What a great preview week of cool mornings and beautiful days. We all know that “fall” in North Carolina is usually a long extension of summer, so don’t get your flannel shirts and pumpkin spice out too early. Although it seems like the stores are getting ready for Halloween right now. It feels crazy to be rushing into October while we still have plenty of days left in August.
Well, school has been back in session for a full week now and we are trying something out this year and so far it has been a successful start: we are walking to school. Now when you look at the overall impact, we have a win-win situation with health benefits for us physically and mentally and also some positive impacts on the environment.
First caveat: I live in a neighborhood with an elementary school that is a good fit for my kids. I know not everyone chooses the neighborhood because of the school or vice versa, but it works for us. Second, I used to only do this two days a week, the other three days I had to drive to Charlotte. Now my commute to Dallas is short enough that I can make it to school and back to my car and still get to work on time. And finally, and this is important, we have access to sidewalks on our route where the road is busy.
But the benefits are this: We can talk for 15 minutes while enjoying the fresh air and watching the changing sky as the sun begins to warm the air. We point to the trees and birds and clouds and moon, and they tell me things they forgot the day before, or something they’re going to do today that they’re looking forward to. We step on persimmons and talk about anthills. We don’t listen to the news or music. We don’t have to worry about seatbelts or car seats. My kids benefit from an intense brain warm-up, and so do I. We’ll benefit from both kids being in the same place for a few more years. Things will change, but I’ll cherish those days of holding my six-year-old’s hand and listening to my nine-year-old’s stories. Sometimes we take the giant puppy with us (he’s still learning how to walk well on a leash). We all benefit from the little exercise—and the little family conversations. We join another family walking, forming a community of pedestrians. And by choosing to walk, we visually remind drivers that there is a school nearby, that there are children there, and that we are the neighbors.
Seeing this on a daily basis may remind those of you who don’t have young children that many of us depend on public schools for the education and care that will produce our future leaders. A visual reminder beyond a school bus is a good thing. Seeing families walking may alert drivers that there are more people on the roads beyond them.
I know many more people in the neighborhoods near the school who could, but why don’t hordes of parents and children walk? Why do they drive instead? Well, our hectic world demands a lot of that. If parents have to be across town, they probably don’t have the 15 minutes to walk home I do. But maybe they could with a little planning, or if they asked for 15 minutes less of their lunch break? Maybe if there were fewer cars on the roads and less exhaust near the school, those who absolutely have to drive would get there earlier and spend less time in traffic. Idling is bad for air quality and small lungs.
Maybe they don’t know it’s possible because they’ve never tried. Like any other startup, you just have to do it one day. Get up a little earlier.
I think sometimes you just have to do what you want to see to build the neighborhoods and communities you want to emulate. If I want a school that promotes health and provides the opportunity to walk or bike, I have to be willing to do the work of creating the world I want to live in. I can lead by example and not just say I have a walkable community, but I can show people that it is walkable.
We need to decide to ask for a later start and be flexible in our options. We need to encourage walkable communities as part of sustainable neighborhoods and slow down to be mindful and intentional about the places we live. It’s important to put in crosswalks and sidewalks, build bike lanes, and encourage parents and children to be outdoors when possible. Maybe it’s not like that every day, and maybe you can’t walk to school. But maybe you can walk to church. Or maybe you can choose to walk to lunch. Americans need more and more exercise, and we definitely built our cities more for cars than people. But we can change our habits and our thinking by doing something, trying things out, and then advocating for the planning and zoning and rules that make those communities safe for pedestrians and cyclists, walkers and dog owners. Surely you could think about how you can fit a walk somewhere into your daily routine instead of setting aside a separate time for exercise?
How can you incorporate walking into your life and make driving less a goal? Small steps add up, and I’d love to hear what you’re doing to make our community more sustainable.
Becca Hurd is Gaston County’s recycling coordinator.
