Love this thinking!

Here's my story:  With our local dance 3.2 miles from my house, I seldom travel very far to dance.  However, I do log a lot of miles traveling throughout Maine for family visits and for various sorts of calling jobs (dance leadership work is my primary income). 

I drive a 2014 Corolla, which can display a bar graph of the trip's mpg (in five minute increments).  One thing I've recently noticed, related to the 75 mph speed limit in parts of Maine, is that when I amp up the speed, my fuel efficiency drops precipitously.  If I drive 55-65 mph, I can get over 40 mpg.  Over 75 mph, and it's more like 25-30mpg.  (!!)  Given this data, I've taken to purposely driving slower, choosing elevated MPG (and safety!) over reducing my drive time for a few minutes overall. 

And I've also taken to sharing this story with others.  In my narrative, I always mention the fact that there used to be political will for lower speed limits, and a massive public campaign to support it.  "55 saves lives (and gas)" was the mantra in the late 70s and 80s here in Maine.  Not so, now.  Makes me wonder whose idea these high speed limits are, and why they got approved.  It's less safe, less fuel efficient...  There have always been people who will exceed the speed limit, but I suspect a higher percentage of "Speed Racers" are going above 80 mph these days. These days, that's seldom me.

And yes, the binding-together, or community-building, and the inclusiveness that seem to be ideals aka unspoken tenets of traditional participatory social dance are such a plus -- not just in the microcosm of our own individual hearts and minds, but in the larger scheme of things.  The more the better!

Cheers,
Chrissy Fowler

Belfast ME