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An audio visual slideshow of the environmental road protest movement including The No M11 campaign in Leyton east London, Reclaim The Streets in London and Fairmile & Trollheim road protest camps in Devon, set up in the path of the A30.

All the photography is copyrighted and taken by Jason Royce.

The music copyrighted by Paul Gill.

The post Guilty of sitting in the road appeared first on EcoHustler.

Jenny Jones

The announcement came after the cycling hustings hosted by transport charity Sustrans and The Times today, where Boris Johnson’s performance was dubbed “embarrassing” by a Londoners on Bikes spokesman, and “insulting” by the family of Ellie Carey, who was killed while riding her bike in Southwark last December.

Londoners on Bikes today recommended that cyclists give their first preference vote to Green Party candidate Jenny Jones, and their second to Ken Livingstone.

In a hustings where the Mayor repeatedly appeared to be on the ropes as he was challenged on his claims about the number of deaths and serious injuries to cyclists under his leadership, he defended his policies of prioritising “smoothing traffic flow” over the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, and argued that boosting the number of cyclists was a good way to improve safety.

Alistair Carey, father of Ellie Carey, the London Metropolitan University student who died after being hit by an HGV while riding her bike in Southwark said: “I was insulted by what Boris Johnson said. There seems to be cross-party agreement among all the other candidates that far more needs to be done to improve safety for cyclists – only Boris disagrees.”

Londoners on Bikes spokesman Julian Sayarer said: “Today confirmed what those who ride bikes in London already know: highly visible and very expensive projects such as cycle hire have given Boris Johnson good publicity on cycling, but he has shown no interest in taking the steps which would be needed to save cyclists’ lives.

“During the campaign period we have seen him making jokes about cycling fatalities, and it is clear that he doesn’t take the issue of rising cycling casualties even remotely seriously.

“Boris’s closing speech –which turned into a confused rant against lycra-wearing cyclists, dreadlocked hippies and green extremists – would have been angering had Boris not appeared so utterly incoherent. It only proved his complete failure to engage with the real issue of the urgent need for better cycling infrastructure.

“Those who ride bikes in London are not another breed – we’re just regular people who want to be able to get to work in a cheap, healthy and enjoyable way. We should be able to do that without the constant threat of aggressive traffic.

“The audience included at least two Londoners who have lost family members to traffic accidents, we are all stunned that Boris could be so insensitive and disrespectful.

“If you look at the people who have died on the roads recently, you can see that the unsafe conditions are something which affects everyone – from 8-year-old Ali Nasralla who was killed on his way to school in Kingston to 53-year-old father-of-three Brian Dorling who died at Bow Roundabout last year.

“Our unsafe roads are hurting everyone, from every walk of life, and it’s shocking that Boris Johnson can’t see the need for real change.

“Increased cycling reduces the burden on already congested roads, and Boris Johnson has failed to understand that those roads need to be made safe for London to have his cycling revolution.”

“The Green Party’s Jenny Jones offers the most for cycling, and although Ken Livingstone is not perfect, he has a strong vision for changing the way London moves. Jenny Jones said that she was “hugely flattered” to be endorsed as the candidate for Londoners who ride bikes.

You might also like:

• How the Dutch got their cycle paths here
• 20 Years of Critical Mass here
• Riders of Rohan Assemble! here
• Fresh Air Flash Mob Debrief here
• Flash mob 4 fresh air here
• The Solution to Pollution here
• Why bikes shouldn’t have to follow the rules of the road here
• A Critical Mass of dissent… on wheels here
• The Royal Wedding goes CRITICAL here
• Regulators…mount up! here

The post Vote Bike This Thursday! appeared first on EcoHustler.

The Netherlands is well known for its excellent cycling infrastructure. How did the Dutch get this network of bicycle paths?
Read more: here

“The Netherlands’ problems were and are not unique, their solutions shouldn’t be that either.”

The post How the Dutch got their cycle paths appeared first on EcoHustler.

Riders in London (credit: Matt Mellen)

For twenty years, in an increasing number of cities around the world, cyclists have united on the last Friday of the month to take over the streets. Known as Critical Mass, these mobile, social and celebratory events involve a sufficient number of bicycles to dominate road space; a safety in numbers approach comparable to giant shoals of fish or flocks of birds.

Refueling (credit: Matt Mellen)

The self-organizing nature of such phenomena, where group behaviour emerges spontaneously through the interaction of individuals, is part of the thrill for riders. They move from being solo and vulnerable to becoming part of a surging, whooping herd.

Emily Woodhouse at the South Bank (credit: Matt Mellen)

“The whole ethos of the ride is that it is spontaneous, organic, and non-hierarchical,” says Emily Woodhouse, an environmental anthropologist at Imperial College and a regular on the London events. She sees cycling as a positive force for good in the world. “Critical Mass is a direct action expressing how I want the world to be.”

For many participants, this global, cycling phenomenon is an important and highly symbolic gesture in support of a switch to human-powered mass mobility, which they believe could contribute to making cities healthier, happier and freer flowing. For others, it has simply been about the fun of the ride.

The first Critical Mass took place in San Francisco in 1992 and it has since spread to hundreds of cities around the world, with the London event sometimes attracting up to 2,000 cyclists. The highest attendance at a critical Mass event was in Budapest in April 2008, where an estimated 80,000 cyclists took part. All the rides have a local flavour but share the same sense of camaraderie, purpose and fun.

Karta Healy, founder of TheBicycleLibrary​.com and a veteran of many Critical Mass events in cities including Portland, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris, sees the urge to unite with others and show solidarity against the dominance of the car as a major motivation for riding. “It’s an empowering way to feel justified as a daily cyclist in your city,” he says.

Karta Healy in his London HQ

‘The Mass’ is diverse, composed of people of all shapes, sizes, colours and affluence, bound together by the shared love of self-propulsion and the desire to reclaim the streets and celebrate their freedom of movement. There are often mobile sound systems creating a party atmosphere and for many the ride will end in a favourite park or pub.

The meeting spot in London is in front of the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank at about 6:30pm. The air buzzes with excitement as friends reunite. Drinks are cracked open, bikes admired and tales of surviving on the city’s mean streets traded. Soon the crowd swells like water behind a dam and the air is filled with a crescendo of dinging bells.

Anticipation gives way to urgency and the cracks in the dam appear as the first riders head up the ramp to the Imax cinema roundabout and off into the heart of the city. The hive-mind has been engaged and without an agreed route or leader, the peloton surges forth to find its way to an unknown destination.

Once beyond the safety of the South Bank participants find themselves in a sometimes-hostile environment of hooting cars and bemused pedestrians. ‘Corkers’ physically block the traffic allowing the giant, mobile herd to roll across London on streets freed from the normal congestion of fossil fuel-powered machines. For some motorists this seizing and holding of space is an inconsiderate and illegitimate protest.

The Joy of Corking (Credit: Matt Mellen)

The response of the Metropolitan Police has varied. For many years the Met would provide a phalanx of police outriders on bicycles who would actually stop the traffic. However, tactics changed in 2006 and police no longer accompany the rides; a development the riders I spoke to suggest may have led to an increase in confrontations with drivers.

However, the police presence has also been controversial. Emily Woodhouse reports a bad experience, saying she was pushed over by a policeman, but she feels strongly that cyclists should avoid confrontations.

“Critical Mass is a more powerful force for social change as a completely positive, non-violent, carnival-type phenomenon,” she says. “That kind of atmosphere promotes cycling and dialogue between people.”

A difficulty for the police was the seeming lack of structure to the rides, with no single organisation behind the events, no spokespeople and no agreed route. But for many taking part, it is exactly this freewheeling, collaborative spirit that draws them in.

Many participants are increasingly encouraging the rides to become more explicitly positive, with a message based around the improved lifestyles that cycling could bring about for city-dwellers. Setting an example for the way forward, a new Leicester ride has been described as “a two-wheeled charm offensive,” with a different theme and dress code every month.

Approximately 2% of journeys in London are by bicycle. Copenhagen, in comparison, sees almost a third of all journeys in the city being taken by bicycle. It is also consistently rated as one of the world’s happiest places to live.

These two statistics will be seen as directly linked by many participants of Critical Mass. And after twenty years, as this global phenomenon continues to grow, the riders are more determined then ever to congregate in the name of fun, friendship and freedom, spontaneously collaborating to create streets without cars.

The author in a stylish hat (Credit: Tom Amos)

Critical Mass @ Buckingham Palace (Credit: Matt Mellen)

Bike Salute @ Buckingham Palace (Credit: Matt Mellen)

You might also like:

• Riders of Rohan Assemble! here
• Fresh Air Flash Mob Debrief here
• Flash mob 4 fresh air here
• The Solution to Pollution here
• Why bikes shouldn’t have to follow the rules of the road here
• A Critical Mass of dissent… on wheels here
• The Royal Wedding goes CRITICAL here
• Regulators…mount up! here

The post 20 Years of Critical Mass appeared first on EcoHustler.

Western countries are described as ‘auto-centric’ because the car has become the ubiquitous mode of travel. Today, there are approaching 1 billion cars worldwide. This is set to triple by 2050 as the developing world adopts the same model of transportation.

Readers are most likely familiar with the environmental impacts of making and using these millions of cars, climate change being the ultimate fall-out. However, the mass reliance of the car is also a causal factor in a wide range of other ills facing modern society, for example, the problems of urban sprawl, delocalization and the loss of community space.

Car use has spread out key elements of our lives beyond the human-scale. Rather than walking to the market people drive to the ‘supermarket’ with less human contact along the way. Many people also drive to work and school which has erodes community.

Car use has radically reshaped our neighborhoods and our lives. As long commutes become the norm, local shops and amenities disappear. With the corresponding increase in the size of shops, distance of travel and amounts of roadway, there is, increasing carbon intensity to the most fundamental elements of our lives and we become ‘locked-in’ to carbon intense, individualistic ways of living.

Today we know far fewer of the people we live near then ever before significantly reducing our well being. The car was supposed to usher in a new era of independence and personal freedom but in fact it has made us alienated and fat.

Undoubtably, moving to healthy, happy and sustainable lifestyles will require the modal shift from cars back to human powered transportation. This will improve people’s health, reduce pollution and help rejuvenate communities.

A major challenge to this shift is the forward momentum of ‘business as usual’. Governments have been subsidizing fossil fuels, roads and cars for generations. Today, many people lives have become totally dependent on the car. For these people there is now and intermediary step to a car-free life: car sharing!

Sharing cars reduces the impact of each journey; reduces the number of cars on the road; saves you money; may be more convenient than public transport and is an opportunity to connect with fellow human beings. Furthermore, it is a chance to embrace the idea of sharing resources a tradition we are going to need to remember as we relocalize, rebuild functional communities and radically reduce per capita consumption.

The car is dead! But before you bury it… share it!

New carpooling website launches

carpooling.co.uk is a new car sharing portal to match make you with the lifts you need. With 600,000 lifts on carpooling.com at any one time it means users are likely to find a compatible lift. And the best thing about it: it doesn’t cost a penny to use the carpool service!

The convenience of being able to travel to your destination with a guaranteed seat and departing at the time you wish is appealing, and carpooling.com can make it even more enticing. Drivers can register on our site free of charge and list a one off or regular lift. Carpooling.co.uk provides a cost calculator recommending the appropriate contribution to petrol and also helps users tailor their searches.

In 2011 they introduced a new booking feature which also means users can rate their passengers and drivers. This makes it easier for people to judge whether their potential driver will be compatible with them. It doesn’t ask if you do your makeup at the traffic light, pick your nose in the car or sit in the passenger seat with your shoes off but it does cover important things such as punctuality, keeping to the agreement and level of comfort.

There are security features which have been implemented to the car sharing portal so users can search for lifts where a user’s identity has been verified by us or if females feel more comfortable with female only drivers they can edit their search accordingly. We find users also sometimes add in their wishes such as ‘I like to drive at a fuel efficient 60mph helping users select their appropriate travel buddy easily. If the idea of small talk with a fellow carpooling.co.uk user fills you with dread it is worth bearing in mind that the portal has forged many friendships of like minded people since 2001 and they have also brought together 10 couples who ended up getting married!

Perhaps the potential saving of up to 75% of the driving costs and the option to select your passengers or drivers from the 3.3 million registered users could make you reassess your willingness to extend the privacy of your car into a public space for the length of your journey? If you really feel the need you can always add to the comments box that you would rather your passengers keep their feet firmly in their shoes and their singing to a minimum!

For more information contact: Abi Moore: amoore@carpooling.com +44 (0) 203 2393022 Skype: carpooling.co.uk

The post Kill the Car! (But share it first) appeared first on EcoHustler.

Makes You Fat by Peter Drew

Peter Drew was born and educated in Adelaide, Australia. He has been practicing as a visual artist since 2006 and publishing writing on visual art since 2009. While Drew makes studio-based work for the gallery, he also creates uncommissioned art for the urban landscape. These works can be found in Berlin, Glasgow, London and Adelaide. www.peterdrewarts.com

Vandalism by Peter Drew

Einbooth by Peter Drew

The post Peter Drew Arts appeared first on EcoHustler.