gmane.politics.activism.carfree-cities

London congestion charge zone to be halved

Erik Sandblom — 2008-11-27T17:24:57

The Times: London congestion charge zone slashed by Boris Johnson http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5244993.ece The extension, covering Kensington and Chelsea and part of Westminster, will not be removed until Spring 2010 while Mr Johnson undertakes the legal process of rescinding the scheme. ... Among businesses, 86 per cent supported the extension's removal. But a separate TfL survey of a balanced sample of 2,000 Londoners showed 45 per cent in favour of keeping some form of charging in the extension, while only 41 per cent supported removal. ... Transport for London admitted that traffic and air pollution would rise inside the western extension area when the charge was removed. The number of cars entering the extension area has fallen by 30,000 a day since the charge was introduced in February last year. Mr Johnson plans to tackle congestion by re-phasing traffic lights to add one or two seconds to each green phase for vehicles. Pedestrians, however, will have to wait longer for their green phase. See also Guardian: Boris Johnson axes London congestion charge extension http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/27/congestioncharging- london Mayor scraps the western extension to the c-charge zone by 2010

Crowd-Source a Car-Free Documetary?

Chris — 2008-11-26T19:04:40

I wanted to post this question to this list to tap into the expertise and wisdom that I've been reading for a couple of years now. My name is Chris Holt and I run a website (www.scaledown.ca) dedicated to furthering the discussion of making my hometown (Windsor, Ontario - across the river from Detroit) a livable, walkable city. Windsor's also known as the "Automotive Capital of Canada" and currently experiencing the worst economic outook in our history, which makes my project even more poiniant. I am at the beginning of a 12 month "experiment" where I'm filming the transition of a young family (myself and my two kids) going from an autocentric lifestyle to a carfree one. We're using this springboard to examine our cultures devotion to the automobile and the ramifications and costs (social, economic and health-wise) of that devotion. Somewhere in there I would also like to highlight my communities reliance on the ever increasing sales of cars and the unsustainability of that fact (Windsor is the birthplace of Ford Canada, just celebrating 100 years, as well as being home to a few Chrysler and GM plants as well) Personally, I am a fouth generation Ford worker (in my family since 1914) who is on indefinite layoff. I would like to tap into the collective conscience of the car-free movement to make this a great film. I am also toying with the possibilities of making this a "crowd-sourced" project, utilizing the experience of scholars and activists around the world to "build" this film together. I am especially interested in highligting successful communities and how they have moved toward more of a pedestrian- centred transpotation system. The questions I would like to see this film address, among others, are "What are the impediments to living a car-free lifestyle", and "What would it take to overcome those impediments and get the average motorist to step out of their car on a regular basis". I'll leave it there to hopefully discuss with this list further. If you are interested in sending me a note off-list, please feel free to at chris-QE9FyrDXuAIV+D8aMU/kSg< at >public.gmane.org Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, Chris Holt www.scaledown.ca ScaleDown Radio, 91.5 FM PS If there are any Toronto-area activists/scholars reading this, I will be in Toronto from Dec 9 - 11th discussing the project with the CBC. I will also be collecting some footage as well, and would be interested in meeting up with you.

"Cars Are the New Smoking"

Richard Risemberg — 2008-11-26T15:09:26

Interesting: http://www.squawkfox.com/2008/07/25/cars-are-the-new-smoking/ Rick -- Richard Risemberg http://www.bicyclefixation.com http://www.newcolonist.com http://www.rickrise.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

in case you thought you had anything to be thankful for

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-26T14:31:16

Hi All, There's this cheerful note this morning. Joel http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/25-1 Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Published on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 by The Guardian/UK One Shot Left The latest science suggests that preventing runaway climate change means total decarbonisation. by George Monbiot George Bush is behaving like a furious defaulter whose home is about to be repossessed. Smashing the porcelain, ripping the doors off their hinges, he is determined that there will be nothing worth owning by the time the bastards kick him out. His midnight regulations, opening America's wilderness to logging and mining, trashing pollution controls, tearing up conservation laws, will do almost as much damage in the last 60 days of his presidency as he achieved in the foregoing 3000(1). His backers among them the nastiest pollutocrats in America are calling in their favours. But this last binge of vandalism is also the Bush presidency reduced to its essentials. Destruction is not an accidental product of its ideology. Destruction is the ideology. Neoconservatism is power expressed by showing that you can reduce any part of the world to rubble. If it is now too late to prevent runaway climate change, the Bush team must carry much of the blame. His wilful trashing of the Middle Climate the interlude of benign temperatures which allowed human civilisation to flourish makes the mass murder he engineered in Iraq only the second of his crimes against humanity. Bush has waged his war on science with the same obtuse determination with which he has waged his war on terror. Is it too late? To say so is to make it true. To suggest that there is nothing that can now be done is to ensure that nothing is done. But even a resolute optimist like me finds hope ever harder to summon. A new summary of the science published since last year's Intergovernmental Panel report suggests that - almost a century ahead of schedule - the critical climate processes might have begun(2). Just a year ago the Intergovernmental Panel warned that the Arctic's "late-summer sea ice is projected to disappear almost completely towards the end of the 21st century in some models."(3) But, as the new report by the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC) shows, climate scientists are now predicting the end of late-summer sea ice within three to seven years. The trajectory of current melting plummets through the graphs like a meteorite falling to earth. Forget the sodding polar bears: this is about all of us. As the ice disappears, the region becomes darker, which means that it absorbs more heat. A recent paper published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the extra warming caused by disappearing sea ice penetrates 1500km inland, covering almost the entire region of continuous permafrost(4). Arctic permafrost contains twice as much carbon as the entire global atmosphere(5). It remains safe for as long as the ground stays frozen. But the melting has begun. Methane gushers are now gassing out of some places with such force that they keep the water open in Arctic lakes, through the winter(6). The effects of melting permafrost are not incorporated into any global climate models. Runaway warming in the Arctic alone could flip the entire planet into a new climatic state. The Middle Climate could collapse faster and sooner than the grimmest forecasts proposed. Barack Obama's speech to the US climate summit last week was an astonishing development(7). It shows that, in this respect at least, there really is a prospect of profound political change in America. But while he described a workable plan for dealing with the problem perceived by the Earth Summit of 1992, the measures he proposes are now hopelessly out of date. The science has moved on. The events the Earth Summit and the Kyoto process were supposed to have prevented are already beginning. Thanks to the wrecking tactics of Bush the elder, Clinton (and Gore) and Bush the younger, steady, sensible programmes of the kind that Obama proposes are now irrelevant. As the PIRC report suggests, the years of sabotage and procrastination have left us with only one remaining shot: a crash programme of total energy replacement. A paper by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research shows that if we are to give ourselves a roughly even chance(8,9) of preventing more than two degrees of warming, global emissions from energy must peak by 2015 and decline by between six and eight per cent per year from 2020 to 2040, leading to a complete decarbonisation of the global economy soon after 2050(10). Even this programme would work only if some optimistic assumptions about the response of the biosphere hold true. Delivering a high chance of preventing two degrees of warming would mean cutting global emissions by over 8% a year. Is this possible? Is this acceptable? The Tyndall paper points out that annual emission reductions greater than one per cent have "been associated only with economic recession or upheaval." When the Soviet Union collapsed, they fell by some 5% a year. But you can answer these questions only by considering the alternatives. The trajectory both Barack Obama and Gordon Brown have proposed - an 80% cut by 2050 - means reducing emissions by an average of 2% a year. This programme, the figures in the Tyndall paper suggest, is likely to commit the world to at least four or five degrees of warming(11), which means the likely collapse of human civilisation across much of the planet. Is this acceptable? The costs of a total energy replacement and conservation plan would be astronomical, the speed improbable. But the governments of the rich nations have already deployed a scheme like this for another purpose. A survey by the broadcasting network CNBC suggests that the US federal government has now spent $4.2 trillion in response to the financial crisis, more than the total spending on World War Two when adjusted for inflation(12). Do we want to be remembered as the generation that saved the banks and let the biosphere collapse? This approach is challenged by the American thinker Sharon Astyk. In an interesting new essay, she points out that replacing the world's energy infrastructure involves "an enormous front-load of fossil fuels", which are required to manufacture wind turbines, electric cars, new grid connections, insulation and all the rest(13). This could push us past the climate tipping point. Instead, she proposes, we must ask people "to make short term, radical sacrifices", cutting our energy consumption by 50%, with little technological assistance, in five years. There are two problems: the first is that all previous attempts show that relying on voluntary abstinence does not work. The second is that a 10% annual cut in energy consumption while the infrastructure remains mostly unchanged means a 10% annual cut in total consumption: a deeper depression than the modern world has ever experienced. No political system - even an absolute monarchy - could survive an economic collapse on this scale. She is right about the risks of a technological green new deal, but these are risks we have to take. Astyk's proposals travel far into the realm of wishful thinking. Even the technological solution I favour inhabits the distant margins of possibility. Can we do it? Search me. Reviewing the new evidence, I have to admit that we might have left it too late. But there is another question I can answer more easily. Can we afford not to try? No we can't. © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008 ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

free public transport

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-22T20:50:07

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/22-3 Published on Saturday, November 22, 2008 by CommonDreams.org An Alternative to the Auto Bailout by Reede Stockton As the Big Three US automakers ramp up their pressure on Congress to cough up $25 billion in bailout money, the absence of a long term vision for economic recovery has never been more clear. The outgoing Bush administration and Congress are careening from bailout proposal to bailout proposal, putting hundreds of billions into the hands of the same people that created this toxic economic brew. Naomi Klein has recently detailed the horrifying parallels between the "free-fraud" zone created by the Bush administration in Iraq and the Treasury Department's handling of the bank bailout (http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2008/10/bailout-profiteers). As tempting as it is to offer bailout money to the US automakers in return for fleet-wide mileage reductions, changes in the mix of their fleets to include more hybrids and electric vehicles, and to support labor, it would be the wrong thing to do under current conditions. Imports from foreign automakers have backed up in American ports over the last few months and now represent roughly double the normal inventory, so the difficulties faced by automakers are not limited to US firms. US automakers, however, have additional problems because their fleets are dominated by too-large, fuel-inefficient models. That fleet makeup cannot be quickly changed. No matter what Congress does, US automakers are unlikely to survive this economic crisis as major car manufacturers. Over the years they have consistently made decisions that wedded themselves to the cheap oil past. And now, unsurprisingly, Congress is legitimately concerned that the $25 billion the industry wants will just postpone the inevitable. We need an alternative vision of economic development that is fully articulated and backed by a long term plan that builds momentum for a new green economy. Each new stimulus proposal must be evaluated in the context of its contribution to building green infrastructure, providing training for green careers and furthering a vision to build our local green economies. In that context, it is easy to see how wasteful $25 billion for the US auto industry would really be. Obama has already signaled that he understands massive expenditures will be required over the next several years to avoid economic catastrophe. No single issue gets to the heart of what is clearly an unsustainable American lifestyle as effectively as transportation. We should be prepared to spend 3-4 trillion dollars over the next 20 years, much of it front-loaded to have maximum impact upon the current economic downturn, to massively overhaul the structure of transportation in this country in a way that supports local green space, local agriculture, local artisans, local industry, relies solely upon clean energy, and improves the livability of American towns and cities. The federal government should rebuild passenger rail systems throughout the country and should offer to pay 100% of the cost for transit systems (including bus, light rail, train, subway, jitney, whatever) in any area with population over 10,000. The conditions for 100% subsidy of a local transit system should be that transportation must be FREE, it must rely solely upon clean energy, and coverage in terms of both hours and geography must be adequate to offer a complete replacement for automobile ownership for those who wish to abandon their cars. Why free? For years and years, the US has encouraged automobile usage and suburban/exurban sprawl by subsidizing cheap oil and providing massive sums for interstate highway construction. The result has been an ecological and human catastrophe. Providing free mass transit amounts to reversal of that tax benefit in a way that encourages, but does not require, the abandonment of the automobile as the dominant mode of transportation in the US. Imagine metropolitan areas with 50% or more of the acreage currently devoted to individual cars suddenly available for green space, pedestrian malls, community gardens, and bike paths. Imagine urban agriculture zones and walkable neighborhoods. Imagine a sharp reduction in CO2 emissions from transportation. All of this and more will happen when we move away from the individual auto. The needs of this country and the world are so huge after 8 years of Bush that it will be very difficult for Obama to avoid being pulled all over the map by competing interests. It is tremendously important that he and Congress understand which initiatives are the key, momentum-building, transformative proposals. For Obama and the incoming Congress, it's important to forego the bailout of the Big Three and develop a bold transportation alternative that reverses the dysfunctional growth of our autombile-driven economy. Reede Stockton works on Climate Equity and coordinates Online Activism for Global Exchange, and international human rights organization based in San Francisco. ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

Cycling Boom in London

Richard Risemberg — 2008-11-22T15:26:57

A quote: And a link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5209077.ece Rick -- Richard Risemberg http://www.bicyclefixation.com http://www.newcolonist.com http://www.rickrise.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

oil

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-21T15:13:26

Hi All, See: http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/20/news/companies/okeefe_oil_stocks.fortune/index.htm on oil supply prospects. Best, Joel The case for buying oil stocks Investor Daily: Even with gas prices in free fall and the global economy sputtering, now may be the time to bulk up on oil shares (if you dare). By Brian O'Keefe, senior editor Last Updated: November 21, 2008: 7:26 AM ET NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Last week, the Paris-based International Energy Agency released its World Energy Outlook 2008 - a 578-page book full of future supply, demand, and price estimates which this year also included an eagerly-awaited study of 800 of the world's largest oil fields. Here's the executive summary: Buy oil stocks. Considering that the price of oil has plummeted from $147 a barrel in early July to below $50 and that the global economic slowdown is putting a major damper on demand, that might not seem like such a good idea. But as the IEA study makes clear, the long-term supply and demand picture for oil continues to favor higher prices. Maybe much higher. The report estimates that energy demand will grow 1.6% a year on average through 2030, for a total increase of 45%. To meet that demand, daily oil production will need to rise from today's level of 85 million barrels to 106 million barrels. The study found high and rising depletion rates at existing oil fields that will make it increasingly hard for new supplies to keep pace. So, the IEA says, the world needs to invest some $26 trillion over the next couple of decades in infrastructure and exploration. "Given what we know about the decline rates, just to stay flat [in global oil production] we'd have to add the equivalent of four Saudi Arabias between now and 2030," said Matt Simmons, chairman of Houston energy investment bank Simmons & Co. International and author of Twilight in the Desert, the 2005 book that argues that even oil-rich Saudi Arabia's petroleum production might have peaked. "It's a very, very scary study. It's hard to argue with the data and it's ghastly what the data says." Over the next seven years, the IEA predicts that the price of oil will average $100 a barrel, and rise to more than $110 by 2030. "The era of cheap oil is over," Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA executive director, told reporters at a press conference in London. If Tanaka is right, the vicious sell-off in the equity markets over the past couple of months makes this a historically good entry point for investors looking to grab oil-industry bargains. etc. ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

Las Catalinas - (Nearly) Car Free town under development in Costa Rica

chasbrew — 2008-11-20T18:54:29

I wanted to make this group aware of a project I am working on in Costa Rica. It is intended to be a seaside resort town. There is a public road that passes through the town, which will have vehicles. But beyond that our intention is to make it largely car-free. New Urbanist designers and architects have been very much involved in the work to date. Frankly from their point of view I am rather extreme in my anti-car tendencies! Anyway I thought that you in this group might find the project of interest and might have some thoughts to offer. I hope that we can create quite a remarkably wonderful place here. And the fact that it is a resort town, rather than a regular work-a-day town, I believe gives us some extra degrees of freedom in trying some things (such as restrictions on car use)that would be harder to do in another setting. We don't have an real website up yet but I created a little site here where you can find some basic information: http://lascatalinas.wordpress.com/ We also have a work-group site where we carry on some interesting discussions about various design issues. That one is password protected so if you have an interest in getting access there let me know. Cheers, Charles Brewer Managing Member, Las Catalinas PS - I don't use my yahoo account for email so better to post here if you want to get in touch with me.

Fwd: VTPI News Traffic Safety Special Edition

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-20T15:17:07

----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

45 Days in Jail for Driver who Rode Around with Cyclist on the Hood of his Car

laurbanista — 2008-11-20T11:08:13

Road Rage Against Cyclist Last summer, the Oregonian reported an incident between a cyclist and a deranged driver in Portland: Jason Scott Rehnberg, 37, yelled at the car to slow down, and apparently angered by the remark, the driver chased the cyclist. He rode his bike into the neighborhood to escape and after a while, probably thinking he was safe, he went back on the road where the incident first happened. But the driver saw Rehnberg and backed his car to try to hit him. Read on for the rest of the story, including a video of Rehnberg on the hood of the car... Like in the Movies, Except Without a Stuntman After jumping off his bike just in time to avoid being hit, "Rehnberg and two other witnesses tried to block the car, saying they wanted to get the license plate. Millican allegedly drove at the three and struck Rehnberg, who was thrown onto the hood. Rehnberg held onto the windshield wipers as the car traveled at a high rate of speed and took a turn." A witness took this video at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/cyclist-on-hood-of-car-portland-oregon.php Cyclist on car hood

Progress in New York City

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-19T15:41:14

Hi All, You must see this video: http://local.theoildrum.com/node/4711 New York is actually doing something! Best, Joel ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

recycling big-box stores

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-16T20:36:59

Hi All, This is moderately interesting: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111303039.html?hpid=topnews Best, Joel Big Box & Beyond Today's Temples of Consumption Don't Have To Be Tomorrow's Ruins. What's in Store? By Joel Garreau Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page M01 For the purposes of this morning's discussion, the amazing thing about the Spam Museum -- as in the meat product -- is not that it exists. It's that it was created out of an abandoned Kmart. "The renovation of the Kmart building into what you see here today has the drama of a great epic," says Julie Craven, publicity representative for Spam in Austin, Minn. "We are going to be in this building for a long, long time. . . . We love it here." This report comes to you courtesy of Julia Christensen, a 32-year-old artist whose book, "Big Box Reuse," is being published this month by MIT Press. Its news is that those who gaze at the big-box stores of Rockville Pike or Manassas and fail to see future cathedrals, museums or artists' communities have no sense of history. Or imagination. This lesson looms because we're going to have to figure out what to do with a whole lot of big boxes, and soon. There are thousands of them -- vast prairies of Targets and Bed Bath & Beyonds and Costcos and Home Depots. Wal-Mart alone has 4,224 in the United States, more than half of them Supercenters into which, on average, you could comfortably fit four NFL football fields. The supply is growing, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. "Big-box space" continues to capture "the largest share of new additions to U.S. retail space," according to its April report. Yet consumer tastes are fickle, gas prices unpredictable, and some chains like Circuit City are on the ropes. Will people want more walkable village-like shopping experiences? Will they prefer to have their goods delivered via the Internet? No real estate trend is forever. Which is why it is beyond time to start thinking creatively about what to do with all the big-box stores in our burbs that become unsuited to their original function long before they physically wear out. This inspired The Washington Post to assemble a small team of artists, architects, engineers and developers to think creatively about what to do with these, our most common, underrated and increasingly available major buildings. Let your imagination soar. So what if big boxes seem at first glance like bridesmaids' dresses -- big, ugly and not a whole lot you can use them for. At second glance, with some alterations they can be made to seem so promising. As the celebrated novelist John Cheever wrote about his beloved suburbia: "For these are not as they might seem to be, the ruins of our civilization, but are the temporary encampments and outposts of the civilization that we -- you and I -- shall build." Big Boxes Packed With Possibilities People have been turning stables into apartments, warehouses into offices and palaces into churches since the dawn of fixed settlement. Even our nursery rhymes celebrate adaptive reuse -- "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe." We hardly remember how loathed and reviled were some ancient buildings before they were reprogrammed. We no longer pause to wonder which genius first looked at those "dark satanic mills" of New England's evil textile past and thought, "Hey, those would make great yuppie condos." Neither do we marvel at the unrecorded hero who first looked at those dangerous, aptly named sweatshops south of Greenwich Village and said, "Hey, those would make great artists' lofts." Which ultimately would be transformed into the pricey, trendy neighborhood called SoHo. In the burbs, however, adaptive reuse of humble, workaday structures still rattles our brains. The problem there is the history of this built environment. There is little -- at least until recently. In "Big Box Reuse," Christensen looks at the astonishingly imaginative people looking at obsolete Kmarts and Wal-Marts and saying, "Hey, those would make a great church." Or a go-cart race course. (Really!) Or the site for a courthouse. ("Law-Mart.") etc... ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

Parking Meters & Bicycling

Richard Risemberg — 2008-11-14T00:46:08

The following blog post developed rather suddenly over the course of the last hour, after I'd written to my local councilmember in regard to the removal of parking meters on Larchmont Boulevard (to be replaced by pay stations) and its effect on bike parking. http://www.bicyclefixation.com/blog/archives/00000243.html Pretty good news in my book. Rick -- Richard Risemberg Bicycle Fixation http://www.bicyclefixation.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

California economy loses $28 billion yearly to health effects of pollution

2008-11-13T23:58:36

This story was sent to you by: Rick -------------------- California economy loses $28 billion yearly to health effects of pollution -------------------- Most of the losses are attributable to 3,000 annual deaths, a Cal State Fullerton study says. The study underscores the economic benefits of meeting federal air quality standards. Louis Sahagun November 13 2008 The California economy loses about $28 billion annually due to premature deaths and illnesses linked to ozone and particulates spewed from hundreds of locations in the South Coast and San Joaquin air basins, according to findings released Wednesday by a Cal State Fullerton research team. The complete article can be viewed at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pollute13-2008nov13,0,3895359.story Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

No Auto Industry Bailout, Support Henry Waxman

Jym Dyer — 2008-11-13T20:56:57

=v= Congress, and especially Nancy Pelosi, are working hard on an American auto-industry bailout. There's word of a European auto-industry bailout that would follow in its wake. =v= So far I haven't seen any enviro group step up to the plate to oppose this. Credo, however, has just recently set up a web page for Americans to email our Congressional representative (e.g. Pelosi) to demand support for Harry Waxman rather than a climate change-denier from General Motors, and it has wording to suggest not bailing out the auto industry. You can add your own words about not bailing out the auto industry (I did). =v= The URL for this page is below, embedded in a form letter. <_Jym_> =------------8<-------------Cut-Here-------------8<------------= Subject: We need real solutions to fight climate change. Dear Friend, Global climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge of our generation. What we do (or don't do) affects not only our nation, but the world. You might thank that, with a new president poised to take office, we're in a great position to take serious action to address climate change. Unfortunately, a grizzled legislator named John Dingell, known as the "Congressman from General Motors," is standing in our way. The most important pieces of legislation addressing climate change must pass through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As chair of that committee, Congressman Dingell has exerted his power time and again to kill bills that could roll back global warming. Dingell has lined his campaign war chest with millions of dollars of contributions from electric, oil and coal companies. His wife (and potential successor to his Congressional seat) is a senior executive at General Motors. What's more, until recently, he wouldn't even admit that climate change was a real threat. I just signed a petition calling on my member of Congress to vote for Congressman Henry Waxman (a staunch environmentalist) to replace Dingell as the Energy and Commerce Chair -- I hope you will too. Please have a look and take action. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/energy_chair/?r_by=1512-713673-5Asfujx Thanks!

Introduction

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-12T19:19:00

Hi All, The Introduction is now on line in PDF format, which shows the basic format of the entire book: http://www.carfree.com/cdm/0_03.pdf Best, Joel ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

Oil Projections

Richard Risemberg — 2008-11-12T14:24:23

Good article from the Guardian. Sadly, it's only after a long disquisition on how we must invest to extract ever more oil over the next forty years that they throw in these chilling paragraphs on global warming and energy efficiency: Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/12/oil-gas-companies- credit-crunch Rick -- Richard Risemberg http://www.bicyclefixation.com http://www.newcolonist.com http://www.rickrise.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Carfree Design Manual

J.H. Crawford — 2008-11-04T14:09:08

Hi All, Just a short note on this election day to say that Carfree Design Manual is finally on press. It will take them two days to print it all. We should have books in the EU in December. The USA will have books about two months later (due to shipping times). Best, Joel ----- ### ----- J.H. Crawford Carfree Cities mailbox-WdiPhmTxsBdBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org http://www.carfree.com

USA Today Notices Bike Racks

Richard Risemberg — 2008-11-03T14:08:40

USA Today just published an article on arty bike racks, and quoted me at the end (though, inevitably, it wasn't a very direct quote abut "close enough"): http://tinyurl.com/6mhgkc Some good pix and overall a good article, not too patronizing, though the rag did file it under "News: Offbeat." Oh, well.... Rick -- Richard Risemberg Bicycle Fixation http://www.bicyclefixation.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

1. NYT - bikes on campus, 2. Chinese courtyard housing complexes

Christopher Miller — 2008-10-21T18:35:39

1. An article from the New York Times (via CoolTowns blog) on the success of free bike programmes on some US college campuses: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/education/20bikes.html?_r=1&oref=slogin ========================================================= With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus By KATIE ZEZIMA Published: October 19, 2008 BIDDEFORD, Me. — When Kylie Galliani started at the University of New England in August, she was given a key to her dorm, a class schedule and something more unusual: a $480 bicycle. (photos and comments link deleted) “I was like, ‘A free bike, no catch?’ ” Ms. Galliani, 17, a freshman from Fort Bragg, Calif., asked. “It’s really an ideal way to get around the campus.” University administrators and students nationwide are increasingly feeling that way too. The University of New England and Ripon College in Wisconsin are giving free bikes to freshmen who promise to leave their cars at home. Other colleges are setting up free bike sharing or rental programs, and some universities are partnering with bike shops to offer discounts on purchases. The goal, college and university officials said, is to ease critical shortages of parking and to change the car culture that clogs campus roadways and erodes the community feel that comes with walking or biking around campus. “We’re seeing an explosion in bike activity,” said Julian Dautremont- Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, a nonprofit association of colleges and universities. “It seems like every week we hear about a new bike sharing or bike rental program.” While many new bike programs are starting up, some are shutting down because of problems with theft and vandalism. The program at St. Mary’s College in Maryland was suspended because bikes were being vandalized. “Ours was one that was totally based on voluntary taking care of the bike,” said Chip Jackson, a spokesman for St. Mary’s, “and I guess that was maybe a tad unwise. So the next generation of this idea will have a few more checks and balances.” At Ripon, and the University of New England, officials say that giving students a bike of their own might encourage them to be more responsible. Ripon’s president, David C. Joyce, a competitive mountain biker, said the free bike idea came in a meeting about how to reduce cars on campus. The college committed $50,000 to the program and plans to continue it with next year’s freshmen. Some 200 Trek mountain bikes, helmets and locks were bought, and about 180 freshmen signed up for the program. “We did it as a means of reducing the need for parking,” Dr. Joyce said, “but as we looked at it from the standpoint of fitness, health and sustainability, we realized we have the opportunity to create a change.” (...more at the linked web page) ========================================================= 2. Via a posting on Treehugger, a Wikipedia article on the large courtyard housing complexes (Fujian Tulou) of Fujian Province: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_Tulou These are similar to the housing surrounding an interiour courtyard proposed in _Carfree Cities_ except that they seem to be a rural building type and have some characteristics in common with European defensive castles. The article contains a number of interesting photographs of different tulou. ========================================================= Christopher Miller Montreal QC Canada ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carfree_cities/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carfree_cities/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:carfree_cities-digest-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw< at >public.gmane.org mailto:carfree_cities-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw< at >public.gmane.org <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: carfree_cities-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw< at >public.gmane.org <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Monbiot's 100-year Committee Plan

Richard Risemberg — 2008-10-21T15:33:52

Very pertinent: http://tinyurl.com/5ogsjp Rick -- Richard Risemberg http://www.bicyclefixation.com http://www.newcolonist.com http://www.rickrise.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]