The flip side to all this is if you don't have a car, and don't want one, those jobs are not available to you. I don't drive, I never have, and I wouldn't be able to have the option of buying a car to get to a job. If we are serious of stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, we have to make choices. My choice is not to get sucked into capitalism's vacuum cleaner. But, then again, I know how to live very cheaply, having voluntarily been unemployed (in paying jobs) for over seven years. It's possible to live pretty cheaply, if you don't have a car or kids to feed.
On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 8:17 AM, Dave Schlabowske <[email protected]>wrote: > I think this sort of conflict is something that most people used to have. > In our modern world of infinite mobility and long commutes, people have > forgotten that at one time, most people tried to live close to their job. > > My grandfather anything but environmentally conscious, but he walked to > took transit to work his whole life. He did it because he was cheap, there > were streetcars in Milwaukee for much of his life, and because he lived > through the rationing during the world wars and the depression and abhorred > waste of any kind. > > I used to work for Waterford and a journeyman frame builder. I loved the > combination of the light physicality and thoughtfulness of the work, but > the factory was 28 miles from my house, my wife is an MPS teacher and has > to live in Milwaukee, and our daughter started kindergarten. I was only > making $10 an hour, so the economics of buying a car/gas/insurance or > alternatively putting my daughter in day care before and after school so I > could continue to bike made the job untenable. > > In the end, I quit a job I really liked because it was too far away. Now > times have changed, and good jobs are more difficult to find, so the > balance of choices may have changed. It might be more important to get that > job, no matter where it is, than find a job a reasonable bike ride from > where you live. > > Good luck with your job hunt, and let us know what you decide. > > > Yours in cycling, > > Dave Schlabowske > Dir. of Communications > Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin > 414-431-1798 (desk) > 414-736-2209 (mobile) > www.bfw.org > > 3618 W. Pierce Street > Milwaukee, WI 53215 > > > > > > > On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Steve Drake <[email protected]> wrote: > >> ** ** ** ** ** >> >> Hi Mark,**** >> >> ** ** >> >> I have applied for jobs solely based on their bikeability, but only when >> currently employed. When unemployed, my geographic sphere of acceptable >> commutes has expanded greatly. My feeling is that a person should strive to >> use minimal resources, but there will be times when compromises need to be >> made. For example, if you have to get a second car get one that gets decent >> fuel mileage and continue to do your local errands by bike. If you do get a >> job that requires a motor vehicle commute, you can still keep looking for >> that bike commutable job and ditch the car when you find it.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> Hang in there,**** >> >> Steve **** >> >> ** ** >> ------------------------------ >> >> *From:* [email protected] [mailto: >> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of ***Mark Evans** >> *Sent:* Sunday, February 05, 2012 6:14 PM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* [Bikies] Sort of a Poll Question: priority of bike commuting >> to jobchoice**** >> >> ** ** >> >> I reckon I'm preaching to the converted, but I'm curious... >> I was laid off and been out of work for some time. As I search for a job, >> I always scope out the location and ability to bike to that location. >> Obviously, this eliminates things like jobs in **Ft.** **Atkinson** or ** >> Mt.** **Horeb** or ****Oregon**** or whatever. >> It's getting tough and my partner - who has been very understanding - >> floated the idea of getting a second car (I sold mine and chose >> ped/bike/bus commute options) several years ago. Part of me feels like I >> want to remain committed to a greener, bike friendly lifestyle. By taking >> some job with a 20-30 mile commute one way feels like I've abandoned that >> green choice. By choosing a gas-powered vehicle over a bus/bike option I >> feel like I'd be viewing cycling as more of a hobby than a lifestyle choice. >> >> Obviously tough times demand tough choices... but I'm curious about how >> others feel. >> Have you made employment choices based on the ability to reach work via >> sustainable methods? >> >> MArk Evans**** >> >> -- >> Follow Wheels for Winners on >> FACEBOOK<http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=734289628&v=wall&ref=profile#%21/pages/Wheels-for-Winners/168983346461729> >> **** >> >> Papa Wheelie's >> Prints<http://personalpages.tds.net/%7Emstuartev/MSEvans_Prints/Papa_Wheelies_Print_Shop.html> >> Check out My Prints for Sale At Etsy <http://www.etsy.com/shop/mstuartev> >> **** >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Bikies mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > > -- "If we continue to consume the world until there's no more to consume, then there's going to come a day, sure as hell, when our children or their children or their children's children are going to look back on us--on you and me--and say to themselves, 'My God, what kind of monsters were these people?'" --Daniel Quinn
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