I rode my bicycle to and from work on the streets of Ahmedabad, India. A city where out of 100 residents, only 15 to 18 use the existing public transport system the streets are notoriously clogged with traffic. While some thought me crazy, I was able to incorporate exercise into my routine, while also allowing me to interact more easily with my surroundings. I didn’t have to pay a bus or rickshaw fair and it gave me the satisfaction of feeling as though I was contributing to making the world a better place, one bicycle at a time.

Photo by flickr user moonlight on celluloid

Naturally, as a fan of the bicycle – I was elated to see a recent news articles regarding Doha’s plans to be the regions first bicycle-friendly city. But what, if anything does it mean?

According to Sa’ad Mohammad Khodr, senior transportation engineer at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, the Qatar National Bicycle Master Plan aims to make Qatar the focal point of bicycling in the Middle East.

In response to concerns about the hot weather, Sa’ad claims bicyclists would be able to ride at least six months of the year despite the range in Doha weather from 44-113 degrees Fahrenheit.

“People do not take to cycling, not because of the heat but, because it’s not safe. Now in all our new projects we have to draw up a plan so that the streets are adapted to bicycle traffic,” he said, in the Qatari daily The Peninsula.

The cycle routes are said to be planned for nearly the whole country. “It’s not just the bicycle as a means of transportation, but it’s about creating more chances for people to have leisure time,” he was quoted as saying.

A girl with her bike in Doha, Qatar. Photo by flickr user Patrick Gage

While I am an advocate of leisure time, I also wonder what additional motives there were, behind the initiative – could a decreased environmental impact have been a factor?

According to gulfnews.com, bicycles are popular among young boys and Asian expatriates, I would hope the concept will catch on with Qatar’s growing population and maybe even with women? According to the Qatar Society of Engineers, the population has been growing rapidly over the past 10 years reaching 907,229 inhabitants by 2007 compared to a population 70,000 in the 1960s.

Perhaps it is because of the never-ending Doha Development Round of trade agreements, because I had to represent Qatar in a Model United Nations simulation, or maybe it is my curiosity for the country which houses Al-Jazeera’s headquarters. Whatever it may be, Doha seems to be back on the radar as somewhere I would consider living. At the very least, I would have a bicycle path.

Here is a video of the construction of a bicycle lane in Doha:

Born and raised in California, Lakshmi is currently doing freelance work in India. Over the past few years, Lakshmi has worked with newspapers and magazines from Gaborone, Botswana to Los Angeles, California. She has taught in Ladakh, India, and spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow teaching in Hamburg, Germany. Most recently, she has served as the Director of Media & Communication for Indicorps in Ahmedabad, India. Lakshmi also has several years of experience with the National Student Leadership Conference on programs relating to International Diplomacy, Globalization, and Journalism & Mass Communication. She is a graduate of Pitzer College in California with a B.A. in Global Communications and a minor in Studio Arts. Lakshmi believes in the media’s power to bring about positive change.

"Oh the places you'll go..."

I met a man in Buenos Aires a number of years ago who shared with me a bicycle tale of epic proportions. Alec, as the English gentleman was called, had been a young man during England’s post World War II reconstruction, and as soon as he was able, had joined the service. Once enlisted, Alec met another young soldier who he soon discovered shared his affinity for bicycles, and the men became fast friends. They talked at great lengths of all the wondrous places and rides that awaited them, through France, Italy, all around the Mediterranean and then through the Middle East. They made grand plans to see the world on their bicycles.

Unfortunately, both men completed their service at different times, and in the time before Alec’s was finished, his mate had been swept along by a domestic life. Their epic ride was delayed and uncertain. As the years went by they kept in touch, always discussing what was possible… and bicycles… but over time their correspondences grew thinner, their bodies older, their lives more complicated.

And then many years later, Alec found himself on business travel to the small town north of London where he knew his friend to last reside. He planned to pay him a visit.

Upon reaching the house Alec was greeted by his friend’s wife, and the news that he had passed away barely a year prior. The moment stung. It was not only the loss of a dear friend, but of a quest unfulfilled.

His sympathies imparted upon his friend’s widow, Alec left an even older man unto himself, and one still short a great quest. Life had moved quickly. That walk alone back to his motel he was somber. His eyes stayed affixed to the short space ahead of his steps. Until he stopped.

There was Alec’s bicycle, with travel saddle bags and repair kit to boot, on display in a bicycle shop he had missed on his way there, ready for him. He walked in and bought it.

Once back in London, he quit his job, tied up loose ends, called his children to share his plans with them, and set off for the north of France, where his ride was to begin. He was in his mid sixties.

Alec and his bicycle made it through France and Italy, and the rest of southern Europe and the Slavic countries. He kept riding down around through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, until Egypt, where he broke his ride to rest his legs and fill in as deck hand on a boat that worked the Nile. The journey would continue, with Alec eventually making his way to India, and then Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

When Alec and I met he had since biked through over 100 countries on every continent save Antarctica. All along his way he was able to find abiding people to direct him to what he needed, if not offer him to share both food and home with them.

“I stayed off the highways best I could, you see,” he said with wisdom. “And I found that the ride offered me more that way.”

Bike Traveler

“Most people were interested, and since I was on my bike, I just kept pedaling if they were loony. Never really needed to be afraid for much. Besides keeping an eye on the bike.” Many times people offered him a space to camp so they could share in his travels. A man on his bicycle was no unnatural thing, but indeed an enviable way to see the world.

“Truth is America was where I felt least welcomed, and most unsafe. There were many parts where my riding seemed more to annoy than please. Everyone moves too bloody fast in oversized vehicles, distracted and fat. Not everywhere, course, but many parts.”

It has been a number of years since Alec rode through the US, so I am sure he would be happy to know that things are improving.

At least in terms of how many of us, including the US Secretary of Transportation, regard riding one’s bike as a legitimate and indeed honorable way to travel.

Ride your bike, it’s good for you. It’s good for the planet.

A video from the Earth Institute discussing ecological restoration efforts in Haiti, and how the work has adjusted to new realities on the ground as a result of the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

A Future for Haiti: Science and Solutions for a Beleaguered Nation from Earth Institute on Vimeo.

Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn Designated Superfund Status
For over a hundred years, the Gowanus Canal was used as a dumping ground for a host of refining and manufacturing companies. It is now one of the most polluted waterways in the U.S., with high concentrations of heavy metals and PCBs in the sediment. Though the Bloomberg administration was seeking to avoid a Superfund designation (believing that it could manage a faster cleanup without the Superfund stigma), the EPA will now begin the cleanup process, expected to take 10-12 years.

Are Methane Emissions from the Arctic Becoming a Big Problem?
There is some worrisome news coming out of the Arctic, where a recent study in Science has found that methane is bubbling up from deposits in the seafloor. Methane, 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, could amplify global warming as deposits located in the arctic permafrost and on the sea floor become more active. However, the short-lived nature of methane (compared to CO2) may make methane less worrisome than some think. Unfortunately the jury is still out.

The G.O.P.’s Green Rogue – Senator Lindsey Graham
Senator Lindsey Graham has been one of the sole Republican members of congress that has been actively pushing for domestic climate change legislation. In case you missed it, Tom Friedman’s column on how Senator Graham frames his push for a price on carbon emissions is well worth a read.

A Polar Bear Jawbone Provides Clues to the Species Evolution
It turns out that polar bear split from brown bears only 150,000 years ago. DNA evidence from a 130,000 year old jaw bone provides evidence that polar bears have been through warming periods before, giving hope that they would be able to adapt to rapidly warming temperatures in the arctic.

When I was younger I remember feeling the Loma Prieta quake while at an after-school program, and then upon returning home, heading next door to see my neighbor’s swimming pool still thrashing about. It was a peculiar sight.

(Photo: Creative Corps / Flickr)

That sense of peculiarity has returned to me these last couple months. First the earthquake in Haiti occurring a little less than a year after I was in the country assisting with a post disaster environmental assessment. And now the earthquake in Chile. Concepcion, Chile, the second largest city in the country that has sustained some of the most horrific damage, was my home for the better part of five months a number of years ago. The epicenter of the quake itself was disturbingly close to a remote stretch of coastline where my friends and I would retreat to camp and surf.

Both of these earthquakes are reminders that Earth is not a static place, but a changing and at times violent one. Some of those changes are gradual, and other times, as we have observed, they are sudden and severe. Both Haiti and Chile offer two examples of the latter case.

Chile and Haiti are two very different places. Chile is one of the most prosperous countries in South America, and Haiti, the poorest in the western hemisphere. Chile has a civil and social infrastructure and a strong government. Haiti’s government has been plagued by corruption, a lack of resources, and depends heavily on foreign assistance. However, if there are some lessons to be drawn from these events, we would be wise to take note.

One of the main lessons and distinctions I see between these two events has to do with building codes in each country. It is not the earthquake per se that leads to the most deaths, but the response of our built environment to these events that seals our fate. Or as a professor of mine once said, “earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do.” The magnitude of the quake certainly determines the destructive potential, but aside from landslides and tsunamis, if you take buildings out of the equation, there would be relatively few deaths resulting from earthquakes. More often than not, poverty determines the readiness of the built environment.

Cinder block housing in Haiti

There are no building codes in Haiti, and the overwhelming majority of buildings, both commercial and residential, were built with stacked cinderblocks, cheap cement, poor support beams, and even sticks as side pillars – if they were even present at all (see a photo album on building practices in Port-au-Princes). Many buildings were stacked upon each other in this fashion, which is why so many of the buildings in Port-au-Prince essentially pancaked upon each other. Throw high density into the mix, and the death toll skyrockets.

Chile, on the other hand, does have building codes and even many of the more inexpensive dwellings are built to minimum structural standards so they are quake resistant. While many of the buildings in Chile have been very heavily damaged, they have not pancaked or collapsed to the same degree as they did in Haiti, and those structural requirements are likely a big reason for that. The significantly lower death tolls in Chile are no doubt a result of this as well.

Given how many cities across the world are vulnerable to earthquakes, it might be a good idea to at the very least make sure we are building to code, and not cutting corners with the materials we use. In areas where people are left with no choice but to do so anyway, as was the case in Haiti, we must ask ourselves whether we would rather help transform the building sector in these parts of the world, or bear witness to more tragedies like we have seen these past two months.

For more information:

Listen here for an analysis from the USGS: Lessons from Chile: Preparation is Key.

Andrew Revkin from the New York Times wrote a really good piece about the risk that cities around the world face from earthquakes, and his timing was eerily spot on.

And check out this graphic showing the distribution of earthquakes across the planet.

Earthquake distribution across the planet

A Massive Earthquake Rocks Chile – Why the Discrepancy in Damage and Death?
The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile yesterday was 501 times as powerful as the earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince, yet the death toll in Chile has been almost insignificant in comparison – >250,000 vs. 704 (at last count). The differences in geography, development, and preparedness are described by The Washington Post. Also check out USGS shake maps for Chile and Haiti.

Leading Arguments on Why We Need to Deal With Global Warming
Two articles in The New York Times today make the case for agressive action on combating climate change. Al Gore writes a persuasive op-ed on how climate change is an existential threat, while Robert Frank argues that the consequences of inaction in tackling climate change is far greater than the costs of dealing with it.

Floating Garbage Patch in the Atlantic Ocean Found
Plastic debris is continuing to accumulate in the world’s oceans and is concentrated in certain areas due to ocean currents. One area, known as the “Pacific garbage patch” is the size of Texas and located between the US west coast and Hawaii. Researchers have now found a similar area in the Atlantic, with a maximum plastic density of 200,000 pieces per square kilometer. Floating plastic “stuff” is ingested by and ensnares fish, seabirds, and other forms of marine life.

Is Cap-and-Trade Dead?
The Washington Post reports that three key senators (Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham) have been working feveroushly to draft an alternative to cap-and-trade. Instead of a setting up a national cap on emissions, their plan would target three sectors – electric utilities, transportation, and industry differently. Expect more news on this in the coming weeks as this plan is formally unveiled.

Everything always looks a bit brighter after it rains

This past week my girlfriend and I headed south through California to enjoy a little retreat together before an extended time apart. It is a drive I have done countless times, but it is considerably more enjoyable with company. We started off in Davis, and drove all the way south to San Diego, with plans to head back north through Los Angeles and then Santa Barbara on our way home toward San Francisco, and for Lisa, then off to Cambodia.

This past summer we made a similar drive down I-5 but were met with very different views. January and February have been wet months in California and instead of wide blue skies we were met with gray ones. In September 2009 water was on a lot of people’s minds in California, and none more so than the farmers of Central California. The state’s three yearlong drought (with a fourth on the way) had been especially hard on the Central Valley’s agricultural heartland, and there were dusty reminders of those troubles everywhere you looked (see a previous post on California’s drought and water woes).

Caught in a downpour in Pacific Palisades, near Santa Monica

A Wet 2010

Driving down the same stretch five months later, the Central Valley was lush from what has so far been a wet winter. The golden straw grass covering the hills last September was now a deep green, and the wind swept dust now patted down into darker earthen browns. The drought in California is not over, however, and even in an El Niño year, reservoirs continue to be vulnerably low across the state. Experts are predicting that even with heavy rains so far this year, there is a ways to go before reaching average, if that happens. It is an interesting reminder of the psychological disconnect most people experience with water issues here: “if it is such a wet winter, then how are we still in a drought?”

Slippity-Do-Da, Slippity-Day

Tsunami evacuation route signs in San Diego

After Passing through the Grapevine and inching through Los Angeles, we reached San Diego late in the evening of our first day. Southern California had been on the receiving end of several large weather systems in recent weeks, and while the water was welcomed, its arrival has touched off a new set of concerns that comes with the dry years the region has endured. The fires that have scorched countless hillsides and homes in Southern California these last few years have also removed much of the vegetative cover that buffer against erosion and landslides during periods of heavy rain. Combined with extensive development and less permeable surface area to absorb heavy rains, a great deal of land in the region, and the expensive hillside homes upon it, is in danger of landslides. Given the popularity of building in this terrain throughout the state, the threat of entire hillside developments slipping from their foundations is considerable.

Standing atop the bluffs in Torrey Pines overlooking the Pacific Ocean, one can see what the natural course of erosion along the coast looks like. Without housing developments to inhibit and alter the land’s natural changes, the inlets upon inlets of water runoff that slither across the bluffs makes for a beautiful collage. Even in its dryness and slow steady decline into the sea, it is scenes like these that make more sense to me. Especially in contrast to the buffeted hillsides holding up multi-million dollar homes, seemingly in constant opposition to the land’s logical direction.

Another part of coastal Southern California that jumped out at me was the recent installment of tsunami evacuation signs in some coastal communities where they had not been present prior. While California and the West Coast as a whole does have an early warning system in place, these new signs are akin to a layer of fresh paint. Walking along the beach in La Jolla Shores you can see their merit. A great deal of the development there is right at sea level, and were a tsunami to come, much of it would be inundated. But tsunamis are not the only advance of water San Diegans will have to plan for. From my view the more gradual advance of sea level rise will also have to be incorporated into that as well, a slow tsunami if you will. It will be interesting to see how that all affects real estate in the area over the next 30 – 40 years.

Nature: ∞, People: ?

Driving up the PCH is one of the great joys of a California road trip, but it is also a dangerous road in parts. This time around the stretch from Santa Monica to Malibu was in a precarious state. I asked my friend Teresa to give Lisa and I a locals tour of erosion in the area and she was happy to oblige. Erosion, landslides and fires are a fact of life in these parts, and many of the residents offer personal anecdotes of the closeness to which a blaze approached or of the neighbors property that slid down the hill. Erosion along the PCH is particularly bad, and every time the rains come folks worry about the roads and the homes along the steep bluffs above them. In the 1960s a significant chunk of the hillside came down and transportation planners had to adjust the direction of the PCH to accommodate the land’s changes.

Here are some pics of what the hillsides look like now.

Every journey can teach us something new and more. I Look forward to exploring erosion and land use planning in Southern California more in future posts. But now, Santa Barbara awaits us.

The bicycle is increasingly being seen as a viable urban transportation alternative in cities worldwide. Bike commuting has clear health, traffic congestion, and environmental benefits, and should be encouraged to help make cities more livable and sustainable.

I love urban biking. The idea of cruising the streets in traffic is my idea of a good time. Recognizing that this practice might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I overwhelmingly support efforts to make urban areas more bike friendly, such as the installation of bike lanes.

I see three benefits to encouraging bicycles as a viable form of urban transportation:

1. Cycling has clear health benefits, particularly with the obesity epidemic sweeping the country.
2. Increasing the number of bicyclists for commuting or running errands decreases the number of cars on the road, thereby helping to ease traffic congestion.
3. It is one of the most environmentally friendly forms of transportation, causing neither greenhouse gases nor various forms of air pollution.

After living in San Francisco for five months, I have found that this a great place in which to get around by bike.

Not only is the city relatively compact, but there are well-defined bike lanes and routes throughout the city. The majority of the bike routes allow riders to avoid some of the more substantial hills and highly trafficked streets. Couple these benefits with the temperate climate, the incredible vistas, and San Francisco is a great place to ride year round.

San Francisco has an ambitious bike plan to expand the network of bike lanes that was developed in 2006. However this plan has been mired in a legal challenge that has stalled improvements in the network. The rationale behind the legal challenge is that the city did not complete an environmental review of the project. The challengers, however, believe that the plan would take space away from cars, thereby leading to more congestion. The main plaintiff, Rob Anderson, has said that the bike plan is an “attempt by the anti-car fanatics to screw up our traffic on behalf of the bicycle fantasy.”

Looking at cities that have made a big push towards the bicycle as a viable means of transportation shows that this argument is simply not the case. Over 35% of the residents of Copenhagen ride their bikes to work, making this city a model for bicycle advocates. Having lived in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, and now San Francisco, I am encouraged to see bike riding gaining momentum as a form of transportation. But much work needs to be done.

I just finished reading The Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (formerly of the Talking Heads). The book is a series of meditations on music, art, culture, and urban life as Byrne bikes around cities such as Istanbul, London, Manila, Detroit, Buenos Aires, and New York. After comparing his experiences in these vastly different urban landscapes, he asks the question:”To what extent does the infrastructure of cities shape the lives, work, and sensibilities of their inhabitants? Quite significantly, I suspect.”

On the surface that seems to make a lot of sense. Cities with robust public transit systems, medium to high density mixed-use development, and the ability to walk places seem to be more desirable and culturally vibrant places than others without.
Byrne is a tireless advocate for bicycling as a viable form of transportation in urban areas. In New York where he lives (which saw a 29% increase in the number of bicycle commuters), he has worked with the Department of Transportation on its expansion and promotion of the bicycle network there (mostly by designing some neat bike racks). While not an obvious manifesto for the tenets of new urbanism, The Bicycle Diaries does make a strong case for promoting bicycle transportation and smart urban planning. Not to mention the book being a good read.

With more than half of the world’s population now living in urban areas, making cities a more enjoyable, friendly, and environmentally sustainable is a key challenge. Bikes are a clear way to help achieve this goal.

California has approved a statewide green building code (CALGREEN) that sets minimum standards for green building in the state. This initiative is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve water, and by incorporating it into the existing building code, should minimize compliance costs.

Governor Schwarzenegger of California

Last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the California Building Standards Commission had approved a new Green Building Standards Code, known as CALGREEN (pdf). These new set of building standards, applying only to new construction and taking effect January of 2011, is the first statewide green building code in the nation.

“With this first-in-the nation mandatory green building standards code, California continues to pave the way in energy efficiency and environmental protection. Today’s action lays the foundation for the move to greener buildings constructed with environmentally advanced building practices that decrease waste, reduce energy use and conserve resources,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.

Buildings in California account for one-quarter of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board estimates that CALGREEN will avoid 3 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2020. It will also reduce water use by 20% and divert 50% of construction waste to landfills.

The major mandatory provisions of CALGREEN are as follows:

- 20 percent reduction in indoor water use, with voluntary goal standards for 30, 35 and 40 percent reductions.
- Separate water meters for indoor and outdoor water uses in nonresidential buildings, and moisture-sensing irrigation systems for larger landscape projects.
- 50 percent of construction waste be recycled
- Mandatory inspections of mechanical and energy systems for nonresidential buildings over 10,000 square feet to ensure maximum efficiency
- The use of low-pollutant emitting materials (such as paints, carpets, vinyl flooring, and particle board) in interior spaces.

As CALGREEN will be incorporated into the existing building code, its provisions will be inspected and verified by local and state building departments. Unlike 3rd party green certification systems, CALGREEN verification does not cost any additional money, as it will be a part of the inspection process.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) currently offers a set of voluntary green building standards known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) by far the most popular and well-known green building certification program in the nation. LEED operates as a point-based certification system, where building developers can reach certain levels of ‘greenness’ different ways. While a point-based system allows flexibility for building developers, it has been criticized for not leading to significant reductions in energy usage. Also, LEED certification requires an investment of money to pay for third party verification, which is seen by many as a barrier to adopting the standards.

California Acadamy of Sciences - a LEED platinum green building

Many municipalities, such as San Francisco, have mandated that new construction be LEED certified. Elizabeth Echols of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Northern California chapter said her group was concerned that parts of the new code were not as environmentally stringent compared with existing local regulations. This could possibly make it difficult for cities and counties to adopt more rigorous standards. However, CALGREEN is intended as a set of minimum standards for green building practices in California, allowing (an encouraging) municipalities to develop more stringent green building codes. Having a statewide system ensures that even the smallest cities and towns are able to incorporate green building practices into construction.

Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association, welcomed the new standards. “At the end of the day you will have a whole bunch of cities that never would have included this in their building doing it, and doing it in a way that won’t kill the economy,” he said.
It will be a few years before the effectiveness of CALGREEN can be evaluated in terms of how much it has helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water use. But should it be successful in meeting its environmental goals, CALGREEN will likely be a model for other states that are looking into implementing similar green building code programs.

Additional reporting by Ana Carolina C. Murphy of MicroEmpowering.org.

The following photos were taken during a March 2009 field assignment in Haiti. The purpose of that trip was to conduct a post-disaster environmental needs assessment following the 2008 hurricane season. This gallery offers some images of what Port-au-Prince looked like at that time, and provides a visual context for the sort of building construction and materials that made the city so vulnerable to the January 12 earthquake. It also offers a brief look at some of the environmental challenges facing Haiti. Now more than ever, Haiti will need help to reverse many of these trends as it starts the long process of rebuilding. It will be one of the most significant environmental recovery efforts ever launched.

See also:

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: An Environmental Catastrophe