A Slice of Fluxus

Like many, I happen to LOVE my car. It’s more than just what takes me from Point A to Point B, it’s an experience, it almost part of the family! Don’t laugh, I know a lot of you feel the same way but just aren’t admitting it! So, regardless of what’s been happening with fuel prices, I’ve just continued on my merry way zipping around town as I please. Hit the brakes. Reality check? When gas prices started inching up past the $3.00 mark, I actually did pay some notice. I started thinking about how to save some money on gas but didn’t really pursue the effort. Why would I? I live in a spot that within a two-mile radius is my job, my favorite grocery, and just about every other amenity I might need along with a few key indulgences. A few months passed. In the last five weeks alone I watched the price at the nearest Arco jump almost .60. Looking from the window of my office I can see the “cheap stuff” sitting tentatively at $3.97 per gallon. Now the antennae are up and taking notice wasn’t enough. It was time to get beyond the thinking point and actually do something about my own impact – environmental footprint, if you will – and think of the benefits to my own health and pocketbook as bonuses vs. some sort of hardship. First gear. I sat down and tried to assess the amount of energy I was consuming and where my hard- earned dollars were really being spent. My husband and I took a hard look at our home, appliances, cars, shopping habits and more to figure out how we could start actually reducing our energy consumption across the board. We patted ourselves on the back because we were doing our part to recycle, shop locally and support small businesses, use energy efficient lightbulbs, do laundry or run the dishwasher after 9PM, those sorts of things. We could be doing worse, but we could probably be doing better. Fourth gear. (Skipped few…) My concern that I could be doing better quickly flipped the OCD switch and I was spending time at night on the internet reading articles, taking footprint calculator quizzes, and obsessing slightly on the state of world and how I was going try and save it singl-handedly. I had passed a few gears and was about a lightyear ahead of where I needed to be and at midnight, not all too long ago, my husband poked his head in the office and with sleepy eyes said without saying a word, “just turn it off for now and sleep on it.” So, I did. Back down to second gear. Realizing that mentally ingesting information was helpful only to a degree, I was able to take a deep breath and refocus my efforts and bring them back down a human scale I could manage…my own. The catylist. Two weeks ago I had stopped at a Chevron to fill my tank that was wheezing slighting as I’d gone a little too far past the ‘E’ according the monitor on my dashboard. Chevron, as you may or may not know, is usually more than just a few cents more per gallon than some of the other stations around the Valley. I noticed this as the total price flew past $35…and then past $40. I furled my brow, made a face that included a proper frown, grabbed my receipt and sped off grumbling something the effect of “…this stinks.” Suddenly things started swirling around in my head and the cards started falling into place. Fact: Gas prices were going up and didn’t appear to be coming back down any time soon. Fact: I was seeing more and more people riding bikes around the neighborhood and to their jobs. Fact: I live an optimal location (stated earlier regarding amenities within a very minor radius from my home). Fact: I live in a state where it almost never rains and has fantastic weather for the majority of the year. The only question was this: why wasn’t I riding a bike? Third gear. That was it. That was the Gestalt moment, the next step, the third gear, the obvious solution that brought it back down to me and my own impact on the environment. I was going to make a difference. I had to buy a bike. June has just introduced itself in a milder than normal fashion for Phoenix. I certainly can’t complain as the mornings are cool enough to have the doors open for a while and warm enough not to need a second layer. The super-heated mornings where the pavement just can’t release the heat of the previous day is coming, I know. But for now, as I ride my new bike meandering through the neighborhoods on the way to the office or the grocery store, I notice with the sun playing with shadows through the trees and feel the breeze on my face… and I smile. I’ve begun to make a difference.