I like what Michelle, of the No Impact Man duo for those of you who don't know, said about alternative transportation: it's ‘net net net positive gain' and that it is. You can help the environment, save money, do something good for your body, brighten your day, and make your hometown a better place to be all by avoiding one simple thing: a personal/individual vehicle.

For many reasons, living in cities is better for our environmental impact. (although, maybe not for our souls) - especially New York, where I could have taken ANY of the below listed forms of transportation, got to work with a reasonable commute time, and still beat owning a car and commuting to work:

1. subway
2. bus
3. walk
4. run
5. bike
6. ferry
7. water taxi
8. yes, even regular taxi
9. Pedi cab

My favorite and daily mode of transportation is the bicycle. I'll explain my love affair briefly. When I ride my bike in the morning, I wake up my body. I sing to myself. I find a little joy each time I pass cars stuck in traffic. I am with fellow bikers. I love, and have recounted to many friends, that when I'm running a little late to work, I can guess that most of the bikers around me are as well. I feel like we're in it together- even though most of the time we don't talk. I run into friends. I meet new people, like this morning, I ending up meeting someone simply because a car cut him off (ok, so it's too bad that happened). I get time outside- isn't it said that you need a certain amount of sun exposure to collect vitamin D? I have more mobility than relying on set routes and schedules. I rarely spend money on transportation.

On a broader scale, though, New York City has amazing options for transportation. Yes, there are issues and yes, it can, should, and will get better, but I can say with confidence that I will never have a problem reducing my environmental impact as it pertains to transportation (one of the biggest chunks of our environmental problems) in New York.

Example: New York City is home to the only (one of the only?) 24 hour subway systems in the world. On top of that, there is 24 hour access to the subway with a bicycle. I lived in Paris for a while and the metro system stopped at something like 12:30 on the week days and 2am-ish on the weekends. All their amazing urban planning and green space, nuclear energy and local food doesn't make up for the fact that if I want to get home in the evenings I must take a taxi. They have night buses, but they are far from convenient or frequent. One more point on the subway: take a minute, look up from your book and really appreciate what you see. You can do this on a bus too, or light rail, but I find the subway most rewarding. Public transportation is a little cross section of the inhabitants of a city, a microcosm if you will.

NRDC- you rock. I've done quite a bit of advocacy in relation to alternative transportation. One of the most important things to ensure a shift in how we move ourselves around is how accommodating our employers are to it. Incentives and encouragement, even simple understanding goes a long way. NRDC has really done an amazing job at making an example of itself.

1. This first, and probably most important thing that NRDC (along with many employers- ask yours) offers is the ability to put up to 230 pre-tax dollars onto a card that can be used to purchase transit related expenses like metro cards and ferry passes.

2. NRDC also buys carbon offsets. So, although many of our employees have to travel to other offices or to meetings quite frequently, we try first to take the most emissions responsible (and cost effective) mode of transportation possible, we also enter in the mileage for any travel. At the end of each year, we buy carbon offsets for the emissions we could not avoid. Most times I would worry about this, because carbon offsets have the danger of making us feel like it's ok to burn as much fuel as we want, but I've found that it is reduce travel emissions first, and compensate for those we couldn't avoid second. I like that.

3. There are bike racks on two floors- each can hold 5 or 7 bikes. I've provided pictures. I like the picture* of the 10th floor bike rack because it also shows two different sets of stairs- I appreciate that although there are 5 floors, the way to get from one to another is use in-office stairs. You can also see light from the sky light in this picture- yay, thoughtfully designed buildings!

4. There is access to elevators at all times with a bike - people elevators! I've had experiences in the past with other jobs that were not as pleasant. I like that I am not cast out to the freight elevator just because I have a bike. And I like that, although we have it so the elevators only stop at two of our floors, since we have the inter-office stairs, if I ask I can get the elevator opened on my floor.

5. When surveyed, the second most popular response people give for not commuting by bicycle is lack of showers at work. Well, NRDC has two. And while I am comfortable not showering when I get to work, many of my colleagues use our showers almost daily. It is so nice to have the option, especially in the winter when one may get caught in a cold rain, or just need a way to warm up.

Regardless of how you do it, transporting yourself from one place to another is likely to be just as present in your life as eating or sleeping. And along the same lines as food/eating, it's also likely to be one of the ways you have the most environmentally harmful impact. Think about it. And check out the non-profit Transportation Alternatives (www.transalt.org for New York) and Streetsblog.org (for nation-wide). These two networks provide a great learning space for a less-impactful way of transportation

*what's that gorgeous black cruiser** with the brooks saddle in that picture? ooooo, how pretty. And thank you to Anthony Clark (also blogging on switchboard about No Impact Week) for the lovely photos.

**yes, it's mine, but I love it so much I couldn't resist the obnoxious mention - apologies.