Dear Diary, today I went to work, the grocery store, the gym, and then home again. It may not be the most interesting of diary entries, but it will be next week. Today we're asking you to join us in The Car Diary Project: making a diary of all of our car trips for one week.

You can't fix something when you don't know what is wrong in the first place! You've got to benchmark - find out where you stand today - before you can take action to improve. That's what we'd like you to start doing today (or first thing tomorrow morning if you desire).

First, grab a sheet of (scrap) paper and create a little table so that you can track the date, time, approximate mileage, purpose of your trip, and an "extra" column. At the top, you'll also want to write down the odometer mileage as your "Start Mileage" for this whole project. Keep the paper and a pen in your car, and go on with your normal life.

The next time you get in your car to go somewhere, start to fill out an entry. When you get to your destination, fill out the rest of the information. Use the "extra" column to write down any comments specific to the trip such as "carpooled with Sarah", "major traffic jam", or "was running late". At the end of the week, check your odometer and write down your "End Mileage".

Of course, this process isn't as much fun if you do it alone! We'll join you! Starting today (or tomorrow!), get that Car Diary rolling, and let's see where it takes us. We hope to use this information to find ways that we can drive more efficiently, and make a lighter impact on this crazy planet of ours.

Rebecca says: I've been wanting to do this for a long time. Being that I work at home and live "downtown", I don't use my car very often. However, on weekends, or when we have visitors (which is often…the blessing and curse of living in Miami!) I feel like I have a lot of "special" trips. Those add up! Please join me in the Car Diary Project!