1. Environmental/Protecting Life Definitions

Barley Jar Definition of “Not having/owning a Car”

The following is the functional definition of not owning, possessing or having a car as defined by the Barley Jar. It may be needed or used if one regularly uses a particular car or group of cars but one wishes to demonstrate that one does not own or possess this car for the purposes of meeting the Barley Jar intention of not owning, having or possessing a car.

The spirit of the definition of not owning a car is that one does not have or possess a car. Owning a car is not necessarily defined by one’s legal ownership of a car.

Not owning, or having a car:

Definition: One does not possess a car for their own use as further defined below.

In the definition, car, may also refer to “car or group of cars” and will be referred to in the definition as simply ‘car’:

One does not possess a car for their own use if all of the following A criteria are demonstrably met:

A Criteria - All of the following criteria must be met:

1. Not being a sole possessor: One must not be the sole possessor of a car or group of cars or a regular user of a car belonging to a car service, as defined here. One’s use of the shared car is less than 1/3 of the overall use of that car (defined as overall trips x overall distance).
2. Not using that car much: Not using that car for more than 1/10th of both one’s own overall distance traveled and not using that car more than a 1/10th of all of one’s trips of more than 500m in any one month.
3. Not stored nearby: The car is stored more than 5km from one’s residence and the car is stored closer to the other person who shares in the use of the car more than a ¼ of the time (as defined by overall trips x overall distance).
4. Demonstrable: Requirements for demonstrability will be determined by Barley Jar leadership. Examples of what would be considered acceptable data for this determination could include the use data from google maps or a similar distance traveled logging app. Alternatively monthly odometer readings along with a monthly log with trips noted may also be accepted.

B Criteria - Any of the following criteria do not constitute having or possessing a car:

1. Driving as required in one’s work duties: Provided that all of the A criteria are met, driving a car not in one’s possession as part of one’s work duties (as written in one’s job description), when required by one’s work, even if not an essential service, is not considered having a car. Commuting to and from work is not considered part of work duties even if it is listed as such and such commutes would contribute to one’s having a car as per the A criteria.
2. Getting in cars: Getting into a car that is not in your possession (as defined by A criteria) when driven by someone else for any amount of time and any frequency does not contribute to one’s having a car as per A criteria.
3. Owning but not possessing a car: If all of the A criteria are met, and one legally owns the car that would not constitute having a car. For example if one is a parent who legally owns a car and the car is possessed by a child of that parent.

Special Exceptions and Considerations:

1. Driver for another person: Driving another person because that other person is unable to drive a car due to a medically diagnosed disability, if that person relies on being driven by others in order to move around, is given special consideration. In that case, the car is considered shared with that other person and the portion of time or distance that the other person is driven around is considered that other person’s use of the car. In those instances, the other person must be in the car for that trip to be counted as that person’s use. The person being driven would be considered a person sharing possession of the car for the purposes of the A criteria and for the purposes of where the car would need to be stored.
2. Driver for essential services in which use of the car is essential: In the special case where driving a car is required in one’s work where one’s work encompasses an essential service or function as defined by the Government of Canada (These include, but are not limited to, the functions performed by first responders, health care workers, critical infrastructure workers (e.g., hydro and natural gas), and workers who are essential to supply critical goods such as food and medicines.) In order to be considered essential for that work, the driving must be a part of one’s provision of service and one’s duties in that work. For instance driving a postal truck or an ambulance is considered essential to certain employees in ambulance or postal service work, however being an office employee with such services is not essential to the duties of that office job unless it is listed in one’s duties or responsibilities of that job. If in one’s job description, any use of a car for such essential work is considered use by another person for the purposes of meeting the A criteria in this definition.
3. One’s own physical disability: Possession of a car for the purposes of locomotion is considered essential as determined by an occupational therapist and if one does not live in a community where public transport exists for persons with such requirements (for example TTC Wheeltrans in Toronto). If there is such special public transit, then item 3 of the A criteria would not be required in order to meet the A criteria requirements in this definition.
4. Emergency: Having or regularly accessing a car during an emergency involving oneself or someone close such as a close friend or family, does not contribute to one’s having a car. An event is considered an emergency if there is a threat to one’s life, limb or significant item of property and if such an event would be reported to the police by a reasonable person, or such an event would require the use of an ambulance to go to the hospital or admission to an intensive care unit (ICU). The time around such an event (for example a week) would be included as part of the duration of the emergency. Chronic hospitalization other than ICU level of care, or threat to property (for example longer than a week) or a chronic community wide state state of emergency such as a pandemic (for example greater than a month) or changes in measures during such an emergency does not constitute an additional emergency for the purposes of this definition.

Contributions:

• Initial Draft Tomislav Svoboda May 21 2021
• small changes and improvements Tomislav Svoboda May 24 2021