Climate Cities

A commute point

Tomorrow is Commute Another Way Day! In Maine, at least (anyone know of this happening elsewhere?), this is an annual event to promote carpools, vanpools, public transit, biking, walking, pogo-sticking, and other eco-friendly alternatives to that long, lonely slog to and from the 9-to-5. According to the CAWD website:

Last year, more than 500 employers and 5,000 commuters got involved statewide, helping to reduce traffic congestion and auto emissions by eliminating 6,000 auto trips; 62,000 auto miles; 1.65 tons of harmful pollution; and $32,000 in commuting costs ... all in a single day!

And you know what else those commuters did? They won prizes! Who doesn't love prizes?

So hop in/on/around/to one of these official Transportation Mode Choices and commute another way!

And speaking of earth-friendly commutes, this week's InterActivist, Don Shaffer, is co-owner of Comet Skateboards -- a San Francisco company making eco-'boards at the world's only solar-powered skateboard factory. Shaffer takes his work home (and then back to work?) by commuting via a skateboard + BART combo.

And as InterActivist this week, he's also taking questions from the Grist peanut gallery -- until the deadline tomorrow at noon (PDT), that is. Ask him about poppin' ollies on the way home from work. Or ask him about his other passion -- providing support to small, local businesses trying to fight corporate cronyism. Ask him anything! We'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

Sustain’t Misbehavin’

Portland, Ore., ranked as most sustainable city in U.S. Portland, Ore., took top honors in SustainLane.com’s 2006 ranking of the sustainability of America’s 50 most populous cities. The rankings were based on a laundry list of the usual environmental factors: breathable air, clean drinking water, renewable energy, parks, green buildings, farmers’ markets, affordable housing, recycling, […]

South Central Community Farm update

If you haven't been keeping up: The situation at the South Central Community Farm has gotten even more grim. The farmers have received an eviction order. A variety of celebs and quasi-celebs and hippie ex-celebs have taken up direct action, camping out on the farm. Julia Butterfly Hill is even sitting up in a tree. It's not looking good.

Go give them some money.

(Meanwhile, the same city that can't cough up $10 million for this community farm is contemplating spending $800 million renovating a sports stadium to attract an NFL team. Awesome.)

Fuel Me Once, Shame on You

GM promotion will cap gas at $1.99 a gallon for SUV buyers In a promotion that begins today, General Motors promised to cap gasoline prices at $1.99 a gallon for a year for customers in California and Florida who purchase certain new full-size SUVs or midsize cars. That’s right: if you buy a gas-guzzler from […]

Move Thyself: Deer avoids car, hits man on bicycle

D'oh, a deer ...

In other bicycle news, it seems the Chinese masses are increasingly trading in their classic cruiser-style Flying Pigeon bikes for cushy mountain bikes and higher tech road bikes (oh, and cars).

Not a huge surprise, as an increase in affluence often leads to a transportation upgrade. But nonetheless, the state-owned bike company has noted the changing demographics of its riders as well as a dip in sales.

It’s a Mall World, After All

Green mega-mall gets green light to build in Syracuse, N.Y. Destiny USA — the purportedly uber-green mega-mall planned for Syracuse, N.Y. — is finally ready to move into the construction phase, after developers and local officials ended years of bickering and reached a 30-year tax deal this week. According to lead developer Robert Congel, it […]

The Wrong Side of the BedZed

Problems in one green community won’t keep U.K. from building more Four years ago, a housing complex called BedZed opened in south London with the ambitious goal of running entirely on renewable energy. Well, things haven’t gone quite as planned. BedZed’s biomass-fueled electric system was unreliable, forcing it to go on the national energy grid. […]

Cars pollute the dictionary too

I don’t want to rock your world too severely, but it’s come to my attention that cars cause problems. If you’re not the U.S. government, you may have heard about this global-warming thing, caused in part by driving. There’s also a metric truckload of other health and environmental nightmares caused by monoxides, dioxides, hydrocarbons, and […]

Move Thyself: A tribute to fallen cyclists, and cycling away the gas-price blues

Tonight in some 200 U.S. cities (and six other countries), cyclists will be joining in the Ride of Silence to pay tribute to bicyclists who've been killed or injured on public roadways.

And there are a lot.

From the Seattle Times article:

In 2004, in Seattle there were 258 bicycle collisions with cars -- resulting in 224 injuries and one death, according to the city's Department of Transportation.

Um, make that 260, and 225 injuries. My two collisions that year went unreported. (Stupid minivans!)

And from the Oregonian:

The most recent Oregon Department of Transportation statistics show 14 bicyclists died in Portland-area collisions with motor vehicles from 2000 through 2005. Meanwhile, the number of reported bicycle crashes has held steady for years at about 160 annually.

Join a ride near you and reclaim the streets.

Countries May Have Shifted During Flight

China builds new airports; still not as pollutey as U.S. China plans to build 48 new airports in the next five years, spending $17.5 billion on construction and continuing expansion of existing hubs. The country is already the premier buyer of Boeing and Airbus planes, and has vowed to buy 100 planes every year until […]