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Today's picture: We're just a month away from Earth Day, April 22. This will be the 40th anniversary of a day set aside for the hardest working planet in our solar system. This button is my souvenir from the first Earth Day, way back in 1970. I was just a baby, of course!
What do you have planned for April 22?
You still have plenty of time to come up with a plan to observe Earth Day in a meaningful way that can do some good for the Earth. Make it an event for your family or school to plan activities for kids and adults.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Earth Day Website is devoted to things you can do to protect The Third Rock on Earth Day and every day. One example is the Earth Day Photo Project.
Back in the day, we had Earth Day "Teach-ins" and "Sit-ins." They were forums and seminars on subjects like ecology, pollution, energy, and novel ideas like recycling. Four decades later the EPA is serving up daily podcasts on up-to-date earth-friendly topics. Here's a transcript of one of their podcasts:
1 - Reduce your carbon footprint! Leaving your car at home twice a week can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 pounds per year. Save up errands and shopping trips so you need to drive fewer times. If you commute to work, ask if you can work from home at least some days, and you'll reduce air pollution and traffic congestion - and save money.
Play the podcast (MP3, 724KB, runtime 0:44) | Reduce greenhouse gases on the road. A Great Prelude to Earth Day, 2010
Just a few days ago, as the National Bike Summit was wrapping things up in Washington, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made a significant policy statement that's causing some excitement in bicycling circles. And it will be good news, too, for anyone who likes to use our primary form of transportation – walking.
This from LaHood's blog:
“People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning,” “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.” But wait, there's more! The Secretary's policy statement is pretty much music to the ears of cyclists and pedestrians.
"We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities." Read More about the new Transportation policy here: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/03/lahood-policy-statement/#ixzz0isXGw8Wt
So, maybe the past four decades since Earth Day No. 1 haven't exactly been kind to "the big blue marble" where we live. We pretty much ran amok with our addiction to petroleum. Gasoline fumes generally clouded our judgment on a lot of public policies that are literally killing us today. But maybe – just maybe – announcements like Secretary LaHood's will become more commonplace. And we can only hope those words translate into tangible results – safer and more numerous routes for active transportation.
PS: Remember, every lane is a bike lane. Share the road.
freewheelin
............__o
............\<,
.......( )/ ( )
Enjoy the ride home.
See you at pedalaround
© Copyright, Kirk M. Kandle, MMX
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Earth Day honors our Big Blue Marble.
Original 1970 Earth Day button
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J.S. Holland
today
at 9:40 am
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Of course, back in the day, we also used to be more aggressively militant against mega-polluting megacorporations. Somehow the burden seems to have shifted away from them and to the individual.
As long as DuPont, Simplot, Cargill, Monsanto, Ford, Boeing, Chevron, Souther Co. Utilities, American Electric Power, Massey Energy, Alcoa, etc. are allowed to continue to pollute the Earth on a grand scale, any effort of the individual to reduce their own tiny output is exactly like peeing in the ocean. |
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Today's picture: Save the date and leave your keys at home. Next Tuesday is your chance to join the active transportation movement at Louisville's monthly Car-Free Happy Hour. You'll see posters like this one popping up all over town.
Louisville's monthly Car Free Happy Hour started last fall. It's the grassroots brainstorm of locals who have discovered a variety of alternatives to motor vehicles for getting around town. They're not anti-car – just pro-bike, pro-transit, pro-pedestrian. They draw inspiration from very bike friendly cities like Portland, Oregon.
 Brent Tinnell's original intention was to have a follow-up to Metro Mayor Abramson's Bike Summit last February. He organzed a group of people to carry on the lively conversation that started at the Summit. He met with public health worker Katie McBride. They scheduled the first Happy Hour for a Tuesday night in October last year.
Katie had long wondered if an event of this kind would work here in Louisville. She's delighted to see it grow every month in spite of miserable weather conditions – ice, snow, and pouring rain.
True Grassroots effort
Car-Free Happy Hour has no real sponsorship. Its founders are nonetheless serious about making Louisville more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Brent is on the board of Bicy cling for Louisville and is involved with the Sustainability Forum and Freewheel Collective.
Katie works on contract with the Louisville Metro Deparment of Public Health and Wellness and works on bicycle and pedestrian projects for them. She's lso a commissioner on the Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeway Commission and does volunteer work for AARP on transportation issues for seniors.
"I'm amazed at how popular this has become," said Katie. The new faces and connections that have been made and the creative synergy are just awesome. The numbers have grown from 20 in October to 40 in January – in spite of some horrible weather."
Brent is likewise pleased. He was browsing bikeportland.org and noticed their Car-Free Happy Hour. They have their Happy Hour in a different part of town each month. "I wanted to try to see what might happen here with an event like Portland's. What impressed me right away was that I started meeting so many car-free people and cycling advocates I didn't know about," he said.
"It's promising to see how many people are hopping on bikes and how many have been doing it for years – Tom Armstrong, for example," said Brent.
(Tom is another local bike blogger and the Education Chairperson for the Louisville Bicycle Club. Check out his bikelounger's meandering thoughts )
"Car-Free Happy Hour unites cyclists from all over town. It helps us get together on a grassroots level to talk about ways our city can fund and support bike projects. The city can make this a priority and help louisville become more bike friendly and better place ot get around," said Brent.
Who's invited? Peds, transit users, bicyclists, nerds, activists, neighbors, friends, community members, even politicians running for mayor!
Come join us to discuss issues relevant to us in the Louisville area.
Expect folks from Bicycling for Louisville, CART, Freewheel Bike Collective, and Bike Louisville (among others) to be there!
The Car-Free Happy Hour is happening at Sol Aztecas this month. Come out if you're a pedestrian, transit user, or bicyclist and want to hangout with other folks, eat food, and listen to people talk about the projects they're working on related to sustainable transportation.
This months theme is bike-business. We will hear presenters from a plumbing business that moves by bike, as well as SoupBycycle, a new bike-based soup delivery business working from the Highlands.
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Time: 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: 520 S. 4th St.
For more information about Car-Free Happy Hour, call Brent Tinnell at 502-619-4352.
PS: Remember, every lane is a bike lane. Share the road.
freewheelin
............__o
............\<,
.......( )/ ( )
Enjoy the ride home.
See you at pedalaround
© Copyright, Kirk M. Kandle, MMX
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Car-Free Happy Hour Poster
Katie McBride organizes Car-Free Happy Hour
Brent Tinnell borrowed a good idea from Portland.
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Today's picture: Electric bikes. They're not in Louisville shops yet, but plan on seeing them soon. The Yike Bike folds to carry on a bus or train. It requires no effort. But isn't that kind of defeating the point?
Electric bikes and electric-assist bikes are taking off in Europe. I'm told electrics may be the fastest growing segment for sales over there. A few have made modest debuts here in the states. But are electric bikes really an improvement – or just another way to add comfort at a huge expense? This blog is called "Pedalaround" for a reason. It's about active transportation that keeps your heart pumping and keeps fresh air fresh. Electric add-ons seem to defeat both objectives. Or do they?
Check out this Yike Bike video. Looks like a lot of fun. But the $5,500 sticker is way out of my price range.
Clean electric?
Electric power may seem green enough when it's quietly charging your bike's $1,000 battery, but it's available basically because a mountain was toppled into a stream for coal-fired power. Just because your Yike Bike has no exhaust fumes doesn't mean it's clean. Your local coal-fired generator burns and emits carbon into the air. And don't believe the "Clean Coal" ads on TV. They're fiction. Clean Coal is one of the advertising industry's latest fantasies. No, make that a bald faced lie.
Another thing: Isn't the jury is still out concerning all these batteries? What kind of damage are we doing to the environment with their production? And what about disposal?
Let's think positive!
Oh, there I go again, getting into thorny details. Maybe I'm a little overboard here. Alright, I'll concede that power-assisted and electric bicycles may be a big improvement over even the most fuel-efficient cars. And if they get people out for a spin, what's the harm? Electric bikes may be the gateway vehicle that can lead their owners to the truly sublime pleasure of 100% human-powered cycling. That would be a plus.
And speaking of a plusses, I really like the Trek promotion for their new line of Ride + power-assisted bikes. They invite you to "Expand the Possibilities." Their selling copy goes like this: "If you think you can't commute by bike, Trek Ride+ electric assist changes the game. Suddenly pulling a trailer or carrying heavier loads becomes doable. A sweat-free commute becomes a reality. And going up hills is as fun as going down. Ride+. It's your p ower, plus."
The Trek Ride + is basically a Trek FX 7.3 – just like the $700 hybrid I've used as my main form of transport for the past two years. But when you add the power-assist features, the price takes a big jump to about $2200. The credit card companies will at least get a charge out of it. There's an economic stimulus package, eh?
The local Trek dealers I talked to recently didn't plan on carrying the Ride + anytime soon. Howevert, I'm sure they can order one if you can't do without a boost up the hills of Cherokee or Iroquois parks. Better still, you can spend a whole lot less and get cartons of Cliff Bars and energy drinks instead. – totally green. True biofuel.
NOTE: In case you're new to this blog, Pedalaround currently serves as a journal for My Car-Free Experiment that started on Sept. 16, 2009, when I sold my 1991 Volvo 940 Turbo station wagon on Craigslist. I don't own a car. I get around mainly by bicycle, walking, using public transit, and ride sharing.
On Feb. 9, I broke my leg when I crashed my bicycle while crossing railroad tracks at something other than a 90º angle. I learned a valuable lesson and have accepted kind offers to share rides to work with my generous friend and colleague Marte Markwell.
Thanks also to Walt and Lynn Kunau for giving me a lift to and from church this morning. And thanks to my kind buddy Ben St. Clair for getting me out in the fresh air – then to Cumberland Brew for a righteous quesadilla. I owe you, brutha!
PS: Remember, every lane is a bike lane. Share the road.
freewheelin
............__o
............\<,
.......( )/ ( )
Enjoy the ride home.
See you at pedalaround
© Copyright, Kirk M. Kandle, MMX
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Yike Bike
Trek Ride + Electric Assist
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Jax Rhapsody
mon mar 08 2010
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I've seen electric bikes for sale. Not lately though. The only benefit I could see is using the motor to help on hills and ceertain times when your tired. Not really as usefull as a Motoredbike, gasser style. And that thing looks like a big wheel. I could see something like if you had a dynamo to recharge as you rode it. |
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Black Gladiator
mon mar 08 2010
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Jax, now you're talkin! A big wheel:
http://www.uncrate.com/men/gear/toys/adult-big-wheel/
Unfortunately I think they're discontinued. Per usual I'm a day late and a dollar short.
At least the Coal Industry isn't the Oil Industry, we're choosing the best of two evils and given the political climate I'll choose electric if I can. |
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Mixed Mojo
mon mar 08 2010
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"Electric add-ons seem to defeat both objectives."
I'll put pedals on my Kia and you can tell me how it doesn't get my heart rate up or keep the air fresh (you should smell me after I've ridden a few miles by the way).
No, even though they bolted on pedals and call it a bike, the people who make this contraption don't share you idealism. Most people don't. They're just trying to make a buck. |
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Jax Rhapsody
tue mar 09 2010
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Besides, the last thing you want is a front-drive bike anyway. |
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Today's Picture – What's the Governor of Colorado doing in this Kentuckian's blog? Well, at this moment I'm aware of two people who are laid up with injuries from riding bicycles. One is Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, resting in the hospital with several broken ribs after he "went down hard" on a Tuesday Morning ride with his buddies.
The crash made headlines. He's a governor. He was on a bike. It's not news that 114 people die every day on our nation's highways. It should be.
 Gov. Ritter's spokesman said the accident happened when the governor ran into another cyclist in his group of four. One wrong move – that's all it takes. Sounds all too familiar to me.
He was treated at Denver Health Medical Center and is in good spirits, "laughing and joking with hospital staff," his spokesman said. I bet those aren't deep, belly laughs.
I wish the Governor a swift recovery, but I know from experience that cracked ribs can easily take eight weeks to heal. Until then, every deep breath, sneeze, cough, or chuckle is likely to be paired with a wincing reminder of his simple mistake.
Gov. Ritter, from what I gather, is an experienced cyclist. I bet he'll be back in the saddle as soon as the angry ribs settle down. But I'm worried that when active, high-profile people experience a mishap like Ritter's, it adds fuel to the sedentary arguments against activities such as riding a bicycle. As if people need another excuse to sit in front of the plasma, eating chips.
Every activity carries a little risk. Lord, don't I know it!
As I write this, I'm elevating a  leg that's already been two weeks in a cast. I hope the doctor will get me out of this thing in another two weeks – and on my way to cycling hills again before spring arrives in earnest.
In case you're one who's comfortable biding your sweet time parked on the couch, stuck behind the wheel of your car in traffic, gliding on escalators, and viewing life as a climate-controlled spectator instead of an active, human-powered participant, consider this:
Sitting still can– and will – kill you. About six out of 10 of us are sitting ducks, overweight or obese, on our way to heart attack, stroke, or something worse. So, it's no secret – and there's no serious argument to the contrary – that sitting around and eating junk kills. As many as 500,000 people a year go to their graves because of sitting around and eating junk. About 700 a year die on bicycles. Most of those cyclists are run over by cars. Some of them made fatal mistakes. But at least they didn't make the same wrong decisions over and over, day after day, to sit and let comfort do them in.
Lower you heart risk by 50 percent. Ride a bike.
Yes, there are dangers involved in bicycling. You can break ribs or break a leg, or get yourself killed out there. But even when you take into account the dangers of cycling, the act of pedaling far outweighs the risk of injury or death. In fact, a British researcher found the health benefits of bicycling outweigh the risks by 20 to one. And a study of General Motors workers backs this up. researchers found that regular bicyclists at GM were as fit, on average, as non-bicycling factory workers who were 10 years younger!
And then there's this ...
Researchers at a Toronto hospital say that every hour spent driving could lead to a 20-minute loss in life expectancy. Using computer models, a team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre determined that, in the same way each cigarette smoked takes about five minutes off of a person's life, the more time spent behind the wheel, the more likely a person is to die in a car crash. "When drivers try to speed to get to their destination faster, they actually lose more time because the savings from faster travel are offset by the increased prospect of a crash," said Dr. Donald Redelmeier, the study's lead researcher. So, you see, My Car-Free Experiment isn't so crazy after all.
The Governor of Colorado certainly has enough close advisors, so he doesn't need any advice from me. But here it is anyway: Be more careful. Don't follow so closely. And stay away from the Doritos while you're recovering.
Me? I'll forever be on the lookout for tire-grabbing railroad tracks. And, God willing, I'll live to look back across decades and laugh long and hard at my foolishness.
PS: Remember, every lane is a bike lane. Share the road.
freewheelin
............__o
............\<,
.......( )/ ( )
Enjoy the ride home.
See you at pedalaround
© Copyright, Kirk M. Kandle, MMX
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Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter crashed bike, broke ribs.
My leg broken in a bike mishap, Feb. 9.
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A bicycle commuter's essays, how-to tips, reflections, and observations. Follow my car-free experiment! Go to http://pedalaround.blogspot.com/
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