Green Transportation?

This is not going to be about what you think. I have been reading the articles and what we all put on sites. It all looks the same. The ranting crusader approach. The planet will not be saved if we don’t do this or that . We are right you are wrong and we can quote this source. The sources are the same and in reality a lot of people are just repeating what they find. The planet is warming the planet is cooling, Climate change is all due to human activity. Climate change is due to something else. Globally warming is real/ not real and we can impact it etc etc etc. We can do a bit for ourselves by saving money using alternate energy, wind power, small turbines, off grid living ,diy energy, homemade energy, free energy, alternate energy, green power, etc etc etc. Does it all sound familiar? 

What started me on this track were bicycles. Cycling has become a major “green” idea in many developed countries with cycle paths springing up everywhere. Recently I watched a person with his go faster helmet and “save the planet for our children” tee shirt riding along the roadway a full pelt. I am a cyclist so can gauge roughly the speed and it would be in excess of 25-30kmph. For a car this would not be fast. It is average fast for a mountain bike. Anyway , back to the story. Up ahead was a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights. The road lights were red. The crossing lights  (walking green man) were green. People were crossing the road including a mother with a pram (the twin variety). Did the cyclist stop or even slow down? Of course not . He weaved his way between 2 people did not notice the pram clipped it and started to shout at the mother as if it was her fault. No thought that people could have been seriously injured , no respect for a crossing full of people , no respect for a law that says you should stop. I know many cyclists who would speak up in defence of the cyclist as they seem to think they have the right to do as they please the rules don’t apply. Cycling Politicians have been seen openly flouting road rules & many people have no idea there are road rules for cyclists. All they care about is getting from A to B as fast as possible and do not care about the consequences or the impact of their actions. Does this sound familiar? It should do. It is the same argument used against cars as polluters and destroyers of the environment.

The conclusion I am trying to make is we should practise what we preach. Concern for the environment means concern for the whole environment and that includes people. Save the planet for our children so we can mow them down with our environmentally friendly transport is not exactly the motto for the green revolution.

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flavia - January 18, 2010

bikes are not green

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