ebike_enjoyer

Won’t most countries require you to have a degree in order to immigrate there? I generally agree with what you said otherwise, but as a tech worker with lots of experience and no degree, I think it’s limited my options for leaving the US, while otherwise being a good move overall.

A lot of the people coming in right now are specifically protesting Reddit due to the shut down of their preferred third party apps, especially Apollo, an iOS exclusive. Android has Jerboa and PWAs, but on iOS we just have the site (and mlem, but it’s very early days there). I think that if/when old Reddit gets shut down, the resulting exodus from that will not care as much about app access, as they were using the web previously.

If you haven’t already, and you like speculative fiction, check out Octavia Butler’s parable series. It focuses (a little) less on the Christianity aspects than Handmaid’s Tale, but it is equally accurate and terrifying (while offering some hope, thankfully).

Very smart move. I grew up in an evangelical household and yeah, a quick way to navigate away from a site like this could literally save some people’s lives. Sad we have to think like this, but it’s where we are.

What? I had no idea it wasn’t continuing. That’s so sad to hear.

Completely agree. Right now, I think a lot of people are interested in trying ebikes but the cost for some is too high for something that people aren't familiar with. The ebike rebates should help, I hope.

I've read that series as well. Both are amazing, but I prefer the Monk and Robot (Psalm of the Wild-Built) series a bit more. If you liked A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Totally get that. I grew up in a place much like the one you describe here, in the deep south too, even. My town had a population of ~300, and our commute to school and grocery stores took roughly the same length of time. That said, we did still have a school bus. If we didn't, we probably would have been home schooled, just due to the commute. Given the large amount of people living in that town over age 70, I can imagine the benefits of say, a bus that took people to the grocery store and back. It would be life changing for some people in that town, and could occur if we allocated funds to improve public transit/alternative transportation nationwide.

But no, I don't see these communities going all in on bikes, obviously not. Luckily, we aren't really talking about these communities. At least not primarily. 80% of our population is in cities, and we should be fixing things there, not in rural areas where the changes don't make sense. A person in this thread mentioned being from a rural town in the Netherlands, and how they had bikes, but still used their car lots of the time. I think we can both agree, no one with any serious political power in the Netherlands is coming to take rural citizen's cars away. We can instead focus on improving climate costs in other ways in rural areas, like shuttle buses for the elderly, like I mentioned. Or, for example, improving access to local agriculture with CSA's or farmer's markets, creating classes teaching people how to grow their own food, replacing appliances that rely on gas and coal with more climate friendly alternatives (possibly through government buy backs to make this feasible for people with low income), and yes, replacing ICE cars with electric cars (an overhyped technology for sure, but one that actually makes sense for this population). The infrastructure isn't there for electric cars today, but we also didn't have gas stations on every corner when ICE cars first started selling. That will all come in time, and will come faster if people demand it.

I live in a mid size US city now with bike trails that can take me to the suburbs and back in an hour or less. We have light rail and buses that can do the same. This sort of infrastructure could be improved to be more protected from drivers (in the bike lane sense) so that more are encouraged to ride it. The public transit here could be made more affordable (transit paid by tax instead of upfront fair) so that people use the public transit over cars or even ride sharing. This type of public transit/bike infrastructure could be applied to many many more American cities. Unfortunately, cities like this are the exception, not the rule, for our country. I think that's a shame.

Tl;dr - I don't think we disagree. This is overwhelmingly a solution for the cities and suburbs, where most Americans live. There are lots of things we can (and have to) do to fix climate change. Bicycles shouldn't be a golden hammer, but they are a very underutilized tool that can help fix this problem.

Finished the sequel to Becky Chamber’s A Psalm For The Wild-Built. Can’t recommend this series more highly for a glimpse into a calming and peaceful alternative future.

From the article:

Dutch people cycle an average of 2.6 kilometres each per day. If this pattern was replicated worldwide, the study suggests, annual global carbon emissions would drop by 686 million tonnes. This mammoth figure exceeds the entire carbon footprint of most countries, including the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

I think a lot of people see “cycle like the Dutch” and think it means we must all abandon all other forms of transportation. Instead this article says if every nation’s national average for cycle miles traveled per day was at least 1.62 miles, we could greatly curb our carbon emissions. 1.62 miles is a very achievable goal in my mind. It doesn’t necessarily mean every individual must reach that amount per day (unless I’m misunderstanding), it just means the average overall. Others may go more, others less. Others could forgo it entirely, opting instead for walking, public transit, electric car (if it’s the only option), or a combination of all four. I’m certain that not every single person in the Netherlands rides a bicycle, either. We need people to understand this and push for increased safety and funding for alternative forms of transit, so that people can choose to do so safely. Especially in sprawling countries like Australia, Canada, and the USA.

You’re totally allowed to ask that. I think the reason you’ve got so much push back here is that this question is frequently brought up in bad faith or as an excuse to not improve cycling/public transit infrastructure. that was the assumption I certainly made. Sorry about that, have a good day.