Lunchmeat Underpants

Driven to Drive Less

50,000 commuters travel to Boulder every day for work. The average commuter travels 15-20 miles per trip. Each round trip of 25 miles equates to the production of 5, 435 lbs of Co2 a year. That’s more than a round trip flight from Los Angeles to London.

Couple that creation of mass amounts of Co2 and the overwhelming amount of cars in Boulder and you have a need for less autos motoring in this fine town.  So the goal for Driven to Drive Less is to get folks to give up their car for just one day a week and commute by alternate modes of transportation, be it bus, bike, foot, pogo stick or llama. This small sacrifice will have large ramifications of both of the aforementioned issues.

Rather than recruit people with a “save the world” or harbinger “we will run out of oil” message, we tried a new approach, which includes making this more of a social movement or a game with rewards along the way. There will be events for bikers or non-drivers on ‘their’ day to go on driving hiatus (think Happy Hour), and it will be an opportunity to meet like-minded folks. Your day off is decided by your car color, and you show your badge of honor (a sticker declaring your color/day off) on your car. Corporate sponsors who share our views on sustainability have joined in and offer giveaways,  prizes, discounts at their businesses, and events for those participating in the self-prescribed carlessness. It’s a community-wide program, and truly the community is joining in.