Day 3

I have told my parents that I can no longer drive. My dad just laughed at the entire idea while my mom was somewhat motivated and claimed that she would do the same. Though, she did not. I continue to not use gasoline. I have gone 3 days without driving and I'm surprisingly not bothered by it at all. I still have not mowed the lawn. My dad has been nagging me to do so for a while but I keep putting it off. I need to make sure I don't put it off so much that he does it himself with the gasoline-powered mower.

One thing that annoyed me yesterday was that I could have driven to the UPS warehouse to pick up a package I am exprecting as opposed to waiting an extra day to receive it by delivery. It was a major test tosee if I could resist temptation, and I passed.

Day 1

Today was easy. I really thought it would have been much harder than what it was. I woke up at 7:45 AM this morning and was actually energized throughout the whole day. The bus ride was easy, on account that I didn't have to do ANY driving!

I haven't told my parents that I can't drive anywhere yet, I'm wondering how that will go. I guess I'll save it for until they ask me. Hopefully it won't be at a hectic time by which theywill force me to do something that would break the law of my statement of intent.

I have to mow the lawn in a few days. I have no thoughts on how that will go, nor do I look forward to it. I never really liked mowing the lawn in the first place. I certainly won't like it with an electric lawn mower.

Statement of intent

During my 3-week long summative, I will be giving up the usage of gasoline. I myself use up a fair amount of gasoline per week. I usually go through about 3 quarters of a tank of gas in my car, while I mow my front and back lawn weekly with a gas-powered mower. I drive to school every day which takes about 15 minutes each way. If i were to take the bus, I would be forced to transfer onto 3 buses each way. This is a major sacrifice in my opinion. I would also have to wake up every morning a half hour earlier! Considering how late I go to sleep every night, 30 more minutes of sleep in the morning really makes a difference. I also run many errands for my parents. Whether it be going to buy some groceries, or drive my sibling around to sporting events or whatnot, it adds up to a lot of fuel being burned weekly. I realize that when I tell my parents that I will not be driving at all for three weeks, it might have a negative effect on the entire cycle of chores in my house.

When it comes to mowing the lawn, I have pre-arranged with my next-door neighbour to use his electric mower. I have use an electric mower before, and I did not like the fact that a wire follows you around. It is inconvenient while going in circles to cut the grass. I need to make sure that I will not run over the wire, for it will instantly cut off the power, enabling me to continue to cut the lawn.

One positive thing about this experience is that it will save my parents some money on gas, while at the same time they cannot rely on me to pick them up anymore. I have a bicycle I may use to go places. I may even take it to school or to work rather than taking the bus. I look forward to starting this. A lot of my friends have told me they do not believe I will be strong enough to make it through three whole weeks. I beg to differ, I went to school every day by bus for 10 and half years, three more weeks can’t possibly be that hard.

I feel that I am not making much of a difference by not using gasoline but many beg to differ. By me not using gas, it means I will not purchase gas, lowering the amount of gasoline usage in my local neighbourhood, which ultimately lowers the amount of gasoline that is brought into Ottawa. This will lower the price of gas. Lower demand = lower price.