Gearing up for green

What’s behind next Friday’s Green Commute Day?

Green Your Commute Day is a day to promote and celebrate more sustainable modes of transportation. This year, it is taking place on Friday, May 18th. On this day, everyone is encouraged to use a more sustainable mode of transportation to get to work, these include walking, biking, taking public transit, car pooling, driving an electric vehicle or anything else that isn’t driving alone in a gasoline-powered vehicle.

Transportation represents the largest source of New York state’s greenhouse gas emissions and is also the largest part of most New Yorkers’ personal carbon footprint as well.

This is why it is critically important that we lower our emissions from transportation so that we can meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals (a 40 percent reduction by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050). Plus, you may discover that a more sustainable commute is both relaxing and enjoyable.

By using a more sustainable mode of transportation on Green Your Commute Day, you’ll be joining thousands of fellow New Yorkers in not only directly improving our environment (last year’s state employee participants saved 19.5 tons of CO2 emissions in just one day, but you may also discover that sustainable transportation is a great option for your commute.

How do you participate?

Simply walk, bike, take public transit, car pool, drive an electric vehicle or use another form of sustainable transportation (not driving alone in a gasoline-powered vehicle) to work. While on your commute, and in a safe manner, take a selfie and post it to social media using #GYCD18 to let everyone know about your awesome green commute.

There are many resources available to help you find a more sustainable way to commute. Here are just a few: Google Maps. Go to Google Maps and click on “get directions.” You can enter your start and end points and the mode of transportation you want to use and it will tell you the easiest way to get to work via walking/biking/public transportation. 511 NY Transit Trip Planner. You can use the Transit Trip Planner at 511ny.org to plan your trip using public transit.

511Nyrideshare. Find others who are going in the same direction as you to carpool with by using 511Nyrideshare.

Bike NY. Find bike routes with DOT’S Bike NY interactive map.

Bike Share Systems. Use a community share system, such as CDPHP’S CDPHPCYCLE

Use CDTA and view their routes/schedules. NYS will be also holding a green commuting fair on May 14th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Empire State Plaza (next to the NYS Capitol on the State Street end) to both provide resources to State/legislative employees and the public to switch to a more sustainable commute and encourage participation in this year’s Green Your Commute Day.

The fair will feature a press event around green commuting, an EV ride and drive for employees and the public, and informational booths from local partners such as transit agencies, bicycling groups, etc.

For more information on the event, contact Brendan Woodruff at (518) 402-9159 or brendan.woodruff@dec.ny.gov.