The edge is not the limit…   
…it is the start! 

Where did this expression come from, and when?

Was it 20 years ago on an Interrail through Europe? Was it on a t-shirt? Is it attributed to an Australian article on outdoor sports written at the turn of the millenium?  I wonder…  The fact is as I was just making a search on Bing and Google no hits were found. Let’s change that!  It is a great expression since it encourage: courage, curiosity, creativity and a possibility to expand on what is possible.

Of course, we need to do keep on the path to sustainable transport solutions (at least in the context of developing Commute Greener!). At the same time inspiration may come from several angels and levels, here are some:

Sustainability focus as a market maker, to be a leader rather than a follower. A blog post refering and giving examples from IT companies and a World Economic Forum business case. 

Dr. Seuss can inspire to go beyond the assumed…
Hmm…

The worlds first serial produced electromobilty enabled waste truck (talk in swedish but video shows several features) by Renova.

Innovation capability, a scientific way to increase new value and we are contributing to a certain start at Luleå University of Technology.

In short, relate to ‘your edge’ and:  Set your target. See the progress. Share experiences.

Commute Greener!
/m

Circulating for a while on the net I hope that by sharing this small quiz it is possible for most of you start 2012 in a good way

Commute Greener!

Set up a Commute Greener campaign and your employees will get a better health, save money and take care of Mother nature – that must be the best Christmas gift you can get! Or? And all this is in a fun way! Don’t hesitate to contact me for more information at CommuteGreener@volvo.com. Watch this video clip, All.I.Can compares the challenges of big mountain skiing to the challenges of global climate change.

All.I.Can. Official Teaser from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and,

Commute Greener!

/Karin

Today we are celebrating Lucia in Sweden, and Commute Greener is doing that as well, of cource! Lucia is the bride coming with the light, a symbol for that days now are getting longer. 

Here is me as Lucia… and Henrik, our Solution Manager, as ”star boy”, with the traditionally cone hat with stars, a little bit to small but anyway… and saffron buns (hope you can see what they look like…).

Instead of white shirts we wear reflective vests to remind you that you can keep up biking, walking and running during the winter! Use it and you will feel more secure in the traffic….

We are also celebrating Commute Greeners two year old birthday today! During Lucia 2009 we were promoting Commute Greener during the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. And since then we have thousands of thousands users around the world, in Mexico, US, Sweden and a many other countries. Thank you all for doing Commute Greener such a success and your contribution to sustainable development!!

This weekend I was in Hemsedal, Norway, for skiing. One day I was skiing with my friend’s wonderful 9 years old daughter. We found an “adventure land” just outside the slopes, with a lot of jumps and bumps, narrow tracks between trees (ooops!!), big “mountains” from the snow making etc. After the first run she turned to me and said: “Karin, this was really fun”! and we were skiing there again and again and again and again… How can we make the change to a greener commuting so fun that we will do it again, and again, and again?? Do it as an adventure? Go to facebook and share your tip and you will have the possibility to win a Christmas gift from Commute Greener!

A wonderful morning in Hemsedal….

Happy Lucia and Commute Greener!

/Karin

“Behavior drives attitude, not the other way around,” Luten said at BECC. “Even a small success changes how you feel and builds confidence, and that builds momentum.”

BECC, Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference, currently takes place in Washington DC. Marc Golden at PECC made a good post on some of the activities and also regard ‘hypermiling’. I feel this encouraging as it embrace several of the things we do in order to achieve a positive climate change. Our approach stretch beyond eco-driving as we establish new behavioural methods to engage and offer incentive systems when collecting Zero emission miles, Public transportation miles as well as Ride share miles as examples in our open innovation portfolio.

Commute Greener!
/magnus

On global and national level COP17 talks will beging on Monday, see the welcome address.

Meanwhile there are many of you who already went from words to action, currently there are some 60.000 journeys made – every month – which generate positive results. Keep it up and thank you all very much who already Commute Greener!  
/magnus

End of November in Gothenburg, Sweden, is not always perfect for biking. But Magnus blog post the other day, reminds me that it could be very nice biking also during winter!  What happened with my bike commuting?? It started out so good after the vacation, but then more than a month past by…  It is so easy to take the car due to not so good public transportations where I live, the family logistics, etc etc. End of excuses, never too late to go for a bike ride! So yesterday I joined my diligent bike friends for a magic MTB trip in the North Mountain, Ljungkile. Wonderful surroundings with a lot of lakes, ruins from the 1600-century farms, and really nice and sunny weather, wow! But after a 2,5 hours on wet roots and a very very moddy track, it also reminds me that condition is a “fresh commodity” and the ski-season is coming closer…this inspired me to take the bike to work again, thanks Anders, Fredrik and Ulf for a fantastic ride!

And I could also log a Zero CO2 activity to my current week, which will gain me another green heart!  Find out more and learn about the solution here and log in  to Commute Greener and get going you too. Feel free to contact me regarding your efforts and experiences on commutegreener@volvo.com or  facebook  or via this blog below.

Commute Greener!

/Karin

This April me and my family moved to Menlo Park just south of San Francisco from Sweden. Both me and my fiancé are researchers devoted to solutions to climate change so we have a built in resistance to own a car and try to minimize its use. So when we moved here it was obvious to try to do it without getting a car. This turned out to be quite a challenge at least until we got settled down.

The good part is that at least public transportation exists here. The problem is that it does not go very frequently which we learned the hard way.  One day we just missed one bus and decided to wait for the next one. One hour later, and many “When is our bus coming?” from our son, the bus finally arrived. Luckily it was a beautiful sunny day and we were not in a hurry. Another time it took us three hours, we walked 3 km and took 2 buses and had a short stop at a grocery store, to travel a distance that took 15 minutes by car.

Now we are settled and everyday living without a car is actually quite smooth. After getting our apartment we quickly purchased two bikes and a bike-trailer for our kids. Menlo Park and Palo Alto are actually very well suited for biking. Good weather, flat landscape, good bicycle paths and you can bring the bike on the buses, commuter trains and even some subways. The kids like riding in the back even if it took some time for the smallest one to get adjusted to the helmet. And you can transport a lot of things in the trailer combined with a basket I have on my bike.

Another day after having bought a booster for the car, vacuum cleaner, shoe rack, pillow and some other small items at a major shopping center; the cashier gently asked us if we need help getting the things to the car. We said “no thank you, we are just going to take it to a bus and then on our bike”, her chin dropped and she was speechless. After three months however we did succumb to the pressure and bought a car, a used Toyota Prius. We still do our everyday life – commuting to work, taking the kids to pre-school, buying groceries – by bike but we wanted a car to be able to explore the beautiful nature around were we live, that is not accessible in any other ways. So now we enjoy a spontaneous outing to some of the open space reserves on the weekends. The challenge now is not to overuse the car and to stick to the bikes and public transportation when this is feasible. And maybe that is more realistic challenge to pose to families, or what do you think?

Frances Sprei

One of the things I can really enjoy with being in Sweden this time of the year is that it is getting cold. Strange? Well, actually not. If you get the opportunity to breath crisp and clear air it nurtures inner energies to think straight and get into movement.

I love skiing, part of why I work on delivering a positive climate change is to be able to ski and share the great experience of feeling close to zero gravity. This is also why I want to bicycle to work more often, and of course it then becomes more joy to Commute Greener!

Arriving this morning in the heart of Lindholmen Science Park I came to meet some EV enthusiasts, they are converting the city chic Fiat 500 just outside Go:teborg and turn them electric:

Towards the eveing it is also possible to see a magic sky, the large bronze statue ‘Women by the Sea’ is also a remider how the daily commute have shifted for many of us. The mirroring image is somewhat depicting myself inside the office at Volvo IT Innovation Centre:

All the best and to see another clip from nearby surrounding just click, but please rather send us your favourite clip. Most welcome to Commute Greener!
/m

Our vision: Delivering positive climate change

To reach it out engagement models is building track record, and we want to thank all of you who contributes with taking a step in the right direction.