Recently in Human Power Category

Our plan is to retrace the route of the automotive CEOs who went to Washington DC asking for government loans. But instead of looking for aid, we'd like to present President Obama with a homegrown solution to the transportation crisis. And instead of flying in a corporate jet, we're riding Brammo Enertia powercycles. We're just a couple of guys who work for Brammo, but we want to show that there's a better way to get from Point A to Point B. And we want to have a little fun while we're doing it. So join us as we surf from plug to plug in a quest to meet Obama, fueled by nothing more than electricity and the kindness of everyday Americans.

The pair are near Pittsburgh right now. You can follow them at shockingbarack.com or on twitter 'ShockingBarack'

It's a partnership of public and private forces bridging a gap. It's a path connecting city and country. It's a gas free commuter route to center city York; an oil free way to get out of town for the weekend to visit a bed & breakfast in Emigsville.

It's a new way of thinking.

The Kinsley Education Center teamed up with the York County Rail Trail Authority to build a bridge across a small creek along the northern extension of the York County Heritage Rail Trail in Manchester Township.

The beefy bridge looks like a small model of a PennDot bridge because that's basically the specs that designed it. For the students, it's the chance for real world experience without the state road involved.

The public will enjoy crossing this educational bridge for years to come with a piece of mind knowing that one more thing didn't raise their taxes.

The Senate defeated Amendment 2371 by a margin of 59-39. railstotrails.org

Casey (PA) and Specter (PA) voted to preserve funding.

Rail trails are as much about recreation as much as they are about potential.

Strips of public land interconnected for moving people and whatever else the mind can dream of centuries from now.

Hard decisions to be made in the face of crunching budgets. Rail trail funding threatened by Amendment (greenmesh 9/15)

We can't cut bailouts to banks or a corporate health care system that has increased costs 9% (wsj.com) in a year when inflation for the rest of us has been flat.

Real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008 (U.S. Census).

These are the sacred cows of capitalism and a type of blackmail that has grown out of combining greed with our respect of life.

This is also the thinking that railroads our ability to thrive by funding innovation.

Today, Senators John McCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) issued two amendments to the FY10 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. If passed, these amendments would eliminate the majority of available federal funds for trails, walking and bicycling.

Amendment 2370 would prohibit the use of federal funds for pedestrian or bicycle facilities, efforts to reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife, or other specified Transportation Enhancement (TE) projects if the Highway Trust Fund cannot cover unfunded highway authorizations.

Amendment 2371 would allow states to eliminate spending on TE, the nation's largest funding source for trails, walking and bicycling. Congress currently sets aside a portion of federal funds for TE to support these projects in all states. railstotrails.org

Codo is partnering with Gung Ho Bikes in North York to provide five bikes for Codo residents to share. Tenants can use the bicycles to get to work, run errands or cruise the York County Heritage Rail Trail. The program was started to promote green transportation and fitness for area residents.

flipsidepa.com

Giant Bicycle, Inc., of Newbury Park, CA, has called it's battery/motor assisted bicycle "hybrid" because unlike a vehicle solely propelled by an electric motor, the Giant Hybrid is designed to sense when you need some help and provide stored electrical energy.

The concept enhances the nature of riding a bike without taking over and making you totally lazy.

The unit uses two Lithium Ion batteries that can get you up to 70 miles.

Think gas free commuter when you might consider a scooter.

Nice review in wired.com 11/08

Rev. Ann Seitz-Brown packs up her bike at Saint Paul Lutheran Church in West Manchester Township to head head home to Paradise Lutheran Church, in Paradise Township, Wednesday.

Area churches met for an Energy Conservation for York County Congregation program sponsored by the Interfaith Coalition on Energy.

Seits-Brown said that her congregation is considering a community garden next year to help members with food prices and reduce the amount of oil used to transport fuel. She adding, that instead of paying someone to mow grass they can grow food.

The minister also said that she has taken to her bike instead of driving to the gym for exercise.

The idea is that eating some foods, like meat, uses more fossil fuel than driving a car, so a bicyclist consuming food uses more fossil fuel than driving a car. bicycleuniverse.info

I don't know where a sedentary person who gorges on meat and drives a full-sized SUV fits into all of this...

• Meat requires much more fossil fuel to produce than vegetables and grains; about 145 times more for beef than for potatoes.


• If the entire world ate the way the U.S. does, the planet's entire petroleum reserves would be exhausted in 13 years


• The typical American could save almost as much gas by going vegetarian as by not driving.

Researchers from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia have developed a device worn much like a knee brace that generates electricity from the natural motion of walking.

The device harvests energy from the end of a walker’s step, when the muscles are working to slow the movement of the leg, in much the same way that hybrid-electric cars recycle power from braking.

Wearing a device on each leg, an individual can generate up to five watts of electricity with little additional physical effort. Walking more quickly generates as much as 13 watts of electricity: at that rate, one minute of walking provides enough electricity to sustain 30 minutes of talk time on a mobile phone.

There is about as much useful energy in a 35-gram granola bar as in a 3.5 kg lithium-ion battery." sfu.ca

images at news.com

Martin Library will host an environmental panel discussion on February 21 featuring:

I was interviewed, via keybord of course, since I will be one of the moderators. Below is the text of the interview:

5. In your opinion, how does the level of environmental awareness in York County compare to that of other similar-sized communities?

York is a land of plenty. We have enjoyed low population congestion and are blessed with resources. California is tuned into air pollution because congestion and climate patterns demanded action. The desert southwest is tuned into water supply because of the lack of it. Other than the Codorus Creek, a stray landfill and an occasional bad ozone day, York County generally has not been confronted in the face with major environmental issues. High oil prices, wars and global cries that we need to act have brought these concerns home to York.

6. What do you believe the typical Yorker can do to improve the environment?

Use less to do more. Nothing will lower pollution, lower oil prices, and stretch resources more than choosing to use less through product choice and lifestyle. This concept runs contrary to our financial model that, up until now, has promoted and thrived on people using more energy.

7. As editor of Greenmesh.com, what do you see as the most promising alternative to oil-based energy?

Experimenting with many alternatives is the best was to transition away from an oil based economy. It takes time to understand the repercussions of any form of energy production. Solar collection is the lowest impacting source of alternative energy, but in places like Pennsylvania, solar isn’t practical most of the time. We have already experienced the implications of diving head first into corn-based ethanol by higher food and feed prices.

All methods of energy production have environmental implications and placing all our eggs in one basket gives power to a new monopoly and will accentuate any negative effects of pushing a single solution of energy production....

Greg and Gerallyn Duke were visiting York on Sunday from West Chester, Pa. and riding the rail trial with a Bilenky tandem bicycle.

The Philadelphia made bicycle allows a shorter person see the road ahead. It features independent cadence (both rides can peddle at different rates) and both riders can shift gears independently.

Vélib (for “vélo,” bicycle, and “liberté,” freedom)

“This is about revolutionizing urban culture,” said Pierre Aidenbaum, mayor of Paris’s trendy third district, which opened 15 docking stations in July. “For a long time cars were associated with freedom of movement and flexibility. What we want to show people is that in many ways bicycles fulfill this role much more today.”

Users can rent a bike online or at any of the stations, using a credit or debit card and leave them at any other station.

A one-day pass costs 1 euro ($1.38), a weekly pass 5 euros ($6.90) and a yearly subscription 29 euros ($40), with no additional charges as long as each bike ride does not exceed 30 minutes. (Beyond that, there is an incremental surcharge, to make sure that as many bikes as possible stay in the rotation.)nytimes.com/europe

The self-service, human powered Vélib came to the rescue Thursday for commuters after a wave of strikes halted most trains, subways and buses throughout France.

When I was a student at Gettysburg College, there was an elderly lady from town who used a trike to get around. She was beyond the ability of using a bicycle and perhaps having a drivers license, but the trike afforded her unlicensed mobility and probably added a few years of life because of the exercise.

This isn't your grandmother's trike. The RAPTOR is powered by lead acid batteries energizing an electric motor and/or foot power. A “Sunbrella” solar canopy is in the works for trickle charging off the grid when parked in the sun.

The gas free, license free (corporate and government free) people mover can reach a speed of 25 mph.
boomerbents.com

Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Joe McMaster proves that you don’t need a huge SUV to haul a canoe down to the river. McMaster, who used his feet to move himself 2,175 miles from Georgia to Maine ydr.com (11/05), built a canoe trailer for his bicycle.

Lacking tax/social incentives and suffering from import duties, the Toyota Prius isn’t selling well in China. The Chinese car is double the price of the American counterpart. What seemed like a sure bet for Toyota in a boom market turned out not to work too well.

China’s largest cities are choking on pollution and the Chinese government is pushing up taxes on gas guzzlers, but the public is hungry for horsepower.

A highway is under reconstruction.

Following the Codorus Creek north out of York and ending at John Rudy County Park, the 5.5-mile Northern Extension of the Heritage Rail Trail County Park connects 42 miles of existing rail trail that begins in Ashland, Maryland and ends in York.

Hourcar.org is an innovative way to have access to a car from a Minneapolis nonprofit affiliated with the Neighborhood Energy Connection that redefines consumer cost, pollution and congestion in an urban setting by creating a pool of member owned cars.The NEC brought car-sharing to the Twin Cities to support its overall mission of promoting environmentally responsible communities.