Most Americans, even the most eco-aware, often see themselves as pre-wired to drive their cars everywhere.

We often make excuses to jump in our cars instead of pursuing alternative transportation. Granted, sometimes, circumstance does make it necessary to drive, such as unsafe neighborhoods or emergencies. But, take it from a proud non-car owner -- when you live in a city like Chicago, there are so many more great alternatives to drive away those excuses. What’s your excuse?

"I need to get somewhere quickly."

How quickly? And how far are you going? For many of us, quickly means 5-15 minutes. If your destination is less than 2 miles away, you can get there sans a car in 15 minutes. If it is a straight shot, from personal experience, you can make it using CTA (CTA bus tracker is critical to minimize your wait). If it is at a diagonal from where you are, grab a bike. A good medium fast pace would be 10 mph, so including stoplights, you should be able to arrive at your destination in 12 minutes.

"My destination is hard to get to via public transportation."

Yes, some places are inconvenient. But if you allow extra time, you can make an adventure out of it! My company had its 2008 holiday party in Oak Lawn. I am proud to say I made it from my North Side Boystown home on the Red Line to a Pace bus to 9500 S. Cicero in only an hour and a half. And I got to see a lot of Chicago I never would have otherwise seen.

"The CTA isn’t more eco-friendly than my car."

CTA on a macro scale is more eco-friendly for all of Chicago. CTA claims to replace more than 400,000 vehicles per weekday. It also claims that one person’s switch from driving to public transportation reduces his/her carbon emissions by 4,800 pounds per year. That means replacing 400,000 vehicles with CTA annually reduces Chicago’s carbon emission by 1.92 billion pounds, according to the CTA.

"It would cost me the same amount to drive as to take the CTA or a bike."

 According to the American Automobile Association, the average cost of operating a small sedan and driving 10,000 miles is $10,017 per year.  If you purchase the Chicago Fare Plus card for $86 a month, you will spend $1,032 per year. If you decide to compliment that with a bike, the average purchase price for a bike is $300  and maintenance costs are about $300 a year. Your total alternative transportation price would be $1,632. You can save $8,385 per year. If you put that in a interest-bearing bank product, your savings can make more money for you.

"It is cold and/or rainy outside."

Yes, you should take care when confronting dangerous temperatures, but if appropriately garbed and equipped, walking outside gives you an enhanced appreciation of our environment and can stoke your desire to take action to solve climate change.

"I can’t carry my purchases."

Don’t be afraid to take a hint from our senior citizens – there is no shame in purchasing a grocery cart or grabbing anything that rolls and can hold items. Trust me – I moved via airplane from San Francisco and dragged all of my boxes the 4 blocks to the UPS using only a grocery cart. It can be done!

As Edward Abbey said, “the longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key.” Let’s leave our cars at home and start taking alternative transportation steps to change the world.