On Not Driving

Being “green” is not so difficult when it is how you live and when it is all you know.

Born and raised in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, I am the eldest of an uneducated and non-English speaking single mother who never learned how to drive, so I grew up without a car.

Although I am college educated, and I speak English, I also do not drive. I have never had a driver's license and at this point, I don't expect I will ever need one. Next year, I turn 50.

Instead, I use mass transit, I walk, take cabs and carpool on occasion, but mostly I ride my bicycle to do most errands and to go to work, carrying groceries, laundry and anything else in a backpack. In spite of a couple of serious accidents in 2006, I am back riding.

My question...If “Cash for Clunkers” is available to environmentally conscious drivers, what type of credit is available to someone like me who is committed to the idea that another car on the road, especially an L.A. road, is of no benefit to the environment (pollution), to fellow drivers (possible danger) or to me (cost)?