On this first day of fall, September 22, 2010 is World Carfree Day. If you are reading this blog, chances are riding around on a bike has some how impacted how you live your life and perhaps you have thought about your influence in your immediate community. It seems that there's a similar desire for contemplation regarding the implementation of this day.
Please fill in your own thoughts on World Carfree Day 2010. Do you think we're getting there? Do you think after the oil spill (pick your favorite one!) people will rethink how they use for transportation purposes? For those of you who are car-lite, can this be one of the days you don't use the car? For those of you who are neither car(e)free nor car-lite, is it feasible for you to think about and reexamine how you use your car daily? If you are car free, maybe one can think about how food gets to the table, and ways to describe that to that one person you know who is always drinking soda with a straw out of a plastic bottle.
Let us know in the comments.
I live without a car. For me the things which make it easy are the following:
ReplyDelete1) Almost no-one needs a car, it is just a luxury for most.
2) Pannier rack and bags
3) #2 taken to an extreme with the Yuba Mundo cargo bike. this allows me to shop in a similar manner to a car user, without the expense of a car, fuel and insurance. It also helps me avoid the expense of a gym.
4) I live in a city, so everything I need to use regularly is within a few miles.
5) Most of my friends who started driving at an early age are now overweight, unhealthy and unhappy. Thanks to not using a car I am thinner and healthier than I was at 18.
bicis rrrrrrrrrock <3
ReplyDeleteiwas happy to see this week there was a few rides organized for DF/Mexico City as it has been the place that I have visited with the most cars ive *ever* seen
here's the facebook page with a cute little image: http://bit.ly/9a8cyu
not to mention there was a BBC article recently entitled: "Commuting by car 'can damage mental health'" and the cost of cars in that they keep poor people in debt and in bad health, not to mention the cost to the environment.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of World Bicycle Relief? Check it out. http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/
ReplyDeleteI came to the conclusion over thirty years ago that cars were dangerous, harmful, wasteful and insidiously marketed. I do find them useful on occasion, and even own one (it sits still, mostly), but I have always used other modes whenever possible. When I moved out of my parents' house to go to college, I took my bicycle, and had no need of anything else for years. I have toured in the US and europe, and done most of my commuting, errands, and recreation under my own power ever since I could. Circumstances sometimes dictate that I must use a motor vehicle, but it always feels better to pedal, even though it tends to be very lonely where I ride. I can only hope to set some sort of example, standing out from the majority of traffic as I do. Sometimes that even works. Val
ReplyDeleteI read a study recently, by a biologist, which was about the effects of automotive travel on mental health. Here's the basic gist: until the last hundred years or so, human beings never traveled faster than a horse, so our brains have evolved over millennia to take in information at that speed. When we're traveling faster than that, it's stressful on our brain to try and process that much info that fast, which causes an immense amount of stress and is detrimental to our well-being. Which is all to say that cars stress you out! I'm sure you're all surprised. And- newsflash!- bikes relax us! That's why everyday is car-free day for me!
ReplyDelete"Do you think after the oil spill (pick your favorite one!) people will rethink how they use for transportation purposes?"
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting question. Thinking about the recent BP oil spill, I never heard any questioning in the media coverage of how much oil we need, how we can cut back, etc. It was all totally focussed on the mistakes that allowed the spill, with the undertone that BP allowed errors to occur, but that we do need them to collect this oil.
I personally am carfree, but my boyfriend uses his car a lot. Even though he cycles to work, he enjoys 'going for a drive'.