Activism

“Whatever people in general do not understand, they are always prepared to
dislike; the incomprehensible is always the obnoxious.”

-Letitia E. Landon, author (1802-1838)

Above is another photo from our Twisp trip… I think these folks, like many in the U.S., just don’t understand bicycling. Which is sad, considering it’s the most efficient form of transportation ever created. You can go far on burrito-power! (thanks mrk.) That’s why I’m a volunteer at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, an advocacy organization promoting bicycling and alternative transportation in this state.

“Biking has been shown to be faster than any other mode of in-city transportation,”according to TreeHugger.com. Recently they featured Barcelona’s new bike-share program which is a rave hit for commuting within the city. Paris is implementing a similar program this July which I will definitely take advantage of while I’m there this fall!

I think our country doesn’t understand bikes simply because our infrastructure has been built on the automobile. But that will change. As gas prices rise ever higher, as global warming continues to wreak havoc on predictable weather reports, as we run out of fuel entirely, and–most importantly– as younger generations realize the high environmental costs we pay to drive a car, bikes will become ever more popular as an efficient, healthy mode of transport.

Holland has more bicycles than people, and it’s much safer to ride there than in the U.S., because cars are aware of bicycles. People think bicycling is not safe, but it’s the cars that are not safe. We really don’t have decent driver’s ed in this country. Washington state doesn’t even require driver’s education!

One American took photos of all the many bikes he saw in Amsterdam, and remarked how they must not take safety seriously because none of the riders he saw were wearing helmets. On the contrary, one commenter who grew up in Holland said:

“The Dutch do take bike safety seriously. They’ve just taken a different approach. When growing up in Holland, in first grade, we all went through a full week of safe bicycle riding classes. At the end of the week, police officers put together a course where each child was presented with traffic situations for approximately 30 minutes while police officers observed. Depending on how you did, you received your ’safe bicycle’ certificate. Over the next few years, you received refresher courses. Additionally, when you work on obtaining your drivers license, there is a strong emphasis on driving around bicyclists.”

While my bicycle doesn’t fit me all that well yet, (I need different handle bars), I’ve gone riding twice this week and hope to do more. It’s a great workout, a wonderfully efficient and environmentally-friendly mode of transportation, and fun too! It will be easier once I get a little more in shape too. I’m going to add a new page to this blog to record bicycling and other exercise, as a motivational tool for myself. This post is also a reminder to myself that I really enjoy bicycling, and to get myself to do it more.

One of my favorite things about bicycling is that it is life lived at a slower pace. I’m not meant for the ever-faster, latte-on-the-go, 70-miles-per-hour type of lifestyle. Riding a bike gives you time to stop at beautiful parks like this one, which you wouldn’t even notice in your car:

And you have more time to smell the roses, or take photos of poppies in bloom:

Knitting content will return soon. I’m on the home stretch of Jeff’s socks.

This posting comes under the category of blogging to remind myself of stuff, a scrapbook of sorts — and some of you might find the links fun too! (Thanks to Jeff for most of these.)

1. In environmentalism, World Wildlife Fund presents Black Cloud: a visual representation of carbon dioxide released from one car in one day.  Drive one less day and look how much carbon dioxide you’ll keep out of the air we breathe.

2. I’ve never understood all those cousin lables. This cousin tree could be helpful. But are you telling me that I call my cousin’s child the same thing I call my great-uncle’s child? And my cousin’s grandchild is called the same as my great-great-uncle’s child? No wonder it’s never made sense to me!

3. In my favorite linguistic realm, here’s the real etymology of OK. (I think we should also bring back OW.)

4. Visual DNA - Respond to various photographs and get a horoscope or fortune-type thing told from it:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

5. Some interesting installation art by Mark Jenkins in NYC and DC. Also, how he makes the plastic casts can be found here.

It’s been a while since I posted some interesting links; here are some I’ve found lately.

1. Salon’s great article series called Early Signs: Reports from a Warming Planet includes an article on the melting glaciers of Kilimanjaro.

2. In Iraq — “The question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?” - The Times describes Bush’s $592 million palace in Bagdad.
3. Ecological Footprint Quiz. If everyone lived like me, we would need 3.1 PLANETS… I’m working on decreasing that. What’s your impact on the earth? Take this quiz and find out, and learn what you can do to minimize your ecological footprrint.

4. Off-shore Wind Farm in the North Sea. “The world’s first major offshore wind power plant has since December 2002 produced enough energy to run 150,000 Danish households.” An huge clean-energy-producing project in some of the roughest waters on earth is taking advantage of stronger winds at sea than on land. The photos are fascinating, especially the lower ones showing how they put these together. They are enormous structures!

5. Ice blown in off the lake in Switzerland. These photos are truly beautiful and awesome. Apparently this happens around Niagara Falls too. I love the photo of the iced benches.

Email from my niece today:

Let it Snow,
Let it Snow,
Let it Snow!!!

It snowed a lot last night, we don’t have school today, except it all melted so fast.
***Jessica***

This morning I walked around Greenlake in the below-freezing temperatures, 28 degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact, with a bright blue sky and a biting wind. Seattleites just don’t have the wardrobe for this kind of thing. Brrr…

Unusual weather. This summer, the heat waves nearly killed us. Now the second snow of the winter and a week of projected below-freezing temps. Very unusual for us.

Melissa at Neoknits was thinking about the unusual weather they are having on the east coast (in the 70s in January), and she decided to start a campaign called Knitters against Global Warming.

She says, “We spend so much on yarn, and we can’t even wear our sweaters people!!!!” It’s a cute way to approach a serious issue. Let’s think of ways to conserve energy and support our environment instead of destroying it. Some of the biggest impacts an individual can make is by reducing the amount of driving you do and by reducing the amount of consumption and trash, especially unnecessary packing and plastic (petroleum) products. Carpool, walk, bus, bike, reuse, recycle, think before you consume, REDUCE.

Knitters are a large group these days and we can make a difference. As Margaret Mead said,

“A small group of committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

One of my intentions is to exercise more this year, in concert with the RunaGogo folks. My goal is 100 miles of combined walking, biking, swimming.  So far I’m off to a slow start with walking only.

Original weblogs were collections of interesting links.  Here’s my traditional version today.

• The Cloud Appreciation Society is my kinda thing! They “love clouds, we’re not ashamed to say it and we’ve had enough of people moaning about them.” Yes!! Check it out for the beautiful photos if nothing else. And their bittersweet manifesto. And of course there is the Flickr Beautiful Clouds Pool if you need more convincing that clouds are incredible.
• The Canary Project features photographs of “landscapes around the world that are exhibiting dramatic transformation due to global warming.” Their mission is “to use these photographs to persuade as many people as possible that global warming is already underway and of immediate concern.”
• Happy in Denmark? The BBC recently reported that Denmark residents are the happiest in Europe. They cited health levels as the strongest indicator of happiness, followed by prosperity and education. The US ranked 23rd.
• If the health has it, then of course the US is a ways down the list: we don’t have universal health care. The Fall 2006 YES Magazine highlights the issue of universal health care and prints pretty persuasive stats showing how more and more folks are falling through the cracks of our employment-based health care system.  “An estimated 50 million Americans lack medical insurance, and a similar and rapidly growing number are underinsured.[…] Of the more than 1.5 million bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year, about half are a result of medical bills; of those, three-quarters of filers had health insurance.” They also have a great chart comparing different country’s health care approaches and how much those cost per capita (the U.S. system is more than twice that of Canada and covers a far smaller percentage than their plan). More>>
• At least someone’s doing something positive about that depressing war thing — You can now buy Bring Them Home Now postal stamps on-line. Yes, real postage stamps, because of the new USPS program where you can design your own custom stamp.  Proceeds benefit veterans’ groups.  Yes, I truly support our troops and I want them brought home safe and sound now.
• To end with a light note, check out Ball of Dirt, the “world’s largest travel social network.” Travelers can post photos and stories of their journeys.

We return to our regular programming after I get back home!