James Howard Kunstler on Suburbia

Author James Howard Kunstler entertainingly critiques suburban sprawl at TED in 2004.





Thanks Chris!

French (Bicycle) Revolution

Starting July 15th Parisians will have access to 10, 648 rentable bikes (going up to 20,600 by January). Rental stations will be situated so that none will 900 feet from anywhere in the city proper. Costs will be minimal with the project aimed at commuters over tourists. The only catch? It's being paid for by an advertising company in exchange for 1,600 billboards.

More details here.

Backlog

Sorry for the silence from me (and thanks to Brad for keeping the site rolling), mid-week holidays clearly throw me off. Anyway, I have a backlog of stuff to write about, so here are a few quick links to start:

Despite everything More US Commuters Are Driving Alone.

Corporate Car Fleets and Car Rentals go Green.

San Diego fights Walmart.

Cities are building more bike paths.

Since all of these are from the Christian Science Monitor, I think this a good time to explain the appeal of this paper:

• Despite the name the content is not religious (nor biased towards a religious viewpoint). There is only one article that relates to Christian Science per issue and it is clearly marked in a box at the end of the paper.
• They have a top notch international staff of reporters (rare outside of the big players, most papers rely on Reuters and AP).
• They are extremely balanced in their reporting.
• They do not sensationalize and are one of the few papers that actually goes out of their way not to encourage copycat behavior.
• Their motto is "To injure no man, but to bless all mankind."