Dick Durbin

In this letter to Grist reader and Illinois constituent Kevin Wolz, Sen. Dick Durbin signals strong support for the Kerry-Boxer climate bill:

Dear Mr. Wolz,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the creation of a national “cap-and-trade” program to address global warming. I appreciate hearing from you.
 
Global warming is one of the most significant environmental crises we face. Most scientists believe that increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will raise the earth’s temperature by as much as three to ten degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.
 
I believe Congress needs to take action to address global warming. Science has shown that we can’t afford to wait any longer. If we tackle the sources of carbon pollution and take steps to reduce the impacts of global warming, we can protect our environmental future while expanding our economy. However, if we choose to ignore global warming and its consequences, we are placing our planet and our future in grave danger and could face large-scale economic consequences that threaten our national security.
 
Senator Boxer of California has introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733) to help our nation take meaningful steps toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating global warming. It would establish a national cap-and-trade system and would cap greenhouse gas emissions at 20 percent below the 2005 level by 2020, with a goal of reducing emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050.
 
In addition, S. 1733 would make a significant investment in energy efficiency and the development of clean, domestic energy sources. By supporting energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, and other clean energy technologies, this legislation will move our nation toward energy independence, strengthen our national security, and protect our environment. An investment in clean energy will also mean the creation of a wide range of new jobs here in the United States, jobs which cannot be outsourced.

Your voice is a valuable part of this discussion. I will keep your thoughts in mind as the Senate continues to debate the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Please feel free to keep in touch.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

Track the climate debate and take action

Durbin has long fought for action on climate change. In 2007, he introduced legislation that would require a “National Intelligence Estimate” assessing the national security implications of climate change. In 2006, Durbin joined 39 other senators in writing a letter to then-President Bush calling for “a national program of mandatory limits on global warming pollution that slows, stops, and reverses emissions.” And in 2003, he sponsored an amendment that would have required cars and SUVs to get 40 miles per gallon by 2015.

Do you know what your senators think about climate legislation? Ask them, then tell us what you find out.

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Roland BurrisSen. Roland Burris sent this letter to Grist reader Kevin Wolz in early October, responding to questions about the senator’s stance on climate legislation.  Burris says he supports many aspects of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill introduced in late September, particularly the provisions on nuclear power, agricultural offsets, and clean coal.

Dear [Constituent]:

Thank you for contacting me to share your views concerning climate change legislation under consideration in Congress, including the recently introduced Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733).

Today, Illinois stands at a crossroads. We face the choice to avoid the call for change or to take advantage of our abundant natural resources to develop the products, services, and fuels of the future. We must act now to lower carbon emissions and create new green jobs. We must also expand our biofuel industry, invest in energy efficiency measures, and develop new ways of using our resources. This will serve two purposes: to prepare us for the very real threat of climate change, and put Americans to work doing so. As Americans, we inherit great energy abundance, but we must be aware of our responsibility to be environmental stewards for future generations.

I am heartened that Senators Kerry and Boxer have been engaging all stakeholders so far in their efforts to craft legislation to address climate change. I am supportive of many of the provisions in the bill, especially the provisions for nuclear energy, agricultural offsets, and clean coal technology that were limited in the bill passed by the House of Representatives. I hope that efforts to reach consensus with all stakeholders will continue as the bill progresses through the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works. I am hopeful the bill will reach the Senate floor before the end of the year. I have been aided greatly by my constituents in efforts to negotiate the best bill for our state, our nation, and the world.

Track the climate debate and take actionI will continue to listen closely to what you and other Illinoisans have to say about matters before Congress, the concerns of our communities, and the issues facing Illinois and the nation. My job is not about merely supporting or opposing legislation; it is also about bridging the divide that has paralyzed our nation’s politics.

Sincerely,

Roland W. Burris
United States Senator

Do you know what your senators think about climate legislation?  Ask them, then tell us what you find out.

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Not your father's Corn Belt. This development in Illinois managed to pass somewhat under the radar, probably because it took place during the dog days of summer. But it's still a big deal -- Illinois has a new law that starts building the infrastructure for a real regional food system:

The legislation establishes a council to develop a fresh farm and food system in the state, and it creates a system that allows buyers for state agencies to pay up to 10 percent above the lowest bid when purchasing locally grown foods. It also sets a goal for state-owned agencies to increase their purchase of locally grown foods each year so that 20 percent of their food purchase is spent on Illinois-grown foods by 2020.

Currently, an estimated 4 percent of the money Illinois residents spend on food each year is for products grown in the state, and just several hundred of the state's 76,000 farmers are producing for the local market, according to a task force report.

That last statistic is astonishing. Illinois has tens of thousands of farmers and only one half of one percent of them sell their products in their home state. The new law is all the more impressive when you realize that Illinois is second only to Iowa in corn production -- we're talking the heart of the Corn Belt here. It's quite a statement when a top agricultural commodity state has decided it's time to diversify its food production. And make no mistake, institutional buyers are exactly what growers need to have the confidence to give up their reliance on commodity crops, which they can always sell to the local grain elevator. Asking a farmer to grow something that he or she can't hope to sell isn't exactly a recipe for success. But what happens if they know the state will not only buy their produce, but pay a premium for it? I'm smelling a win-win here.

Indeed, the potential dollar figures are tremendous, even for just a single state. According to the Illinois Local Food, Farm, and Jobs Task Force, the state spends $48 billion on food -- with almost all of that money flowing out of state. And make no mistake, much of the energy for this law comes from a growing understanding of the positive economics of local spending. Yes! Magazine has a nice graphic explaining what some refer to as the "Local Multiplier Effect" of your purchasing decisions. This concept is built around the estimate that, while 15 cents of your dollar spent at a corporate chain is reinvested in the community, 45 cents of your dollar is reinvested when you shop at an independent local business. So keeping more of your money in your community "multiplies" the effect of that spending. In an era when many question where future economic growth, not to mention jobs, will come from, allowing local spending to power a local industry like food production starts to make real economic sense.

Grist contributor and author Ken Meter -- a strong advocate for the economic benefits of moving farmers off of commodity crops -- has looked closely at the issue. He has spend the last few years studying net cash flows from regional food production and consumption, including in his calculations agricultural inputs costs like seed and fertilizer, farm income, farm subsidies and total food purchases. You can find all the details in his paper [PDF], but his basic conclusion back in 2001 was that if consumers in much of the Midwest "were to buy 15% of their food from local sources, it would generate as much income for the region as two-thirds of farm subsidies." The ethanol boom has changed the equation somewhat, but as commodity prices have fallen back to earth, the money flow out of the Midwest has again accelerated.

Also keep in mind that Illinois' law was passed weeks before the USDA announced its new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, which reserves hundreds of millions of dollars in existing USDA grants, loans and loan guarantees for improving local food infrastructure. When you start to marry federal dollars with state regulations -- and get the USDA presumably involved with spreading the word on programs such as Illinois', suddenly real change starts to look eminently feasible. And none of this, it's worth pointing out, required anyone to renegotiate agricultural subsidies or demand changes in farmers' production styles. The Illinois effort, like much of Michelle Obama's and USDA Chief Tom Vilsack's initiatives on food reform to date, is focused on the demand side of the food equation, allowing institutional buyers like government agencies and, yes, schools, to lead the way to healthier food choices.  This will prove to be strategically brilliant and, I think, surprisingly effective. If all 50 states adopted policies like this, policies that are almost totally uncontroversial, we will have a come a long way towards effective food reform. So who's next?

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The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity runs an annual Coal Calendar Art & Essay Contest for middle schoolers, asking students to shill for the coal industry, no doubt in response to a biased classroom lesson about coal. See the comment thread on the coal coloring book story. This comment from reader LILACWINE seems worth calling out:

I teach science at a public middle school in Illinois and I have been receiving the "Illinois Coal is our Hero" calendars for years.  I do not know how I got on the mailing list, but the first year I actually cried when I saw it.  To think there are students out there who are being taught that "coal is the answer to all our energy needs" makes me worry about the miseducation of a whole generation of young people.

I am grateful to teach in a school that allows me some professional freedom to focus on a climate-change based curriculum.  However, I needed to invent this curriculum; our middle school text books do not contain current environmental information (although they are from 2002.  Hopefully newer ones reflect more current information.)

If you are a teacher and you need curriculum ideas, I learned about this site last year.  They have some curriculum for sale, but a lot of it is free.  http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/CurriculumHome/tabid/113/Default.aspx

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Climate change is a global problem—but as of yet, there’s no global solution. That’s why mayors across the U.S. are taking action, from building green to organizing bike rides, from redeveloping downtowns to cutting emissions. Here are just a few of the municipal leaders who have worked to take our collective future into their own hands.

Bloomberg unveils his grand Plan.PlanNYC 20301. Michael Bloomberg, New York City.
Pop.: 8.2 million
Call New York the accidental eco-city: cram millions of people onto an island, and you’ve got to figure out how to build up, not out. Throw a big park in the middle, and voila: you’ve got an anti-sprawl city that values open space. During his tenure, Bloomberg has made the most of that happy accident, creating an ambitious 127-point initiative called PlanNYC 2030 that encompasses everything from reclaiming waterfronts to repairing electrical grids to reducing traffic congestion. (OK, that last one hasn’t gone so well.) A year after unveiling the plan in 2007, the city had launched a full 93 percent of its components.

Nickels at a climate rally with King County exec Ron Sims, since tapped to head HUD.Oran Viriyincy 2. Greg Nickels, Seattle.
Pop.: 594,000
In some ways, Greg Nickels became synonymous with the phrase “green mayor” after spearheading the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2005. Since then, more than 900 of Nickels’ fellow mayors have come on board, Republican and Democrat alike, from all 50 states. No stranger to eco-ideas at home, Nickels—who has led the Emerald City since 2002—has also been instrumental in bringing light rail to the area, pushing to increase investments in open space, and launching an ongoing series of “clean and green” community-service events. He’s up for reelection this year, and one challenger says he hasn’t done enough on the environment. Only in Seattle.

Newsom uses a white hanky to demonstrate clean diesel emissions. Seriously!MTC3. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco.
Pop.: 765,000
Another mack daddy of sustainability, Newsom is almost too green to believe. Since he took office in 2004, the city has reduced government emissions to below 1990 levels, launched the nation’s largest solar incentive program, banned plastic bags, and introduced ambitious green building and green jobs programs. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, city leaders hope to increase wind power by the Bay, including underwater turbines at the Golden Gate Bridge. Speaking at a conference of green IT entrepreneurs this spring, Newsom—who also recently confirmed his 2010 gubernatorial ambitions—offered up his city as guinea pig: “If you have an idea, let me know. We are a laboratory for innovation.”

Malloy in a glamorous mayoral moment.Will Merydith/flickr4. Ed Malloy, Fairfield, Iowa.
Pop.: 9,650
In November, the city fathers in this liberal southeastern Iowa outpost unanimously adopted a Green Strategic Plan. Their vote was more than ceremonial: they also secured a state-funded grant to hire a sustainability coordinator, inventory their greenhouse gases, and create educational materials for residents. The new plan envisions everything from conserving energy to supporting local farms. Malloy, who’s been mayor since 2001 and heads up a local oil company, says the environment-economy connection is clear. He hopes Fairfield’s ideas will catch on: “We want to create a model community, a virtual template that other small towns can adopt to create the same results.”

What a difference a Daley makes.www.drugabuse.gov5. Richard Daley, Chicago.
Pop.: 2.8 million
Since announcing his intention to make Chicago the country’s greenest metropolis, Daley has made great strides. Green roofs cover or are planned for 3 million square feet, topping everything from City Hall to a McDonald’s. Redevelopment and landscaping have revitalized gathering places across the city, from prominent landmarks like Grant Park to neighborhood playgrounds. And the Windy City is committed to increasing its use of renewable energy (though a recent revelation showed things lagging in that area). Chicago is even bidding to host the 2016 Olympics—a bid that hinges on the event being the greenest Olympics in history.

Franklin, my dear, she does give a damn.City of Atlanta6. Shirley Franklin, Atlanta.
Pop.: 519,000
Often held up as the poster child for sprawl, Atlanta boasts more green than meets the eye—and Franklin is to thank for much of the recent progress. Mayor since 2002, she has attacked infrastructure and intangibles with the same gusto, from overhauling the city’s sewer systems to creating a Climate Action Plan. The city is building a public-transit BeltLine, is tops in LEED-certified buildings, and has implemented practices in City Hall that led to a 20 percent decrease in energy usage. A comprehensive private-sector group called Sustainable Atlanta is developing recommendations for further actions, and all eyes are on the future. “We are building a green, sustainable city,” Franklin says. “We do this for our children, and we do this because it is the right thing to do.”

Planner, politico, father, grandfather.RalphBecker.com7. Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City.
Pop.: 179,000
Building on the groundbreaking work of predecessor (and official Grist crush) Rocky Anderson, Becker—who took office in 2008—has already made ripples in the eco-community. Upon taking the helm, Becker introduced his Blueprint for a Green City, in which he pledged to improve public transit, expand greenways, create neighborhood centers to promote walkability, and improve air and water quality. And the former urban planner isn’t just talking the talk; among other concrete steps, the city is piloting hybrid police cars and has undertaken an overhaul of its city code to make sustainability easier for all residents to achieve.

Don’t mess with Jerramiah.Byron Smith/Jersey Journal8. Jerramiah Healy, Jersey City.
Pop.: 242,000
He’s a rough and tumble guy running a historically rough and tumble city. But that just goes to show that green can be pursued anywhere, by anyone. Healy was recently given a Green Leadership Award by the state U.S. Green Building Council chapter. During his five-year tenure, he has held polluters accountable, opposed a controversial reservoir development scheme, and redeveloped brownfields. Up for reelection this month, Healy recently introduced ordinances that would require city departments to pursue LEED certification and green purchasing, and is reportedly considering a ban on plastic bags.

Manny being Manny.City of Miami9. Manuel Diaz, Miami.
Pop.: 410,000
Though some critics have dubbed him “Concrete Manny” due to his love of development, Diaz is paving the way for sustainability in Miami. An early signatory to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, he created Miami’s first sustainability department and a community-wide Green Commission. He has pushed green building, led an energy-retrofit of City Hall that included solar-panel installation, and is converting the city’s fleet to more efficient vehicles. Late last year Diaz launched Bike Miami Days, and this spring the city hosted a week of events leading up to Earth Hour. “We’re on the front line of global climate change here,” Diaz told Newsweek in 2007. “The water level doesn’t have to rise too much for us to be riding around Miami in canoes.”

Walker? I’d rather bike.Robert the Noid/flickr10. Elaine Walker, Bowling Green, Ky.
Pop.: 53,000
This TV producer-turned-politician has her hands full, from increasing affordable housing to contending with the crash of Big Auto, but green is on her radar screen. Transportation issues loom large in this western Kentucky city, and Walker has worked with local bike-advocacy groups (even creating a Mayor’s Bike Ride) and launched a Rethinking Transportation Choices task force. A signatory to the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, she is a proponent of green building and downtown redevelopment. “There’s too much of a perception that going green is a little bit out there and idealistic,” she has said. “It’s not idealistic—it’s vital.”

Cicilline envisions a model future.Cicilline.com11. David Cicilline, Providence, R.I.
Pop.: 175,000
In late March, this native son signed an order requiring all new municipal buildings to be LEED-certified, saying such a move would help create jobs and boost the economy. It was the first step in a 30-point plan called Operation Opportunity that seeks to help this mid-sized New England city rise from the doldrums; other steps include doubling the recycling rate, creating a green jobs training corps, and finalizing site plans for wind turbines. Cicilline, at the wheel since 2003, has also named walkability and sustainable leadership among his goals for the city.

Get your Phil.Tom Story/ASU12. Phil Gordon, Phoenix.
Pop.: 1.6 million
The long-time Phoenician made a splash in March when he unveiled a 17-point sustainability plan for the desert megalopolis he’s run since 2004. During his tenure, Gordon has already overseen eco-upgrades ranging from LED traffic lights to LNG buses, as well as bringing light rail to the city. The new plan aims to make Phoenix the first carbon-neutral city in America, through green job training, building retrofits, and a massive investment in solar energy. It’s making Phoenix hot in a whole new way.

Coleman (left) and Rybak do their thing.Lou Michaels13. Christopher Coleman, St. Paul.
Pop.: 274,000
14. R. T. Rybak, Minneapolis.
Pop.: 377,000
The Twin Cities are in the hands of two progressive mayors intent on doubling the metro region’s eco-efforts. Coleman and Rybak, elected in 2005 and 2001 respectively, have both made sustainability a priority—Minneapolis, for instance, doles out climate change grants to neighborhood organizations, while St. Paul created its own hybrid car-sharing program. Together, the two leaders have created an annual sustainability report and a green manufacturing initiative, and they’re bringing bike-sharing to town. It’s all part of an effort, they say, to make theirs the most livable cities in the country.

Dixson, far left, leads the groundbreaking of Greensburg’s first eco-home.Greensburg GreenTown15. Bob Dixson, Greensburg, Kansas.
Pop.: 850
Talk about inheriting someone else’s problem: Bob Dixson became mayor of Greensburg in 2008, exactly a year after it was devastated by a tornado. But Greensburg has rallied, and the former postmaster is now overseeing the town’s much publicized green rebuilding effort (which has also been documented for TV). Learning as he goes, Dixson has become an eco-evangelist of sorts, traveling the nation to talk up renewable energy, green building, community spirit, and the common sense behind green. “In rural America,” he told Smithsonian magazine earlier this year, “we were always taught that if you take care of the land, the land will care of you.”

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If you don't border the Great Lakes, keep your grubby hands out of 'em. That's the general message of a bill that would bar any major water diversion from Lakes Erie, Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, unless all eight lake-bordering states approve. The so-called Great Lakes Compact, which has passed Congress and heads to the welcoming pen of President Bush, also holds Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to new conservation standards and requires that they regulate their own large-scale water use. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have agreed to similar conservation measures. The compact -- which exempts diversions of fewer than 5.7 gallons, a favor to bottled-water producers -- eases fears that thirsty states and even countries would try to siphon the lakes, which hold 90 percent of North America's fresh surface water and 20 percent of the world's supply.

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The U.S. Department of Energy has told lawmakers that it plans to pull funding for FutureGen, its ambitious and crazily expensive "clean coal" demonstration plant. The feds had planned to cover some three-quarters of the $1.8 billion price tag, and cited ballooning costs as its reason for backing out. The announcement pissed off lawmakers from Illinois, where the plant would have been sited and was expected to create 3,000 construction jobs. Sen. Dick Durbin (D) pledged that the state delegation "is going to make the case for FutureGen directly to the president," while Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued a statement saying the DOE had "deceived the people of East Central Illinois who spent time and resources competing for the project."

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DOD declares wind turbines can interfere with radar, but says some can proceed

The Defense Department has finally completed a long-awaited study on how wind farms impact military radar, which clears the way for some stalled wind projects to continue. At least a dozen projects in Illinois, North Dakota, and Wisconsin had been put on hold pending the DOD study. In its report, submitted this week to the Senate and House Armed Services committees, the DOD declared that turbines in radar line of sight can interfere with detecting and tracking aerial objects, but the Pentagon also showed willingness to allow wind projects to proceed anyway if they pass a case-by-case review process. Wind turbines "present technical challenges to the effectiveness of radar systems that must be carefully evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure acceptable military readiness is maintained," the DOD wrote in its report. Wind advocates are hopeful that any conflicts can be resolved. "Decades of experience tell us that wind and radar can coexist," said Randall Swisher of the American Wind Energy Association.

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Not 20 minutes after the Amtrak clerk said our train would be at least an hour late -- "probably much more" -- I almost caved. "We could rent a car and drive home," I thought, and maybe even muttered. "Nobody has to know."

I had just hit my breaking point.

Carolyn rides the bus.

Photos: Christine Gardner

My husband, Steve, and I were pushing our two daughters along a searing sidewalk built precariously close to a major road, beer-bottle shards crunching underfoot. We were in Illinois' state capital of Springfield, just 70 miles from our Normal home, and I was on my 20th car-free day.

In the pit of my stomach I could feel the onset of failure.

But we pushed on. We pushed past the track-marked girl sitting two booths from us at McDonald's. We pushed to a shaded grassy hill in view of the capitol building. Eventually we pushed into a hotel for the night, where we imbibed on the floor of the bathroom, our two-year-old finally asleep in a bed and her baby sister snoozing in a complimentary playpen.

This isn't starting well, you might think. A suburban housewife gives up driving for one month and comes away reporting that it can't be done. How helpful is that?

Yes, the laundry list is long. Food costs are exorbitant, a problem for households with only one steady paycheck. Public transportation often is difficult and confusing. Vacationing is expensive and, as you might have gathered, hellish.

But we did it. Coated in grime, feet aching and exhausted, we made it home without an automobile. And suddenly, this experience seemed a little more like adventure and a little less like failure.

My first bus trip rocked.

My older daughter and I headed to the farmers' market for as many vegetables as we could cram in our backpacks. After shopping, I set Carolyn free on the lawn of the city square. Within minutes, she met Dana, also 2, who seemed just as interested as my daughter in climbing a sign marking the downtown landmark.

Dana turned out to belong to Sara Freeman, an assistant professor of theater at Illinois Wesleyan University, a former resident of Madison and Chicago, and part of a one-car household. This is too easy, I thought. My first day and I'm already meeting kindred spirits, automotively speaking.

The thing is, Sara would tell me later, owning just one car isn't that big a deal. She sometimes walks. Her husband rides his bike. They carpool or trade off. They have to be conscious of who has the car when, but it hasn't really been a problem.

Like others who live in the twin cities of Bloomington-Normal, Sara sees the divide. There are people who live in the older neighborhoods, closer to the downtowns, and others living in newer, often swankier homes east of Veteran's Parkway, this city's commercial artery to Wal-Mart and all its big-box buddies. One set thinks, "Ugh, I have to go out to Veteran's." The other thinks, "Thank god I don't have to go downtown."

At the university, there's talk about sustainability, how to reach students and the general public. Sara, who is pregnant with her second child and thinking maybe her family needs another car, said she wishes this area had enough people to make a car-share program work. That way, she said, she wouldn't have to go car shopping -- and I wouldn't get stuck during a day trip to Springfield.

Ten days into this experiment, I knew one thing for sure -- the stroller is the most hated object in all of bus world. This, for me, was made much more frustrating by my fumbling attempts to steer my extra-long double stroller. To make matters worse, I sometimes require the dreaded wheelchair lift. A friend of mine with two young children said I shouldn't let it bother me: "It's the same as a wheelchair," she said. I suppose that's true. "Having kids is like being handicapped," she added.

Just another Normal day.

Hmm.

But a bus ride with small children is an effort in feeling bad, and a tiny bit hindered. One morning, as a particularly crowded bus arrived, Steve and I had both girls and the stroller and asked to use the lift. Our driver obliged. A passenger on his cell phone warned someone he'd be late. A family and their kids are getting on, he said.

As I got off the bus, the driver said into her walkie-talkie, "Her husband is here, but she wants to use the lift." That's what I'd thought I was supposed to do. Now, because of me, all these people were late for work.

It all begged the question, "Who is public transportation for?" A 2003 study of the local transit system showed that most people who take the bus don't do so by choice. Randomly surveyed people didn't care much about public transit, other than not really wanting to fund improvements.

Melanie Overend of Bloomington-Normal Public Transit says the system's No. 1 objective is to provide a ride to those who need it, although efforts are made to convince others to ride. But with light traffic, free parking, and a phobia I like to call "I Might Come in Contact with Poor People," it's a tough sell.

Back on the Pink D, in an effort to speed things along, I tried to be helpful and lift my stroller with one arm and my chunky baby Penelope with the other. A stranger, one of many to lend a hand during this experiment, grabbed the 25-pound device from me.

We were going to Meijer Superstore, a Michigan-based Wal-Mart predecessor, for what would be the last major shopping trip of the month (mostly because it became a huge pain). Later, I would settle on paying $4.49 for a box of butter at a downtown drugstore, $1.25 for a cup of sour cream at the gas station, and $8.99 for a pound of coffee at the vegetarian deli -- items that total $6.70 at Wal-Mart prices.

It's not unusual, or that surprising, to see people on the bus hauling plastic bags from America's favorite superstore. When I look at the other passengers, I mostly see people with no alternative to the bus. I try not to inconvenience them, or knock them with my stroller.

I had high hopes for Normal.

Let me begin by saying I have never claimed to be an environmentalist. My father, a Nebraska-born farm boy, saves rainwater for his vegetable garden and has been known to reuse coffee filters, but these are not altruistic actions. As for me, I grew up inside Detroit's city limits, with strong memories of trash-littered streets and exhaust-blackened snow. The poor -- and also my father -- collected pop and beer cans for their 10 cent deposit, but again, it wasn't really about the environment.

Oddly enough, I also knew about exploring the great outdoors from spending time on my grandparents' small farm. What I lacked was an understanding of life in the middle.

How did I come to live in a suburban setting? Economics. The housing market. The job market. Children. My husband's own suburban childhood. Dumb luck.

I left the workplace after the birth of my second child and decided to create my own version of suburbia -- a safe, comfortable place within walking distance of a downtown, or a store, or a bakery. Our post-World War II ranch, with a measly 1,600 square feet but two full baths, has large trees in the backyard. It's a mile from downtown Normal and within walking distance of six parks. I'm pretty friendly with my immediate neighbors, some of whom are original owners in this neighborhood.

Mary and Byron Benscoter bought their house in 1955 and raised three children there. They told me that in the beginning, this street was congested with children and by mid-morning, housewives would generally be out mingling. Just a few blocks away, there was a corner store, a gas station, and a restaurant. Families didn't have a lot of money, Mary said, so there wasn't much traveling, and the moms weren't running kids to activities all over town.

The neighborhood, which was built on an old vegetable farm, is different today. There are some older families and some young, childless couples. There are very few children. It seems most families prefer newer homes, and our realtor, who had raised her own four children in this very neighborhood, had warned us: they prefer to live east of Veteran's Parkway.

There's that street again.

I can sit at the playground closest to my house, across a parking lot from a swimming club, and watch minivans come and go for hours. To my knowledge, I'm the only mom who walks there.

I instinctively believe that people are driving too much, too far, in too large of vehicles. The numbers tell me I'm right. The Environmental Protection Agency released a "Holy Crap We Drive A Lot" report in April, stating that the United States is responsible for a quarter of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions. Using data from 1990 to 2004, it reports that the popularity of SUVs and minivans is increasing. The number of miles we drive is increasing. The number of cars is increasing. The number of households with more than four vehicles now exceeds the number with none.

I live in a neighborhood that once enjoyed a childhood of its own, but now has settled into a sort of middle age. With my lime-green bus pass, July became the month when I reverted to a forgotten time, agreeing with a frequent request from my two-year-old: "Bus? Sure. Let's take the bus."

For all the places the bus took me, and as much as I relied on it, I have one major complaint. It doesn't run on Sunday, known in some circles as the Lord's Day.

Walking was my only other option -- not usually an awful one, until you consider the oppressive heat of a Midwestern July. So why not try church?

I arrived there with Penelope and could feel the eyes of churchgoers watching me park the stroller under a tree, curious about this unfamiliar scene. I wish the world didn't see a pedestrian and her sweaty baby as objects of pity.

The gospel that day was a story of Jesus losing his ability to perform miracles because the townspeople lacked faith. After a woman of faith touched him (I never realized how Freudian church could be), he recovered his healing hands. The priest also made some reference to the broken air conditioner.

I left early, when a hungry Penelope started to wail, and made my way downtown, where an art festival was waking up for a final day. The day promised to be especially sticky, so at 9 a.m., I started moseying homeward on the 24-mile Constitution Trail, already busy with runners and cyclists. I felt fortunate to have gone out so early.

It had been about an hour since I left the church, and as I passed by it again I stopped to feed Penelope at a nearby playground. From the park bench, I watched dozens of cars trickle out of the church's parking lot. Then I saw one older couple leaving on foot. I thought, "At least somebody else gets it."

There is nothing more unpredictable than the temperament of a two-year-old. One day, she's sickly sweet. The next, she's throwing herself on the floor of Target, grinning ever so slightly.

I did most of my July discount shopping at Target. The major grocery stores, including Wal-Mart, were difficult to reach despite being located less than a mile from one another. Major shopping trips became a nightmare. And again, that's not taking my two-year-old X factor into consideration.

But Mom, I miss the car!

On that 24th day without a car, after the novelty of the bus had worn off, Carolyn went into toddler overdrive. She pulled the hair, twice, of a woman seated in front of us. She ran away from me inside the store. Then, as I tried to discipline her, we missed our bus back to Normal. When we finally returned to Normal, we missed our bus home.

Carolyn had cried on and off all morning. This time, my own tears began to well. In desperation, I called Steve to come get Carolyn, and he did. I walked home, temperatures now into the 90s. As that damn Orange H passed me, I realized a one-hour trip had taken three hours.

That's the thing about the bus. It's usually on time. It always runs the same route. So why is it that every time we take it, our experience is different? If I drove 20 times to the store with as many different routes, every trip would be nearly identical.

That trip to Springfield began a slow decline in any interest I had in leaving the house. Before the trip, I had taken the bus 27 times. I took it only 13 after, and never again with the stroller. We started spending more time at the local park and in our backyard kiddie pool.

Not driving didn't seem that inconvenient at first, because I prefer walking anyway, if I'm not going too far. It's not about the environment. I just like the idea of living simply, especially since having my girls.

I can hear some of you: "Shut up already about your kids." I say let's talk a little more about kids. Kids and safety, two topics never in short supply at the playground.

Month after month, Parents magazine implores moms to see the dangers. Germs. Pacifiers. Bottle feeding. Cribs. Carseat installation. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. And that's just a sampling of the August issue.

The movie's over, but the
story's just beginning.

Photo: Dawn Riordan

But nothing is more unsafe than creating an inhospitable world for our children. While sacrifice might seem like the only option for an eco-friendly mom, it doesn't have to be. If women changed the way we think about modern motherhood, choosing pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods near local stores, life could get easier. Women would have company, possibly even next door, and softball could return to something the neighborhood kids organize among themselves.

When my family returned to Normal after the Springfield fiasco, we rested. That night, Steve and I walked downtown to see An Inconvenient Truth.

What an accurate title.

Nobody wants to sacrifice Wal-Mart for shopping downtown. Or their backyard playsets for the neighborhood playground. Or their SUV for anything.

But there's more to be gained.

It's August now, and my family has agreed to the more realistic test of relying on just one car. If that works, we might make it permanent, using the proceeds from selling our other car to finance a bike.

It's a decision we're making with the future in mind. After all, I try really hard to keep Carolyn from toppling off the monkey bars -- shouldn't I do my best to keep her and Penelope safe for the long haul? It isn't always going to be convenient, but that's not why we're here.

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