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On my ride into work this morning, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a small park located in a parking spot on Milwaukee Ave. After a bit of poking around on the internet, I learned that today is PARK(ing) Day, a day when all around the world, “artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.” The project is a wonderful visual reminder of the need for more green public spaces, and even beyond that goal the project offers a small view at what a more car-free lifestyle could look like.
Industrialized societies throughout the world offer a tremendous amount of space for the use of the automobile – so much so that many no longer view this still relatively new infrastructure as a privileged transportation option, but as a necessity that must be a driving force (no pun intended) in all areas of development and city planning. Meanwhile, the increase of public transportation and the walkability of a community are forced to take a backseat to the free flow of automobile traffic despite the inefficiency of that means of transportation and the suffering sense of community that comes from such an individualized system.
What PARK(ing) Day points out to me is that there is huge potential in the vast spaces currently devoted to automobile culture to be transformed into something that would benefit communities not only through decreased air and noise pollution and city beautification, but through safer and more plentiful shared community areas in which more food could be grown and distributed locally, and which would increase the viability of local businesses as more people take the time to walk along their parkways to find local restaurant and retail alternatives for the chains to which they were previously driving.
Take a walk today and think about how areas currently devoted to individualization might be better used to foster community in your area. Slow down and be a part of the place you inhabit.
For the first time today I rode my bike home from work in a moderately heavy rainfall. Up until now rain and wind have been the two weather forecasts that have kept me from biking to and from work; today, though, I didn’t pay much attention to the evening weather predictions and rode to work with dry pleasant weather, none the wiser to the inevitable rain of my evening commute. As I saw the rain build throughout the day, I was unprepared for what biking in the rain might look like, but after the journey I can say that it was a rewarding experience that will make me think twice next time I head for the ‘el’ because of a chance of rain.
On my ride home, I was thinking about the shift in many people’s perspective of weather as they age. As a child, rain is sometimes seen as an opportunity; rain means puddles, excitement, an adventure waiting to happen. That same person, after twenty years, views rain in the opposite light: rain means puddles, a nuisance, an obstacle through which one must drudge. I was reminded then of the Romantic period of English literature, and the interest then in the loss on a connection with the natural world that comes with age.
In “Ode: Intimation of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” William Wordsworth writes:
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;-
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
This passage laments the loss of a wonder that the natural world once inspired, a lament that is echoed by the Romantics throughout their writings. While their poetry in many ways is not appurtenant to a contemporary audience, I have often found the Romantics’ reflections to be a simple but inspired reminder that despite the familiarity we may have developed with it, nature once was a source of wonder, and that it’s important to reflect on the innocence with which so many view nature as a child, lest a rainy day keep us from an opportunity, an adventure waiting to happen.
I’ll leave you now with another poem from Wordsworth which optimistically outlines a sustained awareness of one’s connection with and sense of wonder inspired from nature:
My heart leaps up
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a Man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is Father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Each week I commute to work on my “Amsterdam” bike that was bought used last fall from a bike rental station in Millennium Park. I also use my dad’s twelve-year-old Saturn for weekly trips to the grocery store, out-of-town excursion, etc. While for many reasons I prefer riding my bike to my car, I’m not yet in a position to completely forgo the use of a personal automobile. So, though I limit the use of my car, I have two pre-owned vehicles that I maintain. In the past month, this has meant taking my car to the shop after a break in the exhaust pipe, and bringing my bike to the shop a couple times for broken spokes.
For the car, a broken exhaust pipe meant that every time I ran the car it was as if I had no muffler, so the car was incredibly loud and embarrassing to drive around town, and in no condition to get me back to Muskegon for a weekend trip. Getting it fixed meant that I had to leave work early to get to a trusted mechanic before they closed, and leaving the car overnight while the problem was diagnosed. A call came the next morning with a quote of somewhere near $600; I diverted the information to my dad, who knows more about the car than I do and was able to have them fix the most immediate problem for almost half of that. The car runs quieter now than it has before, but the other $300 worth of issues are still lurking in the undercarriage threatening further problems down the line.
For my bike, broken spokes meant a wobbly back wheel that could become dangerous to ride on for too extended periods of time. I was able to ride it to work, though I did avoid the prospect for a few days, and getting it fixed involved a quick trip to a trusted shop a few blocks from where I work, being able to explain the problem and understand what was needed myself, and picking it up about an hour and $20 later. I recently had a third spoke replaced this month, which could mean the rear rim is bent out of shape and that I might be needing to get the wheel re-built, a service that will cost around $150 and will completely fix the issue. It’s worth noting, though, that by riding my bike to work instead of taking the ‘el’, that $150 will be payed for by savings in two months’ time.
Now I realize that this comparison is not completely fair – I don’t use my bike to ride back to Muskegon for the weekend, for example, and a car is a much more complex machine that will require more specialized knowledge to understand and fix – but then doesn’t that bring about the question of how complex a tool we need for any particular task? I guess in the end I’m presenting this post as evidence of the benefits of using a simpler tool (the bike) for a simple task (traveling four-and-a-half miles) and saving the more complex tool, which requires more extensive repairs after the wear-and-tear of use, (the car) for use only when that tool is really needed.
Here’s a quick look at some of the headlines from this week:
A video was released on YouTube this week documenting a police assault on a non-violent protester taking part in New York’s Critical Mass last Friday:
The Officer, the Bicyclist and the Video
Police Investigate Officer in Critical Mass Video
The EPA has come under fire for failing to adequately regulate greenhouse gas emissions in coastal states:
EPA Managers Warned Not to Answer Inquiries
Senate Democrats call for EPA chief to resign
Earthjustice Will Sue EPA to Reduce Global Warming Pollution from Ships and Aircraft
A large ice-chunk this week broke off of the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic:
Huge Chunk snaps off storied Arctic ice shelf
Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk
Arctic ice bigger than 2007, but thawing long-term
Officials are taking action in an attempt to reduce air pollution in preparation of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing next week:
