​I am a snob. I don’t consider a cramped space surrounded by noxious fumes, rolling along a river of potholes a luxury. I resent parting with my life savings in order to park, license, fuel and insure my transportation. I eschew those folk wrapped in their second skin of glimmering steel. In short, the mere mention of the automobile, whether magnificent Mercedes or second-hand Cessna, is my cue to depart - on foot.  

Being in-car-cerated robs me of the experience of weather, the intimacy of my environment and regular casual encounters with neighbours – two-legged and four-legged. It encourages isolation and a belief that getting there is more important than the journey. When time is a factor, I ride my bicycle, enjoying the breeze and the heady sense of freedom – the closest a mortal comes to flying. If the distance to my destination is great, I take the subway. For grocery shopping, there is the convenience of delivery; just shop and walk away, and when there’s too much snow and ice, I call a taxi. They know me by name.

All in all, I have a chosen, preferred lifestyle that does not include owning an automobile. It began many years ago out of concern for the environment but has become, quite simply, a more pleasant and comfortable way to travel. As side benefits, not owning a car promotes a healthier, active lifestyle and probably saves me thousands of dollars a year.

So, when people offer to pick me up in their car for some social occasion or to give me a lift home after a meeting when they live nowhere near me, I despair. I’ve tried to explain that I have transport of a different kind and have no need of a ride, but it’s,
“No, no, no, we won’t hear of it. In you go, here let me move those papers and things; hope you’re not too cramped with your long legs, don’t mind the pop bottles - Trixie down! Get into the back seat; the nice lady is going to ride with us.”
I am faced with the dilemma of thanking them for including me in their beloved rolling homestead or I can say, “No thank you, I choose to be transported in comfort.” I often do the latter. I have fewer friends than most people.

Don’t get me wrong, if a person is a neighbour or even lives in the same part of town, I’m delighted to ride with that person either in his/her car or my taxi, or we could both cycle. It’s the one-car, one-driver syndrome and the utter dependency on that car that drives me to rant – the assumption that if you are not travelling in a privately owned automobile, you are deprived, extravagant or mad.    

I do realize that some people’s professions require the use of a car, especially when public transit is limited. However, it seems to me that many people just have not considered the classier non-car way.

Picture a city where the sidewalks are well-lit for pedestrians instead of lit by the spill from streetlights designed for cars. Imagine secure bicycle paths on main thoroughfares with well-placed guard blocks that cars and trucks couldn’t cross and envisage four-wheeled traffic in the city core limited to taxis, streetcars, buses, delivery and emergency vehicles. Heaven!

Of course, there are models of improved transport all over the world – carpooling, car-free days, minimum passenger lanes and fuel-cell cars come to mind. Statistics Canada tells us there are more than a billion bicycles in the world, and electric car sales are increasing in Canada. Though these cars will not exercise our bodies or connect us to our neighbours, they will improve the environment, so there’s a glimmer of hope.
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But while we wait in hope for others to fall out of love with the automobile, we snobs will continue to meet each other on the sidewalks, cycle paths and subways.

First, share the hopes, concerns and resources in your community. Invite some neighbours on your block, in your immediate area or your apartment building to a climate change / social gathering. Provide refreshments and a timeline. Think Tupperware party without the plastic! Include a diversity of people but with a preference for those with an interest in the topic. Form a small enough group for easy discussion; 6 to 10 works well. Some topics might be: plant-based eating, pollinator gardens, commuting by foot, cycle and transit, and home-made cleaning solutions and clotheslines. Most important is the kindness factor, recognizing that we all need each other. Who in your neighbourhood would need help in a disaster? The elderly, those with disabilities, people with multiple pets and small children, and those who have no vehicle, etc.

It's useful to have several recent climate change books, available from the library, on hand and a list of reliable website references. Take time for everyone to get to know one another before delving into the topic and the group's particular concerns. The group should be willing to meet regularly (mine meets for two hours every other week) so as not to lose momentum.

Though I advocate a local neighborhood climate change support group, the six of us in mine span across two provinces! So, of course, we meet on Zoom. After a year and a half some of us had never met everyone in the flesh, so to speak, so last June we gathered for the day in my back garden in Toronto. We began with morning coffee moving on to a potluck lunch when partners joined us. Since then, we have created an 8-page tiny zine with a QR code that links to our website. Coming soon to Story Soup Enterprises.ca

My climate change support group has taken on a project. We have begun to design a series of climate change, pocket-sized zines. Google the 8-page zine to see what it will look like. Our first one is aimed at relieving stress and anxieties and will suggest ways to prepare for individual climate catastrophes - BEFORE the knock on the door. It will include self-care, reaching out to others, hurricane and flood safety aids, a go-bag and much more. Other zines will deal with a variety of advocacy participation. Each little page will include a universal language illustration and the back page will connect to our website created to give detailed information. All this is in its infant stage and as discussions continue may change radically! So, the story of climate change zines will continue as it develops. ​

As you know, I am part of a six-woman Earth care support group who have met every other week for the past year and a half on Zoom to discuss climate crisis issues. So on a glorious non-smoke day in late June, we gathered at 10 am in my back garden live and in the flesh! As individuals, we live in or around Toronto or in or near Montreal. Some of us are old friends who had not seen each other since before the pandemic and some knew only one or two others before our Zoom encounters. “Oh, I thought you would be taller” The Montrealers were house guests of Torontonians, of course, and as our coffee meeting moved into mid-day, partners joined us for a potluck luncheon feast until 4 pm. We have a climate change project brewing which we will discuss tomorrow on Zoom that I will share with you next week. Do form a climate change support/discussion group, if you haven’t already. I find that, in addition to generating creative ideas through common concern, it sustains and deepens friendships.

Story Soup Enterprises would love to hear/read your climate change stories, large or small. Please share the climate change projects, events or small actions that you are involved in or have personally heard about. Good news stories are inspirational and horrid examples help us to understand one another better. These short anecdotal stories could be about a switch to plant-based diet, an example of repairing instead of buying new, a clever way to recycle, an observation of a nonhuman animal’s intelligence or empathy, a transportation switch from car to non-fossil fuel wheels or from plane to train, a pollinator or vegetable garden project, and on and on.

Pretend you are having a coffee with me or your climate change support group, and just tell your story! Then send it as an attached recording or a print piece to [email protected] with the subject line SSE CLIMATE CHANGE STORY.

Story Soup Enterprises will put as many stories as possible on the podcast or blog, so please include your name and the names of any principal players in your story as well as the where and when for context.
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Stories give us hope, knowledge and a boost to our creative imaginations!

Today is the first day of Lent for those from a Christian background. It is a forty day period to enter one’s personal wilderness for reflection. I have used this time as a crutch to ease me into change. In my 20’s I gave up smoking during Lent and a few years ago moved from meat-eating to a plant based diet. For me Lent arrives at a useful time with the worst of winter past and spring still to come. It is a balanced on the edge time reminding us of the brevity and preciousness of our lives and our responsibility to use them well. Regardless of our religion or nonreligion, we are one in the urgency of climate change. Perhaps we could use this age-old disciplined time to enrich our lives for the well-being of the Earth. Form a climate crisis reading and discussion group? Get involved politically?  Buy a bike and use it! Write letters to those in power, expressing our concerns? Put up a clothesline? Adopt a couple of chickens? The possibilities are numerous!

I end with a short Indigenous story, entitled Two Wolves, on Story Soup Enterprise’s podcast.

Remember Brainstorming – the problem-solving technique?

I often mention the value of small groups for promoting climate crisis action and mutual support. Perhaps Brain Storming would be a good technique for a parent teacher’s organization or book club or other community group to use. To refresh our memories, here's how it goes:
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1. Compose a specific challenge question, such as, “How can we work with children to develop climate crisis action?” or “What projects can our neighborhood under-take to combat climate change?”
2. Designate one person to record the ideas. This person can also contribute.
3. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Using a limited time creates a sense of urgency increasing the storm of ideas.

The object is to get as many ideas on the “board” as you can. And if you get a thought that extends someone else’s idea, you can piggyback on to it!

There is only one rule – all ideas are accepted, no one can criticize or dismiss an idea including their own!

When the 10 minutes are up the group chooses the most feasible ideas and starts planning the action.
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Happy Brainstorming!