Four miles and forty percent...

One of the more interesting statistics being wafted through the air at Monday evening's Sustainable Dialogue was the one suggesting that 40% of trips by car within the city of Claremont are of 4 miles or less. Four miles; forty percent. Good god my son was riding four miles at least when he was six years old, and you are telling me that a fully functioning adult is unable to see clear to doing that pittance of a distance to take themselves to the post office, barber, or even grocery. To be absolutely blunt that is just pitiful, not to mention inexcusable. I consider Claremont to be a progressive, forward thinking community, it is the city of "trees and PhD's" after all, where sense of community is strong, and a primary reason that I have refused to consider living elsewhere. 


I have heard rumor that the city is going to expand parking at the Wilderness Park; if you have been up there recently, especially on a weekend, you are already aware of how much parking is required as cars overflow onto every local street. So to accommodate all these cars we are presumably going to pave over a little more land, say goodbye to a little more habitat. And here I had always assumed that one of the purposes of a "wilderness park" should be to preserve habitat, hmmm. In contrast there is a noticeable deficiency of bike parking. Rumor has it that more will be added. So, since most people walking up in the canyons now are there for the exercise as it is, how about going for the full effect, riding, parking your bike, and then walking the loop. A little more workout, a little less habitat loss, win-win all around. 


Now to get back on topic, it is awesome that so many people are getting outdoors, combating modern society's nature deficit disorder by walking the ± five mile loop. I repeat 5 miles. If people can conquer five miles of hilly terrain, certainly they can do four miles of mostly flat terrain within town. The beauty of taking these short trips by foot or bike, of course, is that you meet your neighbors, strengthening ties and sense of community, while at the same time living a more healthy lifestyle. And now before I risk getting too preachy, if I have not reached that point already, I shall finish today by admonishing everyone to just give it a try.


And try this when you have a spare moment. Open Google Earth, find Claremont, draw a 2 or 4 mile long line. Save the image and open in a program that will allow you to draw a circle. It is pretty interesting to see just how much falls within a two and four mile radius of home.