Transportation & Energy...

Growing up in the low country of South Carolina, I dreamed of living in Atlanta. Yes, minutes away from a smorgasbord of my favorite pro sports teams. Mostly I just yearned to live in a place that was bustling with activity with as many people as the cotton plants I worked with each summer. Then I moved there after graduating from college ...

Cue the sound effect: a record screeching to a halt.

Horns honking. Dense smog. Mass of humanity. Allergens that envelope you. And with the exception of the Braves, the rest of my childhood teams have all but gone the way of the woolly mammoth. I probably should've realized the big city wasn't the utopia I thought it was when my first day on the job in Atlanta my boss said, "Get yourself good insurance and a good allergist—because you will get in a wreck and you will have allergies." She was right on both accounts.

What I've learned is that there is no utopia. However, for someone seeking to go green without the luxury of lots of green, downsizing to another community is the way to go. When it comes to being ecologically conscious, my wife and I found our almost-utopia in Boise, Idaho.

My current green lifestyle consists of reducing my carbon emissions by pedaling my bike to work along the city's glorious Green Belt, buying cart loads of locally grown produce and searching for an energy efficient home. And hours of pondering about what steps to take next. I'm on a journey of discovering what it means to live green and how best to do my part to a planet that desperately needs more of us. I hope others will find my trip encouraging and inspiring—that living green can be done and done now.