing the question just to Jason but to everyone here.)
We’re often amazed by how far people will drive to attend a church. We know one family that drives an hour, one way, on Sunday mornings. Another family drove to another state for awhile. (45 minute drive) It makes us wonder how involved, how much a part of the body, they can be if the rest of the congregation is so far away.
The congregation we’re a part of is fairly spread out (probably over a 15 mile radius) which seems rather extreme to me. But at least we’re close enough that if we want to get together throughout the week as well, it’s not a big deal. People can swing by our house to drop something off when they’re in the neighborhood. We can get together outside of “church activities” and do other bits of churching together (like recently the gals got together to walk through a few city gardens — really mostly just an excuse to get together and enjoy each other’s company without a big agenda). But how do people do that when the congregation is an hour away?
So, when committing to a smaller radius, was that already in your mind when you began attending the church you’re currently at? Or did you choose where to live based on where the body of Christ was? Have there been any interesting outcomes in terms of living within a specific radius and being a part of a church that you didn’t expect? (I really think that when our family bikes into the SUV filled parking lot of our church property, it speaks volumes that we couldn’t say nearly as eloquently with our mouths.)
Hope you don’t mind me asking all these questions but I’d love to pick your (plural) brains on this. :-}
Meg: We have a gathering here on the farm on Sundays but there are people that drive over an hour to get here sometimes. I have a seed growing in my spirit though- of how we can cultivate the Body of Jesus- the Ecclesia – as living communities- as kingdom villages- as alternative intentional living spaces where we can put into practice the practical reordering of our lives around Gospel values and the embodiment of JESUS call to love one another. The church as a place that contributes to the fragmentation of our lives makes no sense to me – our lives are fragmented by spheres of activity that spread too thin across too wide a space- this often is the case with our relationship to other Christians we associate with.
Having recently learned about “intentional Christian living” I have discovered and am enjoying your site. I live in the panhandle of FL and getting anywhere by bike is living very precariously because nothing is in close proximity to anything else, bike lanes are nearly non-existent and drivers act as if you are committing an abominable act relying on two wheels instead of four. Anyways, I am looking forward to reading the rest of your site as I pare down my life so that I am more capable of giving and living the life God intended.
Hi Henry, Glad you found us! The Lord will lead you bro! Keep seeking Him. -shalom! -J