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The danger came from themselves

(I found this comment on the subject of walking to school.)
At one school my daughter walked to, traffic was a big issue. Most affluent parents who lived within walking distance of the school drove their kids to school. Some drove the kids just a few blocks. When I asked why their kids didn’t walk they said "Too Dangerous, too many cars." Well the cars were from parents driving their kids to the school. The street had few cars at 8am during school breaks. All kids more than a mile from school got bussed. If all driving parents at that school participated and walked with their children to school on one day, it might open their eyes to the fact that the danger came from themselves. The parents might think they are doing their children a favor but my daughter liked walking to school until she became a teenager. When she grew up she confided to me that when she was getting bussed to school she and her friend would deliberately miss the bus so they could walk. Walking wasn’t a burden for her it was an adventure.
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Get a Car or Get a Life!

(A) Aren’t Cars Great??
"Cars are great! Fast! Convenient! Sexy! Freedom!"
Well, no, no, and no again.
First, cars aren’t anywhere near as fast or convenient as they seem. Speed is, of course, the distance you go, divided by the time it takes. Problem is, the "time it takes" to get somewhere by car is not just the time spent driving. You also spend time
Continue reading “Get a Car or Get a Life!”

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She Got Bike!

Pre-registration for She Got Bike! ends next Tuesday (9/26). This is your
last chance to get the very cool, pink, chainring-design event t-shirt for
FREE. Don’t miss out on the biggest celebration of women’s cycling in the
Mid-Atlantic – or the free shirt. Great rides, interesting lectures and
lots of prizes — for only $14!

Trek will also be at the event at 7am doing bike fittings for attendees on
their line of WSD bikes – so if you’ve always wanted to take a Madone for a
spin, this is your chance!

Register at https://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1331289. More
info at www.bbcracing.org.

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Some Things To Think about

  • In a year, a typical North American car will add
    close to 5 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
  • The average number of barrels of oil consumed daily
    in the US is 17 million
  • Driving consumes 43% of those barrels of oil
  • Over the last 20 years the average length of a
    commute has increased 40%, miles driven has increased over 50% and time
    spent in traffic has increased 225%
  • According to the Federal Department of Energy more
    than 50% of the working population in the US lives within 5 miles of
    the place they work
  • Although more than 60% of all trips are 5 miles or
    less fewer than 1% are actually made by bicycle
  • One fourth of all trips people make are one mile or
    less, yet three fourths of these short trips are made by car
Cycling can help the environment
  • A four mile round trip by bicycle prevents the
    production of 15 lbs of air pollution
  • A seven mile commute by bicycle instead of car each
    day saves almost 9 pounds of hydrocarbons, more than 66 pounds of
    carbon monoxide, 4.4 pounds of oxides of nitrogen and 1319 pounds of
    carbon dioxide emissions annually
  • If just one out of every 10 commuters who now drive
    to work switched to bicycling, the savings would amount to 2 billion
    gallons per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25.4 million
    tons
  • 8 bicycles can be parked in the space required for
    just one car

Continue reading “Some Things To Think about”

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PJ is biking to Brazil to pass the Climate Stewardship Act

Yes, PJ (Paul Park) is embarking on a bicycle journey from the Mount Rainier (MD) Bike Coop all the way through Central America, across the north coast of South America to the city of Natal in northeastern Brazil. PJ is raising funds and collecting signatures to pass groundbreaking global warming legislation in Congress–the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act. see www.undoit.org
PJ will embark on the journey Sunday, Sept. 17th at 9:30am towards Fredericksburg via Mount Vernon. I invite you to join me on the beautiful ride to Mount Vernon! Meet at the Mount Rainier bike coop (behind city hall and library in alley) Sunday, Sept. 17th at 9:30am.
Follow PJ on his journey at www.biketobrazil.blogspot.com.