Welcome to our new home on the web: http://carfreecambridge.com. We’re glad you stopped by, and as an extra favor please take a minute to update your bookmarks. If you subscribe via an RSS reader, your subscription has updated to the new digs. If you don’t, you really should!
Around the web, there are some people reacting to the BP oil spill horror show in the gulf with calls to drive less.
- Tammy at Rowdy Kittens connects carfree/carlight living, simplicity, and reducing our dependence on cars. She goes over some great practical steps.
- The Daily Kos has a rant about why we all need to stop driving.
- Community organizer Malik Rahim is going to be biking from New Orleans to DC “to confront legislators in Washington DC on the need for substantial action to restore the Gulf from the devastating oil spill that continues to wreak havoc throughout the region”. Read more and watch the video (scroll to bottom for video).
- Rahim’s ride seems like a lot better idea Hands Across the Sands, which had Americans flocking to our beaches today (in cars, natch) to all get a feel-good buzz after all the depressing oil spill news. I enjoyed the critique at On The Level.
Welcome again and you’ll be hearing more from us soon!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The comments on the Kos rant are interesting/depressing. Can’t, can’t, can’t, far too often.
I’m commuting to work about half by bike (it’s 10 miles one way), and looking at what it would take to get rid of that remaining half is interesting. To dispense with the “it’s raining” excuse, we’d need roads paved to a no-potholes standard (the asphalt in Burlington is deformed/rutted by truck traffic, too). To dispense with the “it’s snowing excuse”, we probably need separate facilities — the bike is plenty safe in the snow, but cars are hopeless. (I am taking for granted that actual driver education is a non-starter.)
And I’m several standard deviations from the norm; most people are put off by the simple distance and the car traffic.
The Fresh Pond Whole Foods parking lot seems like a useful barometer; nowadays, it is filled with cars. Either people are unwilling/unaware that they could make the effort, or else they do not own bikes adequate for typical American shopping. Is it simply a matter of not enough cargo bikes? The Madsen+bucket seems like the best bet for making progress there; it’s among the cheapest of the pre-built cargo bikes, and its bucket offers an easy answer to the my-wiggly-kids question. Does anyone sell those around here? I just looked, Schwalbe (at least) does make a 20″ snow tire, so yes, you could ride one year-round here, even on the non-salted Minuteman Trail.
Love the new site! And that banner is great!