• transportation
• home
• outdoor activities

What You Can Do for Transportation
Sick of high gas prices? Save some gas money by carpooling or taking transit.

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Better yet, walk or bike to work. This involves more planning in the morning, but it gives you the opportunity to be physically active and lower your greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. Plus, the exercise invigorates you in the morning. Start out with once a week, and then try to do a few more trips each week to build up your endurance.

It can get cold, slushy and dark in the fall and winter. Be prepared. For walking, make sure you have reflective clothing and shoes with good grips. For biking, make sure your bike has a front light and rear reflectors. You can also get studded tires for when it gets slippery.

What You Can Do at Home
A lot of pollution and waste can come from home too. Here are some things you can do around the house or with your time off that are not only environmentally friendly, but that also get you active:

When you wash your car, opt for the traditional bucket-and-sponge approach. This can use up to eight times less water than a using a hose. You’re less likely to scratch the paint on your car, your car comes out just as beautiful, and it’s a better workout for you.

Use less energy by drying your clothes on a line or a drying rack instead of in the dryer. Hanging clothes on the line is also good stretching for your shoulders.

Walk to the farmers’ market. Buying locally grown produce helps local businesses, and it helps the environment because local farmers don’t have to ship their produce far.

Better yet, grow your own food. The food will be cheaper, it doesn’t have to be shipped at all, and you get to be outside and active at the same time.

Go berry-picking in the summer. There are lots of great U-pick farms and also wild berry patches where you can pick delicious wild berries for free.

Collect water in rain barrels. You can use this water on your garden and lawn. Rainwater helps you use less water from your tap, and hauling the water helps you increase your strength.

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Try to do routine chores the “hard way” in different seasons:

• Summer: Dig out weeds instead of killing them with herbicides.
• Summer: Mow the lawn with an old-fashioned push mower that’s powered by you instead of electricity or gas.
• Fall: Use a rake instead of a leaf blower to clean up leaves.
• Winter: Clear snow and ice with a shovel and a scraper instead of a snow blower and chemical ice melter.

These methods are all easier on the environment and can be good forms of exercise.

What You Can Do in the Great Outdoors
Many of us appreciate the beauty of nature and love to spend time in it. In fact, it is in nature where we tend to be physically active the most.

Our presence can affect the environment in a variety of ways. Here are some things you can do to lessen your impact:

When hiking, walking, jogging or running, stick to the path. By sticking to the path you prevent soil erosion and avoid harming the plants and trees that surround the trail.

Don’t remove things from the environment. For example, using dead branches as walking sticks or for campfires affects the life cycle of the forest. Leave them where they are. Buy a walking stick to use again and again rather than taking sticks from the forest.

You may have heard of the term “leave no trace.” It’s a philosophy for enjoying nature, and the idea is that you should leave everything as you found it. What you carry in, carry out. Bring something to store your trash in so you can bring it back with you.

It’s important to drink water when you’re active, but a lot of waste can be generated from disposable water bottles. Invest in a reusable water bottle for your activities rather than a disposable one.

ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) can be fun, but they’re noisy, they produce emissions, they can scare wildlife and they destroy the natural landscape. Despite all the negatives, they’re useful for long-distance travel in the bush, helpful to those who work in remote areas and great for people who have limited physical mobility.

If you’re using one for recreation, be as respectful of the environment as you can be. Stay in designated areas, try not to scare animals and avoid mud when you can, as driving on mud increases soil erosion.

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If you’re with a mobility-challenged friend, try using a TrailRider instead of an ATV. A TrailRider is a specially designed wilderness access vehicle powered by able-bodied friends and family. It can go places that ATVs can’t, and you’ll get an extra workout from pulling or pushing it.

Bicycles are friendlier to the environment than ATVs, as the power is created by your legs, but cyclists also need to consider their impact. Stick to designated areas and keep trails narrow by riding in the middle. Don’t ride if the trail is wet, as that will increase soil erosion. Try not to scare animals, and walk your bike over delicate areas.

And finally, if we are to succeed in preserving the environment, we must appreciate it. Increase appreciation for our great outdoors by enjoying it more often with friends and family. Encourage your children to take part in outdoor education courses at school, and go on outdoor trips with them. You’ll have lots of fun exploring trails and parks in your area.

It’s easy to feel that our individual efforts to help the environment won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things. But the efforts of each person do make a difference. And if enough of us try, we can make a huge difference. It’s a lovely bonus that many of the things we can do to help the environment also help our health.

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Learn More
Edmonton Bicycle Commuters
Elbow Valley Cycle Club
The websites for bicycle clubs in Edmonton and Calgary.

The People’s Pedal
Don’t own a bike? If you’re in Edmonton, try the People’s Pedal (the Edmonton Bicycle Sharing Society) to learn more about renting a community bike.

The Urban Farmer
This small business based in Edmonton gives great advice about growing plants in the Alberta climate, gardening in an urban setting and more.

TrailRider History
The British Columbia Mobility Opportunities Society explains the TrailRider, a human-powered vehicle that allows people with disabilities to enjoy trails in the wilderness.

CAN-BIKE Program
Learn more about cycling for fun and commuting from the Canadian Cycling Association’s CAN-BIKE program.

David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge: Green Living Made Easy
Want to learn more about how to make more environmentally friendly choices and lessen your impact on the environment? Check out the David Suzuki Foundation website for some great ideas.

What You Can Do
This website from Environment Canada offers more great tips on being environmentally friendly.

Leave No Trace Principles
Learn more about how you can implement the seven leave no trace principles of Leave No Trace Canada, a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting responsible outdoor recreation.

The Art of Riding Softly
This article from the International Mountain Bicycling Association talks about the importance of “riding softly.”