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| Honoree Cress stands with her bike, which she
uses every day on her route for Plant Parenting, a Chicago indoor
horticultural consulting company. |
Horticulturist Transforms Work Trips to
Bike
By David Callahan
When Honoree Cress asked her boss to let her use her bicycle on
her route, he was skeptical. All service specialists at Plant
Parenting, a Chicago indoor horticultural consulting company,
made their rounds by vehicle.
“I didn’t have a car anymore,” explains Cress,
a ceramics artist who has a master’s degree from the Art Institute
of Chicago. “He wants people who can deliver plants.”
The boss relented. “Begrudgingly,” says Cress. But his
skepticism was short-lived. “Then he created a North Loop
route on bike.”
She rides her bikes on three separate routes per week, taking care
of indoor plants along the Gold Coast, the near West Side and the
Loop.
Besides reducing her emissions to zero, Cress says the switch from
driving to bicycling transformed her job. “I get to see things
and talk to people. I think the job would be a little too boring
if I had to continue driving.
“Also, getting a car into a loading dock is a real pain.”
The environmental benefit isn’t lost on customers either,
she said. “Clients see that I’m wearing a helmet and
they feel good about taking a car off the road,” Cress said.
“They are aware of the global climate crisis.”
Cress bicycles year-round about 20 miles per day, that is, 10 miles
of work-related riding and 10 miles of commuting and dropping her
son off at school.
By adding 10 miles to her bicycling routine, she saw one other benefit:
“My health. When I started doing my route by bike I lost 25
pounds in one year.”
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