If you work or volunteer for RVUUF in any capacity, I want to encourage you to participate as a representative of RVUUF in the upcoming “Rogue Commute Challenge.” Consider also forming teams in your secular workplaces.

This workplace competition encourages walking, biking, carpooling and riding transit (I recommend exploring these commute options all year long and not only during the challenge).

When observing the Seventh Principle of taking care of our Earth, I believe that reducing automobile dependence is a necessary component to reducing our carbon footprint.

Consider that every auto trip a person takes produces 0.98 pounds of CO2s per mile. For every mile not driven, 0.98 fewer pounds of CO2s are released into our environment. (Those figures are according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.)

From May 9 to 15, teams will log their their walking, biking, carpooling, teleworking and transit trips into the DriveLessConnect database. At the end of the week, trip miles and team participation will be totaled and a winning workplace will be declared winner of the 2016 challenge.

Your first step, if you choose to represent RVUUF in the “Rogue Commute Challenge,” is to create a free profile at DriveLessConnect.com. Under the “Profile” drop-down menu, select “My Networks.”

Near the top of the screen, left-hand side, look for the green plus-sign next to a link to “Join Network.” Click on “Join Network,” then type in a few letters to look for “Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.” When you have located RVUUF, click “Select” to the left of its name.

Cynthia M. Parkhill
Web editor for RVUUF
Administrative Coordinator, Religious Explorations
(Commuter by bike and public transit)