The challenge of norms.

Treehugger has a post on the insensitive banter to police officers had when covering an accident scene where a jogger was critically injured by a truck while running to work.

A man jogging in West Seattle was struck by a semi truck, and was critically injured. According to eyewitness accounts, the man was broadsided by the truck, was flung into the air, and landed on his head. Barely clinging to life, cops arrive on the scene--and proceed to mock the man, who for all they knew was dying, for not driving a car.
...
(from the Seattle Post Intelligencer - The accident took place during the extended closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, when the state Department of Transportation was urging commuters to bike, walk, or take a ferry to work in order to avoid a traffic gridlock.

The normal of driving is such that incidents like this convince parents not to let their kids walk or bike to school. This in turns creates the belief in kids that cars are the only way to get around and they cannot wait to get a drivers license as soon as they can. The challenge in life is to understand that there are other ways possible.

The pictures, er, charts say it all.....

Bike

Breathe

Live

Go here.

Thanks to FB (no not Facebook) for the pointer

The Numbers say it all...

Felix Salmon over at Reuters has a fantastic post about how the efforts of Janette Sadik-Khan (or better known as "JSK") on making NYC more bicycle friendly. I'll just post the picture below:



But Salmon puts it well

The lesson of this chart, then, is that if you build bike lanes, cyclists will appear to fill them. That’s fantastic news, since cities with lots of cyclists are always the most pleasant cities to live and work in — even for people who don’t bike themselves. New York City has a long way to go before it can be considered genuinely bike-friendly.

On the subject of Bicycle advocacy, The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is working with local cities to make them bicycle friendly. Consider the gift of membership this year if you are in the Bay Area.

ruh roh!

doesn't bode well. being responsible in this modern age means falling on your sword. how were we able to reduce CFCs and stop ozone depletion, but have not been able to do so with carbon emissions?!?! thoughts?