Environmentalists and active folks love bicycles, because they’re not only efficient and a fun way to stay fit, but they’re also probably the most sustainable method of transportation we have. But is buying a brand new bicycle really that environmentally friendly? After all, new bikes require an entire global supply chain to produce and distribute,
Seamlessly Integrated Bike Flow “Cycling is part of everyone’s life, because it was made part of everyone’s life.” This film, Cycling for Everyone, is a light, moving record of health and happiness. The film shows Amsterdam as a place where sharing the road is easy and safe. Inhabitants of this city and country value cycling so much that the rich and the
A recent story that celebrates spontaneity, cycling, urban wanderlust, and the wonderful wave of sustainable bike-sharing programs is a welcome happiness to all of us wanting more biking freedoms. From an article found on the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) website: “Bike sharing is like a big advertisement for bicycling,” says Darren Buck, a Virginia Tech (VT) student. “Folks walking by
Aura as a Protective Body of Light Energy One’s Aura is a body of light, a body of energy, that spreads out from our center and lights up a field of astral and ethereal layers of light protection. It is a large round globe of energy from within that spreads outwardly around us.
Watching this video, one finds something so simple, so commonsense, and at the same time, so brilliant in it. Things as they should be is what Planetsave is all about. Copenhagenize leads us to the thoughtful, simple way things should (and could) be in this beautiful video of an Utrecht traffic garden. Adults and children alike need this now.
The Bicycle Video Of The Year: Burn Cycle from Amsterdamize on Vimeo. Burn Cycle, a video from the creative work of Gabemacha, captures movement in a decorative celebration of biking, music, and fire. One gets a glimpse into the experience of biking whirling into Burning Man in this beautiful piece. Watch this video and follow
Brazilian Bike Culture The Copacabana neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro is enjoying an upswing economically, as is the whole of Brazil. The changes are progressively upbeat, integrating a greener travel style. Copacabana’s air is a bit fresher and the sounds of traffic are more naturalistic and harmonious due to the widespread use of
This is a great story I ran across on Copenhagenize, of what the title says (a woman bicycling to the hospital pregnant and with contractions), but also with an ironic poster added at the bottom.
Check out these top green living stories of the past day or so:
By Bill McKibben
Dear Friends,
The last two weeks have been spectacular.
In Washington DC, phase one of the tar sands campaign has just come to an end, and 1,252 North Americans have been arrested in a massive civil disobedience campaign. This historic groundswell was focused on stopping the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline — but it also sent a larger message that people everywhere are willing to take bold action to move our planet beyond fossil fuels.
I write about cool bike stories here a lot, since bicycling is both one the best ways to green your life and is one of the best ways to make your life more relaxing, healthier, and more enjoyable.
But, one of the things I strive for here on Planetsave is finding ways to help people make positive changes in their lives, not just talk about how cool green living is.
Other than the terrific piece new Planetsave writer and activist Kate Follot just wrote, here are some top activism stories of the past few days. They cover topics related to transportation, the tar sands, climate change, animals, nature, food, and more. Check them out:
Just ran across this great infographic on bicycling facts and the future of bicycling on our sister site sustainablog and, of course, wanted to share it on here. It’s the feature green living “story” of the day. The infographic is from our friends over at Well Home Energy Audit. Check it out and enjoy!
Cities around the world have blossoming bike sharing programs. But unlike blossoming flowers, these programs will both make people smile AND reduce their allergies. How, exactly? Well, increasing allergies is one predicted (and I think already occurring) result of global climate change. And bicycling for transportation purposes is one of the best options for combating climate change.
Check out this fun Dutch bicycling federation video I just ran across on Copenhagenize. Nice.
Solar power is growing at a super fast pace these days, and despite (or maybe partly because of) the tremendous economic problems the country is facing, that is continuing. Solar PV is projected to double in the US this year, and is expected to grow 47% a year up to 2015.
Bicycling not fast enough for you? Well, it turns out that, in some situations, bicyclists are even faster than jets.
Top green living stories of the past week or so:
I seem to eternally be searching for the best way to share every single green news story I think is important with you. But never seem satisfied or able to keep up with my systems. Maybe this one will last?…
The idea I’ve got now is to do a weekly link drop of stories we didn’t cover each day of the week, but with a different theme each day of the week. To start with, Monday will be “Green Living Monday” (as you can see above). Why? Who knows, that just sounded good to me :D. Also, I guess it is because I am trying to stress green living more and more these days.
This is totally awesome. The ridiculousness of this guy getting a ticket for not riding in the bike lane is made obvious when he decides to then ALWAYS ride in the bike lane, film it, and show the world who should really be getting the tickets.
Other than the 50+ stories we covered in the past week, here are 15 more green stories I thought were worth a share:
Here’s a totally awesome new vertical bike storage design I ran across this weekend. Green in more ways than one.
Aside from the 73 or so stories we’ve covered in the past week, here are 13 more great green news stories I wanted to highlight (but didn’t have the time to…
Rain is, without a doubt, one of the biggest deterrents to bicycling. People, for some odd reason, don’t like to get wet…. Well, a company called Veltop has you covered (pun intended)
Here’s another great biking story. I covered and shared a video of perhaps the oldest living bicyclist in the world, Octavio Orduno, who bikes nearly every day at the age of 103, a couple months ago. Now, here’s another great one of an “aging” cyclist.
This is an email I received from Bill McKibben of 350.org this week. Thought it was worth a full share, so here it is.
If you weren’t aware, today is National Bike to Work Day in the U.S. That means that even if it is the only day of the year you do so, you should bike to work today! Of course, biking is such a pleasant experience (for most people) if you get out there and try
Bicycling benefits your health so much that researchers have found its benefits outweigh its risks. In other words, bicycling should extend your life span, not shorten it. Additionally, you should feel healthier and more fit bicycling than not. Plus, it’s fun, as 103-year-old Octavio Orduño, who still bikes nearly every day, will tell you.
Nonetheless, everyone can see that bicyclists are less protected than others on the road. The risk of being hit or crashing is something that deters a lot of people. Furthermore, people do get hit and killed bicycling (don’t forget, though, that millions of people get injured and killed in car accidents, too — and more bicyclists on the road actually makes the road safer for everyone). I don’t know if there are more bicycle accidents on Friday the 13th or not, but it seemed like a good day to write about bicycling safely.
You’re halfway home on a Friday evening and looking forward to a quick pint at your local, when disaster strikes. Slowing down at a set of lights, a momentary lapse of attention by the rider behind you sees him edge his front wheel into the rear of your bike, catching your derailleur in his spokes. The consequences are a buckled front wheel for him, and a broken rear mech for you.
Borrowing (or directing you over to) another article by bicycle experts over on BikeRadar, in honor of Bike Month (and one of the greenest forms of transport on the planet (if not the greenest), here’s another great one….
BikeRadar highlighted some top tips from bike enthusiasts in its forum recently, tips on bike choice, riding, and gear. Below are a few of my favorites, but if you want to read all of them (recommended) just click on the link above.
May is Bike Month (if you weren’t aware), and it’s a good month for biking, of course, since the weather is quite nice in most places.
To help you get into the spirit of biking or help you with some practical bicycling issues, I’m going to direct you to a number of great bicycling articles by true bike experts (and I’ll share a bit of the key points from those articles with you as well) over the coming weeks. I’ll also write a few of my own based on my experiences and research.
This first article I’m going to direct you towards comes from BikeRadar, a great site for super bike enthusiasts. (But don’t worry, it’s tailored to normal folks.)
Following up on a post last week from Genesis Bikes, the company is promoting bicycling this year — and in Bike Month, May, especially — with an innovative social media campaign and bike giveaway that I thought was worth sharing.
You know we love biking here on Planetsave — it’s one of the greenest thing you can do (and a ton of fun). Here’s a great guest post from those in the know when it comes to biking, Genesis Bicycles. Enjoy!
When it comes to sustainable transport, you’ve never seen anything like this before.
The Ghana Bamboo Bikes initiative is gaining momentum and is gearing up to start exporting to other African nations, the EU and the US. They’re also looking forward to providing the bikes to teachers and healthcare workers within Ghana.
Most people would be lucky to live to 103. And even luckier to be able to ride a bike at that age. But, actually, riding a bike regularly would increase your chances of both things, since it is good for your health and extends your life expectancy.
103-year-old Octavio Orduño would recommend it. He is perhaps the oldest living cyclist and still loves cruising along on his tricycle (well, it would be a bicycle if his wife hadn’t insisted he switch)….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY1sY8UDwjs If you haven’t seen the video above yet, I think the story is pretty clear: a man drove into a peaceful, critical mass bike ride in Porto Alegre, Brazil with the apparent attempt to kill or seriously injure a number of the cyclists. As noted in the video above, he even accelerated as he
We love to vilify others, don’t we? Especially Big Government, Big Business, Big Oil, and so on. But let’s take a quick look at how we actually compared to CEOs of Big Oil and Big Coal, some of the most infamous or widely disliked “Big Boys” in the world (& certainly in environmental circles). Scale
Some of the top clean energy, clean transport, and green living stories of the last day or so: Clean Energy China’s Green Economy Leadership “China sees green as the future engine of its economy. Although currently the world’s leading greenhouse gas emitter, China is serious about slowing greenhouse gas emissions and using renewable energy.” Green Jobs, Good
OK, one more wrap-up this week. And perhaps our last weekly wrap-up, period. As I am thinking I will switch to daily wrap-ups instead. (Let me know if you have any objection.) As the title says, this wrap-up is of good or cool green living stories. Biking Biking is one of the greenest things you
One good way to create jobs, as Obama and his secretary of transportation Ray LaHood know, is to invest in efficient, green transportation, like bicycles. One recent study in Wisconsin showed that bicycling adds $1.5 billion/year to its economy. Now, another study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, “Estimating the
Other than what we’ve already covered, of course, here are a number of good environmental, wildlife, and green living stories form around the internet. GreenDeals aims to be a Groupon for green shoppers New website aims to offer US consumers discounts on green products and services… High-speed rail route to get 2m trees for shelter
Comparing the risks to the health benefits, bicycling is already better than driving. But one clear way to make it even more so is to make our roads safer for cyclists. New York State is looking to take one big step forward on this. It may soon pass legislation making a bike safety class a
That’s one selfish Christmas present. Well, maybe not so selfish since giving bikes to all of its employees will help the whole world (bicycling is perhaps the greenest mode of transport). But, truthfully, IKEA can expect to save a lot of money from its employees being healthier, missing work less, and working more productively if
I know, it’s not November any more. I’m dropping links here for November stories I never got around to sharing or writing about but really wanted to. I figured it would be better to do so at the end of the week than on Tuesday. So, here are some more stories from November you might
I ran across this guys and chatted with him for awhile on my recent, short trip to Portland. I’ve been planning to write about them since then, but you know… so much news everyday. Anyway, Rory Woods of sustainablog just shared this video recently and I thought I’d do a quick re-share here. “Portland’s B-Line,
Bike theft and vandalism has been a bit of an issue for the world’s biggest bike-sharing program, Vélib in Paris, which has been, nonetheless, extremely successful and dwarfs U.S. bike-sharing programs (so far). But recent research on the matter has found basically nothing to worry about concerning bike-sharing theft and vandalism in the U.S. and
More people are bicycling for transportation purposes these days, a lot more. Bicycling has tripled or increased by an even larger amount in Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other big North American cities in the past couple of decades. And what happens when you see more people on the street on two wheels?
Biking, if you haven’t gathered by now, is one of the best ways to improve the environment and your health. It is also one of the best ways to save money. It is common sense that bicycling is good for us. Nonetheless, only 2% of federal transportation spending goes to bicycling and walking (12% of
