Every gallon of gas burned emits 20 pounds of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - a greenhouse gas - into the atmosphere. Sonya Newenhouse, president of Madison Environmental Group, was troubled by this fact and wanted to learn more about the effect cars have on our environment. She discovered carsharing from a friend in Portland, Oregon and within 20 minutes decided to test the idea on the Madison market.  She hired Rebecca Grossberg to conduct the Community Car feasibility study. Six months later, and halfway through the book Divorce Your Car, Sonya launched a 6-week trial separation, then divorced her car in Spring 2001. The decision was easy after calculating that renting a car for her weekend errands was cheaper than owning her paid off Honda Accord.

With the feasibility study complete and community members knocking at her door to join and invest, she was ready to launch.

Enter Amanda White. Upon arriving in Madison in the not-so-ideal winter season of 2003, Amanda sought to put her media and marketing talents to work for an environmental organization, but which one? There are so many in Madison to choose from! Amanda called up Madison Environmental Group and that's when Sonya told her about Community Car. It was the perfect fit. A few months later, Amanda was volunteering and upon Community's Car Launch in October, she was officially hired. 

As Amanda learns more about her neighborhood on Madison's near east side, she is impressed with the bus and bike system and spirit of community. As members of Community Car, she and her husband have since "divorced" their 2nd car and use Community Car for their rare second car needs. Amanda is committed to improving our urban quality of life by supporting bussing, biking, walking and carpooling while providing affordable, fuel-efficient cars to our community.