My Carbon Footprint - Am I really here?

Since returning to Canada, I have made a conscious choice to reduce my carbon footprint.  I am not the most disciplined person in the universe, so I know that I need to give myself as few options to waste resource as I possibly can.  First option was to not drive a car.  Easy task you may say when you live in a city.  Rapid transit, cabs, and buses get you everywhere. That is how city planners make a city efficient.  However, I am in the country.  But, being in the country is a good place for me to practice this new pattern too.  No car, no shopping trips when I am bored.  No car, efficient purchasing of food, because I take a small cart with me, and I know that when that is full, I come home.  I am thinking this plan might also be very good for the waistline.  No treats in that cart unless all food essentials are there first.  And because it is a bother to get a bus here and then take it back home, I tend to try to do a shopping trip once a week only.  Now comes the real test.  Figure out how to get from this tranquil paradise to Royal Roads University (in the city) somehow, in order to supplement my income with research work.  I think I have figured it out.

I was always aware that there is a commuter bus service available from here to there. I also knew that there were actually two scheduled runs of this bus route each morning to the city and each evening back home.  I need to be at the university around 9:30 tomorrow morning.  I looked at the schedule for the last bus to the city and saw that it runs by the stop near my home around 6:56 am.  The poser is that in order to get to that stop I have to climb a very steep hill and walk about 2 km - in the dark. If I don't do the climb, my other option is to catch a local bus in front of my home, in the dark at 6:07 am, ride about 2 km, and then get off and wait at the designated stop for the express commuter bus; and then wait at least 45 minutes in the dark for that bus. Hmmm.  I also know that this same bus travels past my own home before it goes to that designated bus stop.  I also know that drivers of these efficient 'express' commuter buses tend to take the express far to seriously and will ignore random pick up requests along the way if they are not at the couple of designated stops only.  But, my location is as perfect as it can be to plead my case.  I am at a corner where there is a local bus stop. I am at a corner where the bus has to stop and then turn right up the steep hill, on its journey to that designated stop.  I called the bus service people and explained my situation.  I asked if I could flag down the bus as it comes to a stop in order to make the turn to go up the hill.  They said I could.  They understood that the other option was rather silly, and because I am not expecting the bus to stop at a non dedicated bus stop anyway, I should have no problem.  Now all I have to do is test this tomorrow and see if the nice driver will stop for me.

As for the carbon footprint, I am very proud of myself.  We have a recycling program in place where the pick up is twice a month.  Everything is not acceptable, but better than no program.  I sort everything in the bins and then drag the big bin to the roadside for pickup.  Trash is a bit more difficult. You have to contact the authorities to pick up your trash, and being a rural spot, they charge you for the task, rather than assess on your taxes. The amount of trash I generate is not worthy of this fee.  Frugal by nature, I have been testing to see how I can reduce my trash to zero or as close to zero as I can.  I am doing a great job.  I watch what I buy. Excessive packaging that is not recyclable has to be something I really need. Even have figured out that only meat or poultry without bones comes to this house.  I will have to make the odd exception when I think I cannot live without chicken soup.  Maybe I will make that when I have a friend come out for a visit and then give them some soup in exchange for them taking the bones back their own trash bin. All other food wastes goes into the composter to enrich the soil.  Right now, because the house is under construction, I tend to go to bed early.  I have a lamp in my bedroom but the living room beside the fireplace is unlit. Tons of pot lights that are not yet activated make this a dark spot to sit in the evening. But a cosy bed with my Big Bang Theory dvd's (Christmas present from Ry) is my evening electrical consumption before lights out.

So, I am thinking that I have done a great job in regard to my carbon footprint.  Some might not even know I am here.  Firewood?  Well, I do draw a line.  But I burn when I need it, which is probably more often than just for ambiance. But then, there are no fossil fuels being burned on my behalf either.

Now lets see how I manage with that commuter bus tomorrow.