Our intrepid couple on an eco-mission take a cross-country trip to Minneapolis (where they'll be settling for the year) in the wake of a major bridge collapse there, and reflect on what their summer journey has taught them.

Driving halfway across the country in a moving truck that gets six miles per gallon and tops out at 55 miles an hour leaves one with plenty of time to wonder: Is there a better/greener/easier way to move? Is there a way we could have both simplified and "greened" our relocation from Massachusetts to Minnesota?

If so, we'd like to hear about it. Every idea we came up with was dismissed as generally untenable-from selling all our stuff (which doesn't work so well if you're a sentimental softy like Maryhope) to shipping via the rails (which didn't wash with Ethan, because he's a cheapskate). What we were trying to avoid: inefficient fuel consumption and the inevitable waste (tape, boxes, packing peanuts) associated with moving. What were we unable to avoid? See above.

For the sake of speed and time, we drove I-90 almost exclusively. And what did we see? And endless parade of 18-wheelers-refrigerated trucks, gas tankers, Wal-Mart super-transports, Hormel trucks, Optimus Prime, and so many single-occupancy vehicles that there were traffic jams on five-lane highways, for no reason, in the middle of nowhere. Some of the peo -ahem, most of the people-we saw on the road looked as if they could use a friend. Why not carpool?

As we neared Chicago, the traffic increased exponentially, the quality of the air changed from humid to unbreathable, and the city appeared shrouded in smog. And us! We were a part of it! We were getting six miles per gallon and emitting so much exhaust it looked as though our rented Penske was pooping. After our third day of filling up with $165 worth of gas (that buys you two tanks), we couldn't help feeling that we'd spent all the ecological currency we'd earned over the previous months.

Which raises the question: Is it clear thinking to keep a ledger of "eco-rights" and "eco-wrongs" in your head, or is that just a form of self-justification, the poor-man's way of buying carbon offsets? If we're keeping a ledger, we're incredibly proud of cooking with ingredients grown in our backyard; of how little we drove and flew over the summer; of the gallons of water saved by not flushing and taking short showers; of the energy saved simply by unplugging devices and replacing lightbulbs and hanging clothes to dry; and of answering "neither" to the question of paper or plastic.

We're not embarrassed to share what we've learned with other people about living in a way that has less of an environmental impact, and we're mortified and sufficiently penitent for those few times we drove three-quarters of a mile to buy milk. But then we moved. And we're going to be flying a lot in the fall. Do these things cancel each other out? Is it enough to say that we do what we can-but also that when push comes to shove, we can slip a little because in some abstract way we've "earned" it?

Maybe we shouldn't measure our progress in terms of doing everything "right." It seems unlikely that will ever happen. But thanks to this little project, this attempt to live a bit more greenly than before, we are living more thoughtfully, and are aware of what we're doing "wrong.

Related Resources

Related Articles Newly Minted, Episode 3: Where's the Beef? An Eco-Skeptic Gets a Green Cleaning Going Green: Winterize Your Home for a Better Environment See All Related Articles

Related Eco Categories Transportation & Travel Science & Technology How to Guides Top 10s

Topics Home Business Gadgets & Products People Alternative Energy

Tip of the Day Dry Full Loads Shade Your Air Conditioning Unit See All Tips

Glossary Fossil fuel Energy Star Ingeo Double-glazed window Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) Full Glossary

Site Resources Directory Answers Quizzes