IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

A BILL

To ensure that all users of the transportation system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, children, older individuals, and individuals with disabilities, are able to travel safely and conveniently on and across federally funded streets and highways.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011’’.

1 (1) COMPLETE STREET.—The term ‘‘complete

2 street’’ means a roadway that—

3 (A) safely accommodates all travelers, par-

4 ticularly public transit users, bicyclists, pedes-

5 trians (including individuals of all ages and in-

6 dividuals with mobility, sensory, neurological, or

7 hidden disabilities), motorists, and freight vehi-

8 cle operators; and

9 (B) enables all travelers to use the road-

10 way safely and efficiently.

Bill sponsor Tom Harkin understands the connection between autocentric street design and health and safety. “In many places across the country, there is a complete lack of sidewalks and bike lanes,” said Sen. Harkin in a statement upon release of the legislation. “This not only makes our roadways more dangerous for pedestrians, it discourages people from being more active by walking or riding a bike.” (from dc.streetsblog.org)

Copenhagen is Cool

How many cars are in the United States? Take a guess. Answer is after the video.


There were 254,403,082 cars in the United States as of 2007. Did you guess correctly?
Here is an interesting table that shows the Number of U.S. Aircraft, Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Conveyances in the US from 1960 to 2007. The numbers paint an interesting picture. There are more than a quarter BILLION cars in the country now. There are only around 300 million people in the US. This is simply not sustainable. What we need to do at the local, state and national levels is promote the two most sustainable forms of transportation... walking and bicycling.

More Rain

The good thing about the rain is that the chapparral on the hills will turn really green. I love the soft bright green of the Ceanothus. San Diego County has 1,003,441 acres of chapparral. If you want to know more about the chapparral, check out the CALIFORNIA CHAPARRAL INSTITUTE : http://www.californiachaparral.com/

But the rain is hard for biking. Imagine being next to this car. Fenders would not help.

Map My Ride Website

Found MapMyRide.com and spent a couple of hours creating rides and looking at the features of the site. I love this site. I will probably become a GOLD member when I get a bit more money. The free membership is fantastic. I made a couple of maps of some routes I will hike or ride. This one is a 3 mile loop that goes over some nice hills. There is an elevation feature that calculates how much climbing and descending each route does. http://mapmyride.com/

One gallon of gas

Burning 1 Gallon of Gasoline Produces 20 Pounds of CO2.
One of the major culprits in CO2 pollution is the automobile. You may be surprised to learn how much pollution is produced when you drive your car. For every gallon of gasoline you burn in your car, you remove 21 pounds of breathable Oxygen from the atmosphere, as well as adding 20 pounds of CO2, or Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere. This might seem unlikely or improbable, but it is a fact.
A gallon of gasoline weighs 6.3 pounds and is comprised of 87% Carbon (C) and 13% Hydrogen (H). When you burn gasoline, a chemical reaction occurs, using Oxygen from the atmosphere. The Hydrogen and the Carbon separate, then recombine with Oxygen from the atmosphere to form H2O, or water, and CO2, or Carbon dioxide.
EPA calculation page
When you multiply that 21 pounds by the United States daily consumption of gasoline (378 million gallons), the result is 7.9 Billion pounds of Oxygen that we are removing from the atmosphere and converting into 7.5 Billion pounds of CO2 each and every day of the year.
Today, I rode my bicycle to the bank, the office supply store and Radio Shack. If I had driven a car, I would have used a gallon of gas. But I rode my bicycle, got some exercise and saw a humming bird fly right near me as I rode along the sidewalk.

Trip to Jimbo's Natural Food Store

Lisa and I rode to Jimbo's using the short cut we found a couple of days ago. The ride was around 7 miles round trip and was enjoyable. We rode on the sidewalk because in general, the bike lanes do not feel safe. I like separation of cars and bikes especially on a road where the speed limit is over 45mph. I shot footage with the Helmet Cam.

Jimbo's is a wonderful supermarket. The produce looks amazing and while some of it is from distant places, a lot of it is local. I bought some broccoli and some grass fed organic beef. I have been reading the "THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA" by Michael Pollan and have been thinking a lot more about what I eat and what the environmental consequences are of what I choose to eat. Corn fed beef has more fat as well as more e coli and is raised in giant polluting feed lots.

“What should you eat? Michael Pollan addresses that fundamental question with great wit and intelligence, looking at the social, ethical, and environmental impact of four different meals. Eating well, he finds, can be a pleasurable way to change the world.” —Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food

Why I don't own a car

There are several reasons I have given up car ownership, but the most important one is that cars are not good for the environment. Cars pollute, they are loud, they use a lot of land for their operation and storage, and they are expensive. Of course there are positive aspects to car ownership. We all know what these are. I want to explore and document alternatives to the car for short trips. I have a Helmet Cam and a bicycle trailer. The Helmet Cam is to document my rides around suburban southern California and the trailer is for hauling groceries and other goods. Additionally, oil is a non-renewable resource that has great value and it is wasteful to burn it in engines. Check out the concept of Peak Oil. Here is a paragraph from a report commissioned by the US government on Peak Oil:

The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem. As peaking is approached, liquid fuel prices and price volatility will increase dramatically, and, without timely mitigation,the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented. Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking.
In 2003, the world consumed just under 80 million barrels per day (MM bpd) of oil. U.S. consumption was almost 20 MM bpd, two-thirds of which was in the transportation sector. The U.S. has a fleet of about 210 million automobiles and light trucks (vans, pick-ups, and SUVs).

So if two-thirds of US consumption is in the transportation sector, then it seems that the easiest target for reduction is that sector. While not easy, living without a car is not hard either. Just less convenient.

Picking up packing peanuts

I picked up some packing peanuts that I found on Freecycle. Peanuts cannot be recycled. I do a lot of shipping and use a fair amount of peanuts. I am always happy when I find something to reuse. It looks like a lot in the trailer, but it was easy to pull.

Looking for shortcuts

I walked about 3 miles today with my neighbor Lisa and her 2 dogs. We found a second path that leads to Rancho Bernardo (our suburban town to the north). I have been scouting a route to ride my bicycle to Jimbo's , an organic and natural foods grocery store in Rancho Bernardo. I estimate the ride will be about 7 miles round trip with a couple of big hills as well as some riding on heavy traffic streets. Driving a car to Jimbo's would be about 10 miles round trip including a few miles on the 15. The green circles on the map show the 2 shortcuts paths from Rancho Penasquitos to Rancho Bernardo and the red is the route we will ride to Jimbo's on Friday. Without the shorcut, the ride would be nearly double the distance. I will wear the Helmet Cam to collect video. I have been collecting video footage since July 2008 of my many bicycle rides. Look for postings soon.

17 Months Without a Car

I doubt I can recap 17 months of CAR Free living in San Diego in one blog post. But I will try to recap over the next couple of weeks my successes and lessons replacing a car with a bicycle.

There is no doubt that I am in better shape. My legs are stronger, my cardiovascular endurance has improved, and I feel a bit righteous about not polluting the air while running errands. I have used cars occasionally either renting from Enterprise or borrowing from family or friends.

Live without a car in San Diego - an experiment in low carbon output

I have sold my car, my 2003 Honda Element with AWD ABS and a CD MP3 stereo player, and seats that fold down, a car that is completely paid for. After getting the cash... and it was cash, I rode my bicycle to the bank. Riding back from the bank after depositing the money, I felt a slight sense of righteousness, of right, of green. Plus, the cheap gas station was selling regular gas for $4.59 a gallon. This is an experiment to see what the limitations are, and if the concerns of my friends and family are justified. Will life be "impossible" without a car? No, but getting to the beach will be harder.

My impressions of my first task completed riding a bike:

• I was struck by the decibel level of the 15 as I rode over it... quite loud.
• Actual navigation in the bike lanes was easy, but I did ride on the sidewalk a couple of times because the traffic lane seemed too close to the bike lane.
• I think that drivers are more distracted than a decade ago.
• I got sweaty but that felt good.
• The round trip took 40 minutes, not bad.

Next step, attach container to bike trailer, attach bike trailer to bike and go grocery shopping.