Home

grocery stores

Fight Global Warming: Ditch Your Keys and TIe Up Your Shoes

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Haley Blake
Topics: Climate and Environment, Culture, Energy and Oil, Informal Economy
Countries: United States
Ditch your car keys and tie up your laces. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/damiel/41670962/">Geir Halvorsen (flickr)</a>
Ditch your car keys and tie up your laces. Photo: Geir Halvorsen (flickr)

Does your neighborhood influence your driving habits?

A University of California at Davis study has found that neighborhoods boasting corner stores, restaurants, coffee shops, hardware stores and other small businesses inadvertently encourage residents to run their errands by foot, rather then by car. About 87 percent of respondents that live less than .5 miles from a grocery store said that they chose to walk instead of drive about six times a month. In contrast, about a third or respondents from less walk-friendly neighborhoods said they walked to complete a single errand in a month's time.

When you add it all up, people living withing walking distance of stores end up driving 42 percent fewer miles than their car-dependent counterparts. Grist points out the importance of this reduction on a global scale. If more people lived in walk-friendly neighborhoods, they would drive fewer miles, and thus, reduce carbon emissions.

Bookmark/Search this post with:
Keywords: <em>Grist</em>, climate change, grocery stores, walking

Stories We're Watching
Subscribe

For India’s Newly Rich Farmers, Limos Won’t Do

International Herald Tribune - Fri, 03/19/2010 - 00:48
Land acquisition for expanding cities and industry has created pockets of instant wealth, creating a new economic caste in India: nouveau riche farmers.

Africa Could Join High-Speed Science Network

All Africa - Thu, 03/18/2010 - 12:45
African science ministers are hoping to extend a high-speed fiber optic network — currently linking Egypt to the northern hemisphere — to other countries in Africa.

Vision for Africa

Daily Nation - Thu, 03/18/2010 - 12:30
Africa’s economic future and the challenge of uniting people and nations drew eminent politicians and scholars into a historic public debate in Nairobi on Thursday.

'Quiet Corruption' Hurting Africa's Poor

San Francisco Chronicle - Mon, 03/15/2010 - 09:22
A World Bank report says teachers and other public servants who don't show up for work are fueling "quiet corruption" throughout Africa that is disproportionately hurting the continent's poor.

Industrial Output Up; Hopes For Factories Grow

NPR - Mon, 03/15/2010 - 08:45
Industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in February, beating expectations and marking the eighth straight monthly increase.
See all Breaking News >

Recent comments

  • "Esther, Wow! Thank you for commenting. One of the best things (among many) about applying these controlled random..."
    by Jill Scantlan
    on A 'Rising Star' in Economics
  • "Thanks for this article. One small correction though. What the post refers to as "my best known work" (the work on..."
    by Esther Duflo
    on A 'Rising Star' in Economics
  • "This is so sad, and at the same time so true. We talk so much about terrrorism on news that we forget about poverty and..."
  • "Microfinance is amazing. Allowing millions to send their children to university in order to "break the chain" and give..."
  • "UPDATE: Following an investigative report on BBC NewsNight, British Parliament has now passed a bill that will..."

Countries

An initiative of Mercy Corps
“You must be the change
you wish to see in the world”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Learn more about Mercy Corps >

Efficiency

Over the last five years, more than 89% of Mercy Corps' resources have been allocated directly to programs

Excellence

America's premier charity evaluator gives Mercy Corps four stars in organizational efficiency. Click here to learn more.

High Value

Every dollar you donate to Mercy Corps helps us secure $11.16 in donated food and other critical supplies.

Mercy Corps — Dept. W — 45 SW Ankeny — Portland, OR 97204
 All original content Copyright © 2009 Mercy Corps. Quoted and linked content is property of the creator(s). Mercy Corps will not sell, rent or trade your personal information.