Dude, where's your car? (At home, we hope.)

Encouragement to drive less is everywhere in the next week. Here's where to find inspiration, plus a few ideas for alternate means of transportation.

Friday is National PARK(ing) Day, and volunteers in cities around the country will be transforming parking spaces into green spaces to promote the importance of public parks. To see how much prettier the world would be if we needed fewer places to park, stop by the metered parking spaces near the Government Center T station on Cambridge Street from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. www.parkingday.org

Ride your bike on Storrow Drive with no fear on Sunday as part of Boston's fourth annual Hub on Wheels, a citywide bike ride leaving City Hall Plaza at 8 a.m. Choose from three routes, including an easy 10-miler that for this day only is 100 percent free of cars. www.hubonwheels.org

There's no better time to leave your car behind than World Carfree Day, which takes place Monday. This annual event has been encouraging self-propelled and public transportation since 2000. So why not join people around the globe in giving up driving for the day and imagining what cities and towns could be like with less traffic. www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd

All right, ready to jump on the drive-less bandwagon? (And no, that doesn't count as mass transit.) You don't need a special event to do it. For your daily commute or errands, consider walking all or even part of the way, riding your bike, jogging and showering at a gym near your office, carpooling, taking the commuter rail, taking the T, taking the bus, taking a commuter ferry, or taking advantage of the MBTA's bike friendliness and using a combo of bike and bus, train, or boat. For information about bikes on the T, visit www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/bikes.

Have a creative no-car commuting idea? E-mail it to globegreenside@yahoo.com.

Christie Matheson is the author of "Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style."