#BikeIsBest Advocacy Digest - Edition No.57
#BikeIsBest Digest Edition No. 57 | Thursday 23rd March 2023 | View in browser
Hello and welcome to this Everything, Everywhere, All At Once newsletter, in which we try and wrestle the week’s stories into some sort of cogent narrative.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL
Climate change is real, and money for a key puzzle piece for the future of our planet (cycling) remains surprisingly and perversely evasive. Still, there’s always weird half-thought-through pieces about the cost of cargo bikes, to lighten the mood.
BIG STORIES FOR CYCLING ADVOCACY
URGENCY OF CLIMATE ACTION UNDERLINED.
The IPCC has released a report summarising evidence from across climate science, highlighting the extreme urgency with which we need to act to ensure a habitable planet for the future. We’re set to blow through the 1.5 degree mark, the temperature above a pre-industrial baseline at which climate destabilisation starts, this decade. This is not a drill, and acting on transport emissions with low-carbon walking and cycling is a key part of the puzzle.
AFTER THE STORM.
Following a ‘barrage of insidious racism’ at work in 2017, mountain biker Aneela McKenna took herself to the Hebrides to rebuild her confidence and her sense of self. This powerful short film movingly details her experience and the impact it had on her, as well as the renewed energy with which she returned, to challenge racism and improve equality in the outdoors industry. A must-see.
BUDGET DIGESTION.
It’s interesting to compare and contrast different UK nations’ spending per person on active travel. Scotland is leading with £58 per head, with Ireland at €58, Wales £20, London (because it’s most evolved in transport devolution), £17. England, by comparison, outside of Combined Authority areas, at £1.06, following last week’s funding cut announcement. We mulled the implications on Streets Ahead podcast, in case you missed it.
CARGO BIKE COST RANT…REALLY?
A columnist wrote an odd piece about what he felt was the surprising cost of cargo bikes. Not so much a thought-through piece as a stray thought, there was no real rationale or understanding of the broader considerations beyond the price tag. When I bought my first cargo bike for £4,000, it enabled me to get rid of my car, saving me around £6,000 a year in finance repayments and running costs. A few years later, I upgraded to a bigger cargo bike and sold the old one for £2,800.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT STREET RACERS.
Dangerous street racing clips are being shared on social media, including in Birmingham, with drivers uploading videos of themselves careening recklessly through city streets. I’ve asked police to track down some of the culprits, who share their identities openly. Their behaviour is a product of a toxic car culture and these individuals are putting other road users at serious risk.
OTHER HEADLINES
SHOWING CARGO CYCLES SOME LOVE.
Of course, I’m not the only one who values my cargo bike; a raft of people responded to defend the pedal-powered cart horses, both by writing to the Guardian, and on social media. It’s a reminder of the huge support for the machines.
INTERESTING GRAPH OF THE WEEK:
To illustrate the scale of the climate change challenge. Limiting warming to 1.5-2 degrees involves rapid, deep and in most cases immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions, says the IPCC.
ACTIVE TRAVEL WORD OF THE WEEK:
Window of Opportunity: The time we have to act, for the benefits we want to see. In this case we've got this decade to seriously limit our carbon emissions for a habitable future.
Until next time,
Founder, #BikeIsBest
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