Some might argue that life in an urban setting is inherently "green" - residents use public transportation, walk ridiculous amounts, and many conserve the use of fossil fuels to power their homes by using centralized heat provided by their apartment buildings. I myself am one of these self-proclaimed "green" lifestylers. And my life history doesn't deny it either; I have never eaten meat or owned a car (both of which have been shown to contribute to global warming) and I am approaching my 4th decade. Since I've had children, I've been inspired to greenify even further - I use wind energy by Con Edison to power my 4 person household apartment, I use toxin-free household cleaning products (Seventh Generation is a favorite), and badger my husband about cutting back on accumulating those plastic bags. So I think it's safe to say that my "carbon footprint" is not bad relative to the "average" car-owning, fossil fuel-powered home American.
That said, I recently made a choice that is a lesser of green-ils: I purchased a car. Parenting two young boys with relatives living out of town kind of required it. Given, it's a Prius hybrid with a gasoline engine and electric motor and the highest mpg (50) hybrid car out there. But still. A car is a car is a car. I'm now choking the air with fossil fuels every time I drive the two boys to my in-laws or to do out-of-the-city things I was only able to do by train for 15 years: see friends, attend birthday parties and baby showers. I have yet to take my surburban ventures to the next level by frequenting malls, BJs, Ikea, Target -- the superstore shopping lifestyle of the town and countriers. For now I keep close tabs on my royal blue baby parked on our block surrounded by sheets of ice and piles of snow, deal with alternate side parking twice a week, and accept my downgrade from flawlessly carbon-free gal to the lesser green vehicle-owning mom.
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