I Took Amtrak

Between Michigan and North Carolina: 25 hours down and 36 back. During an 11-hour layover in Greensboro, NC, I recorded the below song.

First, let me explain the context:

• Train travel is more carbon-efficient than plane or automobile travel, which I’ve known for awhile. (Here are online writings – 1, 2 – capturing trains’ superiority for delivering freight.)
• After a year of considering this, I finally got my life to a point where I could spare time to travel by train.

A little about the experience:

• Pros: Nearly everyone was extremely kind and friendly. I felt like I was traveling not among strangers; I made new friends. The scenery was beautiful. The bathrooms were clean. My conscience felt clean in line with my own ethics. I found the rhythm of the rails soothing, which almost everybody says.
• Cons: The train ride back took 36 hours. A few days later, I was still tired from that. The wifi was intermittently available.

During my 11-hour layover in Greensboro, NC – at 4:00 in the morning, in fact – I recorded this song to express the need for increasingly sustainable, high-quality means of transportation, and other aspects of sustainability. Hear, hear! to a Green New Deal!