[Here’s my latest post over at @SustainableCitiesCanada ] Anyone who has been cycling in Canadian cities over the past fifteen years knows that things are changing. When I left Montreal for Vancouver in 2002 the city’s streets were still an aggressive dance between bike couriers, cars, and cyclists who wanted
Continue readingTag: Transportation
earthgauge: Earthgauge Radio September 27, 2012: Disappearing Arctic sea ice and Ottawa’s Environment Committee Chair Maria McRae
Download: earthgauge-podcast-sept27-2012.mp3 On this week’s edition of Earthgauge Radio, we’re talking about the astonishing summer melt of Arctic sea ice and we check in with the Chair of the City of Ottawa Environment Committee. I have 3 interviews on today’s show: Peter Wadhams, professor of Ocean Physics and Head of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Why Drivers Don’t Understand Cyclists
As an average cyclist I often find it confusing when drivers get their hate on for sustainable transit. Anyone who knows anything about the environment or living in an urban centre would acknowledge that bicycle infrastructure is important and creates a more vibrant city than car-dominated streets. Yet, car drivers
Continue readingThings Are Good: Tesla Motors Builds Solar Charging Stations
Tesla, the electric car company, has unveiled solar powered electric charging stations in the USA. This is a good step toward sustainable personal transportation. Not only has Tesla created battery charging stations called Superchargers for electric cars but they are giving the energy away for free to some lucky people.
Continue readingThings Are Good: California High Speed Rail is Green
Trains are way more efficient than cars and trucks when it comes to transporting people and goods, yet in North America, trains are often shunned for more wasteful transportation systems. This negative attitude towards sustainability is changing, notably California citizens voted for a high speed rail line in the state.
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Fossil Fuel Free Freighter
Cargo ships make the global economy work as goods need to be transported around the globe. These large ships have a large impact on the environment due to their fuel consumption and regulations around the ships can be lax. While the global maritime industry is responsible for three percent of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Copenhagen Gets Bike Superhighway
Copenhagen is known as the most bicycle friendly city on the planet and they keep getting better. Recently, the capital of Denmark has created a bicycle superhighway that is separated from car-dominated roads. The network of highways is designed to get people in the suburbs to get out of their
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Green Industrial Revolution
Today the CCPA released a new big picture report by myself and student researcher Amanda Card calling for a Green Industrial Revolution. The report builds on work done for the BC-focused Climate Justice Project, bringing to bear a national analysis of green and not-so-green jobs. We take a close look
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio May 31 2012: Shark conservation and Capital Velo Fest
Download: earthgaugeradio-podcast-may31-2012-sharkconservation.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, we’re taking a look at shark conservation and the Ottawa bike festival called Capital Velo Fest. The award-winning film Sharkwater will be screened this Tuesday, June 5 at 7:00PM at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa (a CKCU co-presentation) I have three interviews for you
Continue readingThings Are Good: More Women Riding Bikes in Southern California
Regular readers probably know that bicycles are the best form of transportation imaginable (I may be biased). It’s always good to read of efforts to get more people in North America riding bicycles, and to make things even better there’s a group of women in southern California that encourages other
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio May 10: Pedal power! The two-wheeled revolution is coming…
Download: earthgauge-radio-podcast-may10-2012.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, we’re talking bikes. After all, May is Bike to Work month so I have three cycling-related interviews for you on today’s program: Jess Wells, Program Coordinator at Envirocentre, which is coordinating activities for Ottawa Bike to Work month. Caron Cheng of Mountain Equipment
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How To Resolve The Transit Fare Evasion Problem
Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom is bringing in new legislation to crack down on fare evaders, allowing collection agencies to go after people who don’t buy tickets. If Lekstrom really wants to deal with fare evasion, then he needs to realize why people don’t pay the transit fares. If people can’t afford to buy a transit
Continue readingThings Are Good: Bike Lanes Makes Road Safer for Everyone
The worst mayor in Canada hates people who don’t drive automobiles and thinks cyclists deserve to die. The mayor of Toronto wants to remove bike lanes (while every smart city is installing more) despite the fact that the number of cyclists has increased. So where’s the good news you ask?
Continue readingThings Are Good: Car Free Days in Caracas are a Huge Success
In Venezuela’s largest city they’re looking to make roads usable for people again. The city of Caracas is encouraging people to come out and enjoy reclaimed public spaces on specific days in the city when cars aren’t allowed on a lot roads. Not only is this good for people it’s
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Parable of the Prius
I was at a talk on dematerialization a few weeks ago, and one of the speakers told “the parable of the Prius” to illustrate Jevon’s paradox that efficiency gains do not necessarily reduce energy consumption (and from a climate perspective, greenhouse gas emissions). In the case of buying a fuel-efficient
Continue readingThings Are Good: What’s in a Lot?
Here’s a challenge from Eran Ben-Joseph: name a great parking lot. Couldn’t do it, could you? Neither could I, and neither could Ben-Joseph. In a new book ReThinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking he explores the horribleness of all that space that car drivers demand. If you
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Air travel and carbon footprint
A bi-annual vehicle emissions test got me thinking about my personal carbon footprint. A lot broad-brush numbers and calculators exist out there to calculate one’s footprint, but I’ve never found them to be very reliable because they have to generalize across a very heterogeneous population in terms of location, type
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Universal Student Transit Pass
I have an opinion piece out on the City of Ottawa’s universal, student transit pass–also known as “the U-Pass.” Points raised in the op-ed include the following: -U-Pass programs exist for roughly 30 universities and colleges across Canada. -For a U-Pass program to be introduced, students typically must vote in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Madrid Turned a Highway into a Park
Madrid made a very wise urban planning decision and buried a highway to make room for people and nature. Thanks to a lack of foresight, the Rio Manzanares was surrounded by concrete and industrial spaces that made for depressing scene. The smart people in Madrid decided to change that and
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Future of Transit: Gondolas
The Gondola Project is all about bringing fast and cheap public transit to cities by using (what else?) gondolas! Some people may think that gondolas are only for ski resorts or tourists but there’s a lot of growing interest around the world in using gondolas as an alternative to light
Continue reading