The creation of a blog (and the birth of an experiment)

So, here we end up and it is just the start. It is the beginning, and hopefully will pan out to be something great. An experiment of social and environmental sorts.
So, for the past year or so, on and off, J. and I have joked about getting rid of our car. We were always kind of half-joking, but half serious, too. Let me back up.
About 5 years ago we decided, soon after the birth of our first child, that we could be a one-car family here in San Diego. Everyone thought we were crazy. Here we were, a young family of three, both of us working and J. working all the way out in Julian of all places. Maybe we were a little crazy, but the funny thing is that it's worked out fine. Maybe the first year we were struck by the small inconveniences, the way we had to simplify things and walk more, ride more, etc. Sometimes we would both plan something only to come together and realize that one of us had to cancel our plans, or better yet had to figure out a way to (gasp) get there without a car. The reality of it is, however, that here we are five years later and it's really been pretty easy. We never feel inconvenienced by it anymore. If anything, it really has simplified things and forced us to drive less and even savor the time that we spend walking and riding around the city. So here we come to this point - this desire to rid ourselves of our one and only car.
Again we are confronted by the slew of friends and family who think we're crazy. "What about if it's an emergency?" Well, then I suppose we can call an ambulance. "What about if you want to drive up to visit your parents?" Well, then I think we will probably rent a car for the weekend. Or take the Greyhound.
Anyhow, you see my point. Through all of this discussion, though, we met another family who may be almost as nuts as us. They had been thinking about transitioning down to one car but were a little apprehensive - thus the birth of our experiment! A car-share is born. They live about a mile from us. My idea is that we will actually each own half of one car and in doing so will greatly reduce the amount of driving that each of our families partake in. We will be the proud owners of .5 cars and they will own 1.5. Ideally we wouldn't use the shared car for much - it would be more of a back-up. There are a lot of details to hash out, but I am hopeful that it will work! If not, I will keep you updated - and so will she, since she is a co-contributor to this blog! Regardless of the car-share, both of our families are looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprints here in San Diego. We cooperatively built a chicken coop and are raising our own backyard beauties to provide us with fresh eggs. We are gardening our small yard in the middle of the city and constantly amazed at the amount of food we produce ourselves. They rent their home, so we are encouraging them to build a garden plot in our yard and use the space that we aren't. Both of our families try to buy locally and get produce from different CSA's here in town. This will be the year that we try to lower our carbon print, to cut out the excess and tread lighter on the earth. It will be an experiment of the social sort, to see if friends can cooperatively make this work. I am looking forward to it and hope that we will learn a lot in this next year. Will keep you posted.