Here’s one more awesome and inspiring bicycling video for the day. Again, it’s about living on your bike, and enjoying the freedom, high quality of life, and mental and physical health that comes from that. I don’t remember where I ran across this one. Enjoy! What more is there to say about bicycling–it’s good for
I intended to share this nearly a week ago when I ran across it. Actually, right after it was published, it seems. If you haven’t seen it yet (it’s gone a bit viral), it’s a must watch. Title = “The Man Who Lived on His Bike.” Living in Groningen (in the Netherlands), I feel like I saw people
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.
2011 was a big year for the environment, in some good ways and some bad ways. Here’s a quick run-down of the top 10 stories of the year, in my opinion: 1. Tremendously high levels of carbon emissions continue to warm Earth. Despite efforts to switch to clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and use more
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.
Top green living stories of the past couple days:
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.
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!
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:
Some good green living stories from around from the past week….
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.
Here’s a totally awesome new vertical bike storage design I ran across this weekend. Green in more ways than one.
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.
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.
I think most of us green bloggers get quite frustrated with Earth Day. It can be a struggle for us to stay positive at this time. Why? Because we write about critical environmental issues and solutions to them all year long, and we are confronted with how little others are aware of or interested in such issues when Earth Day comes around. All of a sudden, a large number of people ‘care’ about the environment,… but don’t expect that to stay ’till tomorrow. We get numerous pitches from non-green companies who want us to feature them in our Earth Day posts (as well as pitches from truly green companies, of course). For one day, it is more “fashionable” to be green. But just for one day.
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)….
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
Here’s a great fun video for you bike lovers (or those of you all-too-familiar with the agony of sitting in your car for countless hours in traffic, struggling to find parking, or getting a hefty speeding ticket). Luckily, we also got a translation of the video from a friendly reader over on EcoLocalizer: Cop says:
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
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
I’ve mentioned the great health benefits of bicycling on here a number of times. With the health benefits being so clear, you’d think more health professionals would be pushing for better biking infrastructure… Well, a number of them are starting to. Check out this email/news release I received from NYC transportation advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives:
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
A friend of mine recently informed me about a good-looking potential documentary that you can help get finished by pre-ordering DVDs on Kickstarter now. What is the film? Good question. The title is “Within Reach” and it is about “one couple’s bike-packing journey on a path towards sustainable community.” To find out more, visit the
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
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
SoupByCycle is the name of a business, and it all started due to a Louisville chef, Ian Richie, losing his job. Starting off delivering homemade soup to his friends via cargo bike and cooler, Richie’s little homegrown business has taken off.. (okay, I’m sure he’s not a millionaire yet, but his business has reportedly been
A couple months ago I wrote about a cool bicycle composting service in St. Paul, Minnesota. Here’s a similar bike composting and recycling service in Philadelphia, the Pedal Co-Op. “Motivated by their love of bike culture and the environment, this enterprising group has built a cooperative business around transporting other businesses’ compost and recycling,” Rory Woods
What’s better for the environment and society than bicycling for transportation purposes? Going on a long-distance bike ride and performing helpful services for the communities you visit on the way might be. Rory Woods of sustainablog recently reported on a crew of “cycling superheroes” who have been doing this annually or biannually since 2000 and
If you haven’t heard by now, there is a crazy legal case in Connecticut where a driver going up to 84 mph in a 45 mph zone (trying to pass other cars on a two-lane road) is suing the parents of the 14-year-old kid he killed because the kid, Matthew Kenney, wasn’t wearing a helmet. Yes,
$10.2 million was recently awarded to folks in Northern California to further develop their bicycle/pedestrian network. In particular, the money is for the East Bay Pedestrian and Bicycle Network, a part of the Green Transportation Initiative Project. In total, this project will consist of nearly 200 miles of paved trails between seven communities including. The total
The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) recently reported on some good and bad news for those who like clean, green transportation. For the second year in a row, federal spending on bicycle and pedestrian projects exceeded $1 billion. According to the Federal Highway Administration’s Financial Management Information System (FMIS), U.S. states “obligated” – that’s FHWA’s
Think bicycling is too dangerous? Think again. The health benefits of bicycling outweigh the dangers of accidents with cars and air pollution in yet another study on this matter. The new study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that regular cyclists can be expected to live 3-14 months longer than non-cyclists. Read more about
As the former executive director of an organization promoting bicycling for transportation purposes (as well as walking, mass transit, and sustainable development), I can tell you that one of the biggest problems bicyclists face, in most cities across the United States, is uninformed and hostile police. New York City is apparently no exception. Hostile and illegal
