Draft Commuting
Via Treehugger.com, I present reason number 348 to love Buenos Aires – more than 60 miles of bike lanes to be built by 2011. Best part about it? The bike lanes are physically separated from the roadways. Simplesafersmarter, no doubt leading to more and more people opting to bike to work, to lunch, to the movies, etc.
I’m not a big biker, partly because I don’t want to get smoked by a veering Subaru, but mostly because of the cost. Do I want to invest in a bike and then not use it for large parts of the year due to weather, or my own laziness?
Thanks to the colaboration of TREK, Humana and Boulder-based Crispin Porter Bogusky, the cost issue is being addressed through the B-Cycle bike sharing program. It lets people pick and choose when they want to two-wheel it around town without having to drop a big chunk of dough. Another simple idea that could and should help propel the growing bike movement here in the States toward our own Buenos bike lane projects.
We actually have a pretty good contingent of dedicated road bikers here at WhiteWave. Maybe I’ll have them take me out sometime and see what this skinny-tire, shoe-locking-into-peddles balancing act is all about. Or I could just get one of these…
Safe from threat of veering Subaru
At age 14 William Kamkwamba of Malawai, Africa, went to the library and learned how to make his own electricity. “A simple farmer in a country of poor farmers,” Kamkwamba recently shared his story of facing adversity and the brave decision to not accept the looming dread of an impoverished future at the TED Conference.
Using resources from the library, and materials from a scrap yard William was able to build a windmill and create enough electricty to power lights and radios for his home. This didn’t change the world, but it did change his world. And in doing so, he helped change the world of others around him as well: “Queues of people, start lining up at my house to charge their mobile phones…”
Obviously cell phones don’t necessarily create or sustain life but in looking at the bigger picture, you can imagine the evolution of the situation.
- William builds windmill, powers his home. Later builds additonal windmill to power irrigation system and pump clean water…
- William’s neighbors cruise by, plug phones in to charge, ponder the possibility of maybe asking William to help them build their own windmills….
- William and his neighbors build a slew of windmills, power the whole village…
- Village famine ends. Farmers are able to feed their families, and sell extra crops for profits…
- William becomes very popular; opens a taco bar, ladies night and free margaritas on Thursdays…
You get the idea.
William’s story is just one of the many amazing videos featured on the TED website. Good place to start if you need some inspiration…
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