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View Full Version : Happy Earth Day!



MALcontent
04-22-2008, 05:10 AM
It's a day to celebrate our environmental superiority as cyclists! I haven't been acting so superior in my commuting habits :(, so I committed to riding my bicycle to the train today. What a lovely experience! I pledge to do it more often! Any other Earth Day stories out there?

Pax
04-22-2008, 05:20 AM
I bought a scooter over the weekend, now my 16mpg SUV will stay parked and I'll scoot along at 90mpg...on the days when my old injuries permit I'll pedal along at 0mpg!

jesvetmed
04-22-2008, 05:30 AM
I have an appointment about 10 miles away... will ride there today, as the hail and sleet have FINALLY stopped (I hope!). Supposed to do "lactate intervals" for my workout, which I will save for my trip home.

Might also go buy some plants and start the gardening tomorrow -- almost for earth day!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Running Mommy
04-22-2008, 05:54 AM
Saturday they had an earth day event here in our community. They allowed people to PARK IN THE BIKE LANES!!!!:mad:
Of course there are dirt overflow lots they COULD have parked in, but that would have made them walk a bit... Ohh the HORROR!!! :cool::mad::cool:

And yes, I did contact our community office about it as well as post something on the online board.

The real sad thing is most people in the community are within walking distance of the lakes, but they choose to pull out the suv's and drive that .75 mile....:confused:

rij73
04-22-2008, 07:02 AM
Saturday they had an earth day event here in our community. They allowed people to PARK IN THE BIKE LANES!!!!:mad:
Of course there are dirt overflow lots they COULD have parked in, but that would have made them walk a bit... Ohh the HORROR!!! :cool::mad::cool:

Wow... that's just wrong.

Jolt
04-22-2008, 07:23 AM
Wow... that's just wrong.

It is just ridiculous--at any time, but even more so for an Earth Day festival!

Bad JuJu
04-22-2008, 07:31 AM
I'm not cycling today, but rode my motorcycle to campus instead of the car. Like Queen, even when I can't ride my bike, I often ride my 14-year-old Suzuki for work and errands, for a much more satisfying and earth-friendly mpg than my suburban assault vehicle gets. More fun, too!

HBille
04-22-2008, 07:32 AM
Isn't it way amusing how folk drive their SUVs to Earth Day rallies? Certainly a thing that makes one go hmmmm... What are they thinking?!

Jolt
04-22-2008, 08:52 AM
It's a day to celebrate our environmental superiority as cyclists! I haven't been acting so superior in my commuting habits :(, so I committed to riding my bicycle to the train today. What a lovely experience! I pledge to do it more often! Any other Earth Day stories out there?

Slightly off topic, but I noticed you're in MA as well and ride the train. Depending on my class/clinical schedule and the weather on any given day, I've sometimes found myself wishing I could bring my bike on the train to ride from, for example, the station to my clinical site to avoid all the waiting around for the T or the bus. However, that isn't possible because bikes aren't allowed on peak-hour trains (and as things currently stand, that is a reasonable rule because there'd be no room) which is irritating. If the MBTA were to put a "bike car" on each peak train (maybe with the seats taken off one side and places to put bikes there instead, and then leave the seats on the other side for the people to sit) do you think enough people would use it for that to be worthwhile? Maybe that could be something to suggest, what do you think?

Bad JuJu
04-22-2008, 09:09 AM
Apropos of Earth Day, here's a thought-provoking little video that one of my students turned me on to:
The Story of Stuff (http://www.storyofstuff.com/)

mimitabby
04-22-2008, 09:30 AM
for earth day; I rode my bike to work even though it was below 40 degrees and it's supposed to rain!

MALcontent
04-23-2008, 06:47 AM
Slightly off topic, but I noticed you're in MA as well and ride the train. Depending on my class/clinical schedule and the weather on any given day, I've sometimes found myself wishing I could bring my bike on the train to ride from, for example, the station to my clinical site to avoid all the waiting around for the T or the bus. However, that isn't possible because bikes aren't allowed on peak-hour trains (and as things currently stand, that is a reasonable rule because there'd be no room) which is irritating. If the MBTA were to put a "bike car" on each peak train (maybe with the seats taken off one side and places to put bikes there instead, and then leave the seats on the other side for the people to sit) do you think enough people would use it for that to be worthwhile? Maybe that could be something to suggest, what do you think?

I believe people regularly press the MBTA on this and you should certainly contact them to add your voice. I believe Mass Bike is the main advocate on this and possibly MASSPIRG as well. You might contact them as well. I seem to recall the head of the MBTA responding with something like "Yeah, that's a great idea, but we just don't have the money to add cars like that. We're broke."

Jolt
04-23-2008, 12:32 PM
I seem to recall the head of the MBTA responding with something like "Yeah, that's a great idea, but we just don't have the money to add cars like that. We're broke."

Somehow that doesn't surprise me.