First off, let me preface this by saying that I hate driving. When I have to drive anywhere more than fifteen minutes, I am immediately put in a “less good” mood. I’ve almost always been this way, and as such, I’ve always put off finalizing my license in the tiered system that Ontario uses (though that probably has as much to do with my test anxiety as my hatred of driving).

I currently own a ten year old car that isn’t fun to drive, and doesn’t have many features. It gets me from point-A to point-B without much fuss, and so far it hasn’t cost me too much to fuel or maintain.

I like to think of myself as a green conscious individual, meaning that I think constantly about the environment, and minimalist living. So when I saw the new Nissan Leaf, I was pretty impressed. It seems like it could be the start of a reasonably affordable, pure battery powered vehicle. I don’t know if it does enough to make driving fun, safe and interesting, nor do I completely understand the complexities of how these battery only vehicles will be powered, but I think that battery powered vehicles are a smarter direction than getting us all hooked on other fuel sources. At least as long as we continue to push our governments for better alternative energy generation solutions like solar, wind, tidal, and more.

In the end, my personal hope is to get back to basics, and find a way to live in a place where I can get rid of my car, and take public transportation once again. Thus allowing me to contribute in some small way to making the world better, and allowing me to relax and let someone else worry about getting me from A to B.