Environmentalism. For most of us, it means recycling beverage cans and computer paper instead of throwing them in the trash.

For Jim Gregory and Joan Stein of Ames, environmentalism is the principle that guides every moment of their lives. Virtually everything they do is based on the question: “How does this impact the environment?”

The couple, who are co-owners of Fresh Aire Delivery and Fresh Aire Trailer Works, have built their businesses on the concept of providing necessary products and services in as environmentally responsible a manner as possible.

Their bicycle-based delivery service operates throughout the city of Ames and the ISU campus without the use of motor vehicles, thus saving thousands of gallons of gasoline and preventing pollution.

The bike trailers manufactured by Fresh Aire Trailer Works are sold throughout North America, and likewise contribute to reduced pollution levels in the areas where they are used.

Gregory said he became interested in environmentalism while completing graduate studies at ISU. Environmental concerns were the main reason why he started the bicycle delivery business, he said.

“I wanted to provide a pollution-free grocery and parcel delivery service to the people in Ames,” he said.

Stein, a University of Northern Iowa graduate, joined him in the late 1980s. The business has grown and diversified since then.

“We still don’t know exactly where it will go from here,” Stein said. “It seems to have a life of its own.”

Gregory and Stein’s determination to live in the simplest and least complicated way possible is evident in every aspect of their operation. Their neat little house at 216 Hazel Ave. also serves as the business office for both Fresh Aire Delivery and Fresh Aire Trailer Works.

The trailer production facility is located in the basement, where each unit — many of them custom-designed to suit a particular customer’s needs — is hand-built using only a few power tools. The completed products are shipped to customers all over the United States and Canada. Most of Fresh Aire’s marketing is done via the Internet.

One thing that is nowhere to be seen at Gregory and Stein’s place is a car. Neither of them owns one.

“We don’t need it,” Stein said. “We have found that we can get anywhere we need to go by bike or by using public transportation. And if we need to take a trip out of town, we rent a car for the time we need it.”

Gregory laughed when he recalled what it was like to take Stein on dates when they were first getting to know each other.

“My family kept saying ‘How are you going to date her if you don’t have a car?'” Stein said. “But we found that we got along quite nicely by taking walks or bike rides together.

“A lot of the time, cars get to be like clothing for people,” Gregory said. “When you don’t have a car, you take away that facade. You can get to know the person.”

Stein, too, said she enjoyed the experience of carless dating.

“It became sort of a proving ground, a way of asking ourselves, ‘Can this relationship work?’ We found that it was a lot easier to just relax and enjoy each other’s company,” she said.

Cars are not the only thing Gregory and Stein have found they can live happily without. Their home contains no TV, no microwave, and — even on a sweltering summer day — is comfortable without air conditioning.

The concept of voluntary simplicity, currently a popular trend getting plenty of media attention, has been their normal way of life for years. Gregory insists that it is nothing new.

“[That lifestyle] has been around since Thoreau’s day,” he said.

Environmentalism even extends to Gregory and Stein’s eating habits. Both are vegetarians.

Asked how they can maintain the energy levels needed to ride bikes and pull heavy loads all day without eating meat or dairy products, Gregory said with a grin, “Elephants eat the way we do.”

“All the strong animals — elephants, horses, oxen — eat a plant-based diet,” Gregory explained. “It works for them, and it works for us.”

The long hours of cycling helped Gregory and Stein to adopt their vegetarian lifestyle.

“We see an awful lot of roadkills, and after a while you begin to realize that, however an animal is slaughtered, that’s what’s being done to it,” Gregory said. “What is called ‘animal by-products’ make up a high proportion of the world’s pollution.”

But despite their convictions, Gregory and Stein do not attempt to convert others to their way of life.

“This is right for us,” Stein said, acknowledging that it is not for everybody.

The couple’s enthusiasm for their business and for the benefits it provides to the community is evident each time they ride onto the ISU campus. Despite the pressure of staying on time and completing all the tasks on the schedule, both are always smiling.

“It’s still fun to ride bikes,” Stein said.