I like to listen to podcasts when I run. Many old favorites are entertaining and educational – This American Life, TED Radio Hour, Revisionist History, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
Recently I’ve added some that make me think more about our lives, our choices, our impact on the world – Hidden Brain, the RV Entrepreneur, and perhaps most significantly, Mothers of Invention. Mary Robinson and Maeve Higgins talk with women who are making real changes all over the world. The focus is on combating climate chaos while taking into account human rights.
Slowly, ideas move through my brain, jogging around while I’m running.
- Inspired by all the electric cars in the Bay Area. Tired of driving a diesel truck.
- Inspired by Heath and Alyssa Padgett and all the RV Entrepreneurs on their podcast. Thinking about projects we can do on the road.
- Inspired by John’s push to buy a used Nissan Leaf to drive for work while we were in California. Loving the car and almost co-opting it for myself.
John and I generally create a small footprint, especially when living in our travel trailer, but not when we tow it down the road. Can we fix part of this?
Can we switch our energy sources, as much as possible, to all electric?
Our passions distill down to:
- We love sustainable energy. John installs solar – we should be solar-powered.
- We love to travel – we can do it better.
- We love adventure. Let’s try something new!
It’s maybe not the perfect time, the most economical path, or the ideal situation, but it’s important to us to start living less hypocritically. So we’re doing it anyway and we’re starting now.
And maybe along the way we’ll inspire others or at least demonstrate what is possible or maybe even help with future development and innovation.
Apparently without even trying, we have encouraged others to work toward gaining more freedom in their lives. Maybe if we intentionally document our process and the details of this project, and put some amount of effort into publicizing it (not normally our style), maybe we can build a larger community around the concept of greener living. Tackling this while on-the-go will be challenging. Publicly documenting it will hold us to higher standards and maybe faster (and better) progress.
It comes down to this: I want to save the pika and the puffins and the turtles and the whales. I want to breathe clean air and drink clean water. I want to change the systems leading us in the wrong direction. I want to make it easier for everyone to help.
I want to keep running in beautiful places.
I want to have hope, and I want to do something.
