Transportation

When I go walking, an obvious thing to notice is smaller objects, such as the leaves on the ground, the bird poop, the rain drops on the grass blades. I also found that I had more interest in my surroundings, when i saw two squirrels playing, I could easily stop and watch them for a bit.
On a bike, I feel connected with nature on a different level, because the elements seem intensified. If it is windy, the wind seems more strong, if it is raining, it is raining harder while on my bike. I see things in an anticipated world, when I get to this tree, who will I dodge or hit or turn to miss, and is that squirrel going to turn and run or stay in the middle of the road.
In the car, I was not looking at nature so much, but I was distracted by the TV on the ceiling of the minivan in front of  us. I saw the lights change and the driveways to the parking lot entrance where I saw empty parking spots.
On the bus, I saw landscape, fast, but moving horizontally past, and lots of interesting people. The noise of the bus drowns out the outside and gives me the feel of a silent film, where I have to fill in the lines.

Cultural norms have a much stronger impact than we notice during the day. But the norms are decided by design, and convenience, they are not mutually exclusive. In Daivs, it is convenient to bike, the city and especially campus have lots of paths and parking, and driving is expensive and doesn't really get you close to class. In San Diego where I grew up, it was hilly and designed around the car. My high school was around 12 miles away, and the one time I tried biking to school I had to wake up 2 hours earlier than usual and didn't get home that night till dusk. I didn't do it again.
If we design the landscape correctly, we can practically choose the norms that people will carry out. True, I might need a plane to get home for the holidays and a bus to get to the airport, but I'm not doing them often, so the norm is what is most  convenient, and that is biking or walking.