I've spent years with a contra habit that takes me to roughly one dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was 83 miles away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more, as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable. My lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes even more.

I think I'd like to work on decreasing the amount of out-of-town events I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get there. Carpools are great and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south (I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really admirable and more people should consider something like this. This ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation. I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their use is so incredibly terrible for our environment.

Has anyone been adapting their travel habits in the face of climate change?