Posted in Advocacy
by Mark at 9:26 pm
The PBC has put together a quick survey asking about how you use your bike and what, if anything, can be done to get you on your bike more frequently. Our goal of the survey is two fold:
- We want to better understand the community of cyclists interested in the PBC and our activities
- We want to get some input on where we should focus our energy
Please take a moment and fill out our survey. Thanks to the generosity of The Hub and Providence Cycle, we are able to reward those of you who fill out the entire survey!
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05.22.08
Posted in Advocacy
by Margherita at 9:51 am
1. AGRICULTURE: Change your menu and save the planet? (05/22/2008)
Sara Goodman, ClimateWire reporter
Climate change means different things to different people. To Tim LaSalle, chief executive of the Rodale Institute, it has brought opportunity: the acceleration of a trend his group has been pushing for years. He wants to make people more aware of where their groceries come from and how they are produced. To the Rodale folks, saving the planet can begin by altering your dinner menu.
“People are concerned about their health, and they’re getting worried about the chemicals and pesticides that are in regular farming,” LaSalle said. “They’re trying to get cleaner, safer food and many understand they’re making an environmental commitment.”
What’s new is that this message is resonating well beyond the crunchy granola set. In recent months, organically grown food has been a better bet than the stock market. Food producers are beginning to prick up their ears. According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, a consortium of Iowa State University, Kansas State University and the University of California, the organic food market has grown nearly 20 percent per year for the last seven years as climate-consciousness has spread.
Read the rest of this entry »
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05.21.08
Posted in Announcements
by Mark at 10:57 pm
We are happy to announce that we’ve added a a media gallery to our site. This will let us post interesting pictures featuring the cycling culture in and around Providence.
For our first picture, I’ve uploaded a picture of a bike rack I saw while traveling in MN. There are a couple interesting racks I’ll snag pictures of around RI and post them once I get a chance. If you see an interesting bike rack, drop us an email with the image and we will get it posted on the site.
Keep an eye out for Bike-to-Work day pictures!
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Posted in Bike-to-Work Day
by Mark at 10:12 am
RIPTA/Commuter Resource and the Hub bike shop, would to congratulate Brian Haseltine on winning the raffle (Jamis Commuter1bike) on bike to work day. Brian bikes to work regularly to his job at Fidelity Investments in Smithfield. Commuter Resource had 17 cyclists commit to bike 52 days a year to work, making them eliglbe for a commuter bike bag. A number of people demonstrated the RIPTA rack and ride system and now feel more confident in using it. We look forward to next year!
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05.19.08
Posted in Bike Commuting
by Mark at 10:41 pm
Another major publication, US News & World Report, published an article leading up to Bike-to-Work day about bicycles. This one was entitled 6 Myths About Commuting By Bicycle and included on their list is:
- It’s too dangerous
- It’s too far
- I’ll need an expensive bike
- It’s impossible to carry the stuff I need
- There’s nowhere to shower
- Biking will make me impotent
Of all the reasons I hear from people, #1 is certainly the most common. Is there anything else they should have had on their list? I have to admit, after reading the list, I went back and confirmed my suspicion that it was a male author; I doubt #6 would have made the cut otherwise!
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Posted in Advocacy, Bike Commuting, East Bay
by Margherita at 7:17 am
Inertia at the Top
Belated, Patchy Response Further Hamstrung By Inadequate Federal Attention, Experts Say
By Susan Levine and Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 19, 2008; A01
The problem at first was that the problem was ignored: For almost two decades, young people in the United States got fatter and fatter — ate more, sat more — and nobody seemed to notice. Not parents or schools, not medical groups or the government.
But since the alarm was finally sounded in the late 1990s, the problem has been the country’s reaction: a fragmented, inchoate response that critics say has suffered particularly from inadequate direction and dollars at the federal level.
“The sense of this as a national health priority just doesn’t come through,” said Jeffrey P. Koplan of Emory University, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and chairman of the Institute of Medicine’s 2004 study of childhood obesity. The top recommendation of that seminal report was for the government to convene a high-level, interdepartmental task force to guide a coordinated response. No such body has been assembled.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advocacy
by Margherita at 7:01 am
May 19, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Stranded in Suburbia
BERLIN
I have seen the future, and it works.
O.K., I know that these days you’re supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of “old Europe.”
But we’re living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices — gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon — have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world.
If Europe’s example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don’t drive them too much.
Read the rest of this entry »
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05.16.08
Posted in Bike-to-Work Day
by Mark at 2:02 pm
For the second week in a row now, the weekly Providence City News publication has featured an article on Bike-To-Work Day. In addition for Bike Week, they ran a feature that grew out of an interview I had with them earlier this week. It’s great to see the increased press B2WD has received this year!
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05.15.08
Posted in Bike-to-Work Day
by Mark at 2:49 pm
We’ve had a few people write and ask whether the B2WD event will still happen, even though they are predicting rain for tomorrow. The event is happening, rain or shine! Hope to see you tomorrow and let’s hope for the 50% chance of not getting rain.
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05.13.08
Posted in Advocacy
by Mark at 9:10 pm
In conjunction with Bike Week, the PBC has put together a quick survey asking about how you use your bike and what, if anything, can be done to get you on your bike more frequently. Our goal of the survey is two fold:
- We want to better understand the community of cyclists interested in the PBC and our activities
- We want to get some input on where we should focus our energy
Please take a moment and fill out our survey. Thanks to the generosity of The Hub and Providence Cycle, we are able to reward those of you who fill out the entire survey!
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