Welcome!

Shut Up and Walk?  What is that?  It’s a call to action!  In so many ways I am grateful for the new community emerging as a result of electronic communication.  I have developed closer relationships with friends, I find out about more social events and I have never been more informed on important issues. 

What an amazing tool to spread ideas and information!  Sadly, through my observations from facebook, I have noticed that we are far too guilty of being passive supporters of causes.  I really became aware of it while I campaigned to raise money for leukemia. People were “liking” my donations link but not donating anything.  I started to notice that is kind of passive response is all too common.  It replaces action.  Shut Up and Walk, urges us to put well-meaning intentions into DOING something. 

I am going to Shut Up and Walk .

It's really quite simple and very EXCITING! My 6 year-old daughter Leah and I have decided to set out on an experiment of keen awareness for our impact on the planet.

In my community there is a huge buzz about people becoming more aware of our community.  “Buy Local” is a slogan I see just about every day in my town.    Some of our local businesses offer a discount for their services if you bike, walk or use public transportation.  I love that!  I want to tell my neighbors all about these businesses! 

These incentives sowed an important seed.  A great way to buy local and in effect BE LOCAL is to stop relying on our car.

What if we just stopped driving everywhere? What if we really made a commitment to reducing our burden on the environment and became a positive force, one that entails ACTION?

We have been talking it through for months now and our enthusiasm to DO something could be contained no more. Of the many choices we considered, we chose to give up the keys to our car for one year.

Upon awakening Monday morning, December 12, 2011, the first words out of Leah’s mouth were “Mama, are we biking or walking to school today?"

Her Christmas-day like excitement was contagious!  We rode our tandem with glee, and with that, we jumped right into our adventure!

 

From here on out, for the next year, we will find alternate ways of getting to and fro. We will walk, bike, take a bus or even accept a ride from a friend but what we will not do is drive a car. The toll to our planet for that single purpose is too great.  In one year our car alone will save roughly 700 fewer gallons of fuel, 10k fewer miles of wear and tear on our roads and 3.31 metric tons of CO2!

What happens as a result of our commitment is the adventure that awaits. We will make this blog a photographic journal of our journey. There are so many questions that will be answered along  the way. How will our life change without a car? How will the quality of our time be affected? Who will support us in this effort?

The most exciting questions I can't wait to answer are these:

How will our commitment impact your journey?

Will you make a commitment to reduce your carbon foot print?

Welcome blog followers.  Our hope is that this blog helps you to take a step in our direction.  Enjoy watching our journey until that day that you can contain your enthusiasm no more and move into action.

JOIN the conversation with a commitment of your own!              

What if you took a look at your routine and decided on a destination that, for this next year, you can employ walking or biking or public transportation?

Share your journey. Create a spark within your community. Let's see just what we can do!

Living consciously,

Shonna and Leah