I became a reluctant car owner this year. My parents were getting a new car, and offered me their old one to help with a killer commute between Northcote and Notting Hill in Melbourne (which entailed two train rides and a bus ride each way, totalling around 3 hours of travel a day). The commute was making me very tired and unhappy, so I’m grateful for the car, even though I have serious reservations about using it.
Thankfully I’ve moved a bit closer to work now, but because my company is nowhere near a train station, it still takes me two train trips and a bus ride to get to work, totalling around 2 hours on public transport per day. So I’m still driving to work.
I really dislike being a driving commuter. I don’t like traffic, driving stress, or the feeling that I’m helping to pollute the world further with my car. With the skyrocketing cost of petrol (not to mention the frequent and expensive repairs my car has demanded) I contemplated returning to public transport, to save money, reduce my environmental footprint, and regain a couple of hours of valuable reading time on PT. But… I realised if I stopped driving I’d be unable to attend my fitness classes after work. So.. I’m still driving.
I don’t believe that carbon offsets truly cancel out the effect of driving (we should be reducing our consumption and emissions, not just planting trees to compensate). But it’s something we can do. So I joined GreenFleet today. They charge an average rate of $40 per year to offset your car, and they plant 17 native trees on your behalf. One thing I didn’t know is that it is tax deductable – good stuff.
