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Sustainable Living with Kaitie Chassé Taking green business ideas to everyday life Sustainable Living with Kaitie Chassé Taking green business ideas to everyday life 14 ConneCTiCuT Green Guide • Fall 2014 www.CTGreenGuide.com Self-propelled Connecticut Commuters A lthough nestled conveniently between the cities of New York and Boston, Connecti- cut still greatly lacks a strong transit system. Trains including Metro-North and Shoreline East service Connecti- cut's coastline, scooting commuters in and out of NYC while the only major system that ventures north is Amtrak, which shoots straight up through New Haven and on towards Boston. These highly localized systems leave the greater east and west ends of the state untrekked. For the many unlucky resi- dents not near enough a major city to take advantage of public transit, the only means of transportation is by personal vehicle. Or is it? For two Connecticut com- muters, a bike and a canoe are more than enough to get them to work. Wethersfield resident Jeff Altrui was paddling his 16-foot, 70-pound canoe on the Connecticut River one day last summer when he decided to paddle a bit further upstream than normal. It wasn't long until he spotted Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, Altrui's place of employment. "It was then I thought, 'Hey, I can paddle to work,' so I did!" Altrui said. Now, as long as weather permits, Al- trui trailers his full size canoe a quar- ter mile from his home down to the cove, launches into the Connecticut River, and paddles 45 minutes up- stream. Once he arrives, he locks his canoe up with a bike lock, hops over a stone wall near the river in East Hartford, and walks the half mile to Pratt & Whitney. "I used to get some strange looks walking into the facility carrying my paddle," said Altrui. "But most everyone is used to it by now." Long distance biker, Bill Ken- ney, rode his bicycle 40 miles from his home in Essex to the Hartford Business Journal office in down- town Hartford for four years while he was their director of events. "I wanted to exercise more and I had to commute to work anyway so I decided, why not kill two birds with one stone?" said Kenney, who is now the founder of startup Test My Pitch. "The hardest part is leaving the house. I would have to leave by 4 a.m. in order to get to Hartford, shower, and ready to work by 7:30 a.m." Kenney, who was no stranger to long distance riding before he started commuting to Hartford, said the best part about biking is the scenery. "You get to experience sights and sounds you would normally miss if you were in a car," he said. "One morning, at about 4:30 a.m., a deer ran out in the road ahead of me, then Green Tip: Cut the distance you bike, run, or boat in half by meeting the train or bus in the next town over. Check out Connecticut's public transit routes by visiting CTTransit.com. Buses are equipped to carry commuter gear such road bikes and paddles. Bill Kenney used to bike 40 miles from Essex to his job in Hartford. phoTo | CoNTRiBUTED