Check out this cool & beautiful Flying Pigeon bicycles video I I just ran across on Copenhagenize. Nice one.
http://vimeo.com/26504393
.. and this fun Dutch bicycling federation video.
Cool.
OK, one more — here’s one on a semi-truck driver who started a cargo-bike delivery service in Chicago to be happier, more environmentally friendly, and more time-efficient. The sweet cargo bike he shows off in the video and uses for his job is a Bullitt. Bullitts are available in Chicago at Copenhagen Cyclery and in Portland at Splendid Cycles. The film was made by Zipments.com.
http://youtu.be/XDPnRawaxic
And before we get into the stories, how about this cool pic of a Copenhagen cyclist from the Classic Copenhagen blog via Copenhagenize?
Cool guy.
So, I just, finally, subscribed to a couple large bicycle blogs — Copenhagenize and Amsterdamize. Not sure why it took me so long, but glad I finally did. Anyway, that means that today’s “top green living stories” post is going to be even more bicycle-oriented than normal (have you noticed?), as I’m digging into those blogs a bit to share same great stories and videos I missed previously.
Copenhagen and Amsterdam are quite widely considered to be the best large cities for bicycling in the world — which one is better depends on who you ask, but you’re unlikely to find someone who will tell you another large city is better. I’ve only been to Amsterdam (and that was 4 years ago), so I can’t judge just yet. Basically, though, if there’s such a thing as bicycle heaven, it probably looks something like on of these cities (or Groningen, which was a league ahead of Amsterdam in my eyes, but since its population is under 200,000 and it’s not a “global city,” it’s not often considered for the world title). So, from now on, I should have some good stuff to share from these cities that bike lovers and even those who aren’t bike lovers should be able to enjoy.
Another city that’s been climbing the ranks in the past few years in Barcelona. It’s got one of the best bike-sharing programs (or “bike hire schemes” if you’re British or used to British English) in the world, Bicing. It has just been announced that this bike-sharing program has saved 12.46 lives a year since its inception. I mentioned this before, but wanted to highlight it today. Here’s a little more:
Results Compared with car users the estimated annual change in mortality of the Barcelona residents using Bicing (n=181 982) was 0.03 deaths from road traffic incidents and 0.13 deaths from air pollution. As a result of physical activity, 12.46 deaths were avoided (benefit:risk ratio 77). The annual number of deaths avoided was 12.28. As a result of journeys by Bicing, annual carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by an estimated 9 062 344 kg.
Conclusions Public bicycle sharing initiatives such as Bicing in Barcelona have greater benefits than risks to health and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Here are some more bike stories from around:
- Understanding Bicycling Dangers and Fears
- Postcards From Amsterdam, Hello Copenhagen
- Counting Cyclists in Barcelona
- Living la Vida Liveable in Barcelona
- Holding Onto Cyclists – Next Level
- Schemes get more bikes on Newcastle roads
