Many Miles to a New Year’s Resolution

(Originally published in the Juneau Empire, January 2010)

Ahhhhh. My little family flew to Alamos, Mexico for the holidays… spending a month with snow bird parents who’ve crafted a lovely winter life there. They’re a rare breed of bird nowadays – the popular American view of Mexico is a country overrun with drug lords and kidnappers. Until affordable medical or dental work is needed, then South of the Border many Americans go. Having worked with elders whose health care needs have surpassed Medicare capabilities, and are destitute without the assistance of family, I know I am muy fortuna to be the child of a Tier One parent. Many excellent years of service to the State of Alaska were rewarded with high quality health care coverage throughout retirement. So, in an ironic twist, my parents migrate backwards – traveling North of the Border to see the doctor.

Muchas gracias a los State of Alaska! It may sound selfish, luxurious, or greedy to others, but truly it’s not: both generations are fully grateful not to have the specter of parental dependence hanging over us, and my parents live pretty simply in Mexico. Because, in another ironic twist, their Tier One retirement income is not enough to afford life in Alaska full-time. Their money stretches much farther in Mexico which allows them to age with dignity, independence, and nice winter weather, leaving my little family free to plan our own future… and a South of the Border vacation every few years.

(Of course, I could now wax liberal about the forward-thinking State of Alaska, successfully keeping a valuable professional serving the public for 20 years instead of a private company… and how, as a member of the Tier Three club myself, I feel significant loyalty to an employer that used to offer a better future than the private-industry-modeled “Cliff” Four retirement plan over which public employees – and their children and grandchildren, don’t forget – are now being thrown. But, whew, I’m reminded that this is not my topic today!)

So off we went to spend a month in a marginally safe country (don’t misinterpret that! Tort-free living makes for crazy traffic, four-foot-high curbs, no guardrails, and tummy bugs galore – not drug lords, for goodness’ sake! The only crazy shooting during our vacation was in Tucson.). Mexicans are determinedly climbing into the current millennium, though, and I have to offer an ole! to lovely Sonora. The Sonoran desert offers less swimming with Dolphins and more cacti than most Alaskans choose, but 75 degrees and blue skies in January are worth the thousands of miles we flew to get there.

Imagine that… with air travel we can get from water-locked Juneau, Alaska to land-locked Alamos, Sonora in about two days. Not long ago, within my parents’ lifetimes even, this would have been impossible for anyone of moderate or lower income. Unfortunately, if Alaska Airlines ever eliminates their mileage programs (God forbid!), it will be again. In my Juneau-centric opinion it wasn’t ships, cars, the printing press, or modern communications that truly made this One World – it was affordable air travel. The ability to spread ideas, knowledge, and cultural understanding (not to mention progressive technology and health care) quickly and widely is something for which I thank the Wright brothers, every aeronautic engineer since, and decades of cheap oil.

I’ve started to think back on all of the cheap oil I’ve used for far lesser purposes than global understanding. The greenhouse gasses I’ve spewed into the atmosphere for no benefit, when weighed against world-wide connection. Innumerable car trips of less than a mile; uncountable goods and groceries (traveling thousands of miles to reach me) that I neither needed nor enjoyed, and could have found locally or made myself; legions of plastic bits thrown away after one use… how many of these would I have traded to keep air travel easy and inexpensive for everyone.

I’m rarely given to guilt, but I can’t deny the connection between my unthinking use of oil and the current state of air travel. How many of us in Juneau, if given the opportunity some decades ago, would have traded all of those quick car trips to Food Land (for Ben & Jerry’s) and the Nugget Mall (for a 10^th pair of shoes) for this: getting to the airport 30 minutes before flight time, staying clothed through security, carrying reading material and a soda on board (not your whole travel wardrobe), having a decent, hot, in-flight meal (included), and stepping off the plane to the glowing face of an awaiting loved one, not into a mall-full of strangers, fast food and Crocs stores that make you feel vaguely lost and lonely. And I’m not even going to comment on the ability of the airlines to offer their services in the world of dwindling oil, or the everyday person’s ability to afford it.

I would even put up with the oddity of the old Alaska Airlines pre-meal prayer card if it meant that the constant sound of flip-flops could have stayed a perk of traveling to Hawaii. Ah, to wear shoelaces again when flying. But it’s too late, I’m afraid. We’ve made our reclining seat and have to sit six inches behind one, too.

But still… I can’t give up. As usual, I need a scheme, a plan, a new paradigm! So, what if we did make this trade – starting to ration oil as we should have done decades ago? In a standard year, I put 3-4,000 miles on my car, for example – even though I live within walking distance of every amenity I need and could easily reduce my driving to 30 miles a week (1500 mi/year). And in an average year I travel out of Juneau at least twice – say an annual average of 4000 miles. That’s 5,500 miles total by car and air each year.

So I think I’ll try this: each person in my family will start the year with a 5,000 mile travel credit. Every mile traveled by car or airplane will use 1 credit. Every mile traveled by foot, bike, scooter, carpool, city or school bus, sailboat, or ferry is “free.” Every mile traveled over 5,000 (and as many under 5,000 as we can afford) must be cancelled out by participation in a carbon offset program.

Oh dear. Did I just come up with my New Year’s Resolution? I’m wincing, because this one will be really hard to live up to. My poor, indulgent husband. And Dios mio! To save 2,500 miles each, maybe we should have remained in Alamos this year! No… I’ll happily make this trade-off, and many more, to keep living in beautiful Juneau, and to keep working towards my Tier Three health care benefits!

Sarah Lewis is a local architect and social worker who now feels foolish for all those years of high school French… especially when the ever kind Mexicans put up with her constant no hablar-ing and lo siento-ing. Muchas Gracias Alamos!