Paul, I am coming to LA for grad school. So if you can wait a couple of months, I will definitely help out with any bike tour efforts!
I tried to keep up with the bike thread but I have to admit, I'm an amateur, and the talk about "fixies" and what not was a bit over my head. Now that it's nice out again I'm going to go bike shopping this weekend and I'm looking for something along the lines of a road/city bike. I like those hybrids too but they might be a bit much for me.
Also I am still serious about the Archinect Scooter Gang! I am going to see how far I can get into scooter culture and then see if I can't get some magical mechanic to trick out my scooter, biodiesel style or something. Yes I know that scooters come with gas, not diesel enginges. Baby steps.
I ran my footprint as if I was living back in LA in same size house/commmute. my footprint dropped from 19 to 16 just by changing locations... ok, minnesota is butt cold in the wintertime, but CA has several power plants dedicated to just pumping water. Is life that much lower in impact in Cali???
maybe since all the food is grown locally, that saves lots of footprint acres.
eco footprint (using data from the past year, living and working in Jacksonville, Florida):
FOOD 3.7
MOBILITY 1.7
SHELTER 3.5
GOODS/SERVICES 3.5
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 12
Food: this one's tough...we have 2 grocers in the area (one normal, one health food) but neither sells local stuff.
Mobility: Short commute in a fuel efficient vehicle, always carpool.
Shelter: I agree with TK...if this were more specific I would have a lower number here. for example, it's a warm, sunny spring day here. The AC is not running and there are no lights on (windows open). 2 computers, a cell phone charger, an external hard drive and the 'fridge are the only things plugged in and turned on.
my number would be lower for energy if it were more specific as well, as I don't use AC in my home, which I'm sure they're assuming from my weather selection that I do. And I also don't turn on the lights until dusk on the weekends because I have big windows.
guess I'm guilty of living in a singlefamilydetatched house. even if it smaller then average.
It is hard to purchase local produce or groceries in minnesota for most of the year. the best I can do right now is find melons and carrots from california or arizona - even in the organic co-op. Hmm, cheerios are local, along with pilsbury products - too bad I don't like cereal.
So a SUV driving/suburban,/frequent flyer/meat eater would need 76 acres and 17.1 earths to thrive. I feel better!
Because most of them ARE!!! I was listening to an NPR story the other day about these. Apparently, a lot of factories in China get built as crappy/wasteful as possible, then they sell you carbon offsets, and use the money to improve their environmental performance. They could have done this from the beginning easily, and have just conned you into paying for it.
that carbon footprint calculator was nice - however I didn't have my country (small Caribbean islands) so i had to use other places which gave similar responses. But without anothing special my footprint was 16 acres. However I suspect it was alot lower if i really sat and thoought through alot of things.
I was particularly worried about the part that said I would need 3.6 planet earths to sustain the way I live. Wow what a shock!
I just calculated my dad's footprint.... he takes up 1.9 hectares, and we would only need 1.1 planets if everyone lived like him. He's doing pretty darned good! I had to use Venezuala for him though, as like architechnophilia, his country of residence wasn't an option.
from what i have gathered carbon offsets are a bunch of crap. everything that i've read, heard or watched suggests that they are, as Colbert put it (I think it was him), like the indulgences sold by the catholic church to sinners seeking absolution. it's worth noting that this practice, the selling of indulgences, compelled Martin Luther to post his 95 theses...the birth of denominational christianity. how many denominations of 'sustainability' are there?
that's an interesting perspective AP... one once surmmonted that the demise of any religious belief came about by allowing the intellectualisation of it. And perhaps too might lead to the death of sustainability.
that said, we are professionally trained architects know what to do. There isn't any green secret.
Air conditioners exchanges hot air for cold or vice versa. It takes energy to do this. Once upon a time the stuff that made that converstion was wicked dangerous. Be happy your kids won't know what freon and cfcs are.
If I insulate my building it won't be so fricking cold/hot. It will be cheaper to heat/cool. We always light to keep more money in our pocket.
AP- sure, if you're a native Antillean, speak English, Spanish, and Papiementu, not expecting much in the way of pay, and aren't planning on getting pregnant or having any other sort of medical emergency anytime soon. His current employees are dropping like flies, and the laws there are such that he has to pay them to take tons of medical leave while he fills in their shifts...
Denominations of sustainability? Let's see, there's LEED, there's 'holistic' for real, there's those who say they're holistic but then talk themselves out of doing anything good...
I used to be able to order lunch in papiamento whilst I was in Curacao (not trying to vere off topic); simply because we were eating in dodgy places and were afraid to be recognised as foreigners.
when we get back in the habit of shopping at the farmers' market, get back in town, etc, we might come out better.
i'll agree that more detail would be good, but would probably introduce an unmanageable number of variables. that excel spreadsheet tk posted made my head hurt and still didn't get at some of the things that someone's specific habits might do to help or hurt.
what are you guy's thoughts on guilt and ethics as it regards to raising ecological consciousness?
during the GSD Potentials student panel discussions both of these came out as big issues. During the student panel people seemed hesitant to use consciousness-raising approaches that raise "guilt" out of people. The faculty panel kept taking the issue out of an ethical framework. Yet many people (including those of faith) see this as more than just doing-good they see this as an intrinsic part of being human.
I guess that after listening to the ocean's report above I feel guilty for all the plastic I buy and use, about eating the larger species from the oceans, etc... What is the balance? I think that guilt is also a feeling of helplessness, it is easier to feel guilty and think ethicaly if you can have a choice (real or perceived) to do something about it.
My wife and I use 10 acres (2.5 planets). We live in a very small space in an apartment building. We do not own a car and use public transport, I usually walk a lot. The only thing is that we tend to fly a lot with close family in three continents. Thinking about these numbers make you think, what are the consequences of my lifestyle? How many iraqs for the sake of our highway system?
As I was raised catholic, I am skilled in the fine art of guilt-making :o)
However, I try to resist the urge to make other people feel guilty about their lifestyles when I raise an issue of some sort. I just think that it probably doesn't help matters.....it seems like people might take an attitude of, "well I live better than those people, why should I change", etc. That's not something you want to hear if you are trying to get people to tread lighter.....
This commentary by Lewis Black about Earth Day on last night's Daily Show speaks to this same issue, albeit in a very hysterical, and appropriate, way.
*nerd alert*
On a side note, I am interested in the breakdown of our ecological footprints by geographical regions. +q where are you? Massachusetts? And you've got a 10. Blue202 has a 12 in NY.
Steven and I are mid-Western and we've got a 15.1 and 16.
AP has a 12 in FL.
tk has a 19 in MN.
rationalist and squirrelly and Cris have a 16 and 18 and 20 in LA.
Did I miss anyone?
What does this show us......that areas with public transportation result in lifestyles that are less detrimental to the earth?!? Hmmm, tell me something I don't know already :o/
I'm all for people trying to bring awareness to the issue but any celebrity saying "if your house is anything like mine..." kind of skews the discussion, lol.
Going backwards into the discussion a little bit, but thank you for bringing up the issue of Carbon Offset credits. I was just discussing this with somebody at work yesterday.
I view carbon offset credits and LEED in very much the same way. It provides an outlet for people who are essentially doing nothing to feel like they are "doing something." People in my office act like they are saving the world just because they have PASSED the LEED test. They aren't even working on a LEED project or contributing to our sustainable efforts in any discernible fashion.
Perhaps I can suggest a new Green Denomination: "9-5 Green" We're going to save the world as long as we can do it between the hours of 9am and 5pm, and as long as it's not during our lunch hour and a half.
Same thing with carbon offsets. I'm still gonna drive around in my Escalade sitting on 24s, but hey I planted a few trees so it's all good.
On public transportation and the impact on the environment.
I moved from Oakland CA to Nashville in January, while I start school in Oregon in the summer. I have noticed that here there is almost no public transportation, everybody drives. I find that interesting, I lived in L.A. for a period of time and I used to hear how that city was so dependent on the car to move around, but here in Nashville I cannot go anywhere if is not by car. I have found that people do not recycle (for what I have seen), where I live everything goes into the same trash container, bottles, cans garbage, paper, you name it...which is very frustrating!
My footprint was 15.
I just thought it might be interesting to hear from others in the Nashville area, or opinions people have in general.
starman, that's interesting. i grew up in franklin, a suburb to the south of nashville, and yes, you're right. @ least here in so cal i can hop on a bus/train and get where i need to go. it might take me 2 hours vs. a 30 minute drive, but @ least i have that option.
I guess is considered Nashville, Bellevue along Old Hickory. And yes traveling by car is way faster and more convenient (at least individually), if they only had a metro or train system...
Those are the female and male versions of the same bike, which is a hybrid Giant Cypress DX. I will have to see how they work when I go in person, but in the meantime, does the lady one look too sissy? Does anyone know what the advantage of getting a women's bike is, if you are a female?
cool! i like the bottom one better. not sure if it's the male or female version, but something about the way the frame is bent (i think it's so that it's easier to step over) in the first one doesn't seem right to me (but hey, what do i know? i'm a bike newb).
i've been looking @ these dahons (still like the folding aspect):
Starman, I have a complete opposite experience in Nashville.
I take public transportation to work (and I live 20 miles away!). Honestly, sometimes it's not convenient but you have to make sacrifices to take public transportation in a city this size. Nashville actually has a decently high percentage of riders to population.
Everyone I associate with are big recyclers. It's unfortunate that parts of Davidson County stopped the curbside recycling so it is more on one's own initiative but free recycling centers can be found pretty easily throughout the town.
As a whole, I don't think the city is extraordinarily 'green' but it is making decent strides. We even have our futural mayoral candidates taking about LEED buildings.
the ride is about 20 minutes. it's an express bus so it's interstate riding the whole time. i pick up the last stop before it enters the interstate and my work is the first stop in the downtown core.
the ride is about 20 minutes. it's an express bus so it's interstate riding the whole time. i pick up the last stop before it enters the interstate and my work is the first stop in the downtown core.
Green Thread Central
awesome dubK. great idea...and off to a good start.
i hope to learn from and contribute to GTC in the future.
some bicycle architecture:
the new bicycle parking in front of the central station in Groningen
architect KCAP
Paul, I am coming to LA for grad school. So if you can wait a couple of months, I will definitely help out with any bike tour efforts!
I tried to keep up with the bike thread but I have to admit, I'm an amateur, and the talk about "fixies" and what not was a bit over my head. Now that it's nice out again I'm going to go bike shopping this weekend and I'm looking for something along the lines of a road/city bike. I like those hybrids too but they might be a bit much for me.
Also I am still serious about the Archinect Scooter Gang! I am going to see how far I can get into scooter culture and then see if I can't get some magical mechanic to trick out my scooter, biodiesel style or something. Yes I know that scooters come with gas, not diesel enginges. Baby steps.
Ha ha, "enginges". Maybe they even come with engines. Anyway.
did you ever check out the two-stroke vs. four-stroke issues?
I ran my footprint as if I was living back in LA in same size house/commmute. my footprint dropped from 19 to 16 just by changing locations... ok, minnesota is butt cold in the wintertime, but CA has several power plants dedicated to just pumping water. Is life that much lower in impact in Cali???
maybe since all the food is grown locally, that saves lots of footprint acres.
for people looking for a bicycle: fietsfabriek
they also make the traditional Dutch OMA bicycle
tk- I think the issue is community density. A standard sized lot in LA is most likely a lot smaller than a standard sized lot in minnesota.
Yeah DubK I was going to suggest a Hybrid bike...those are probably best for starters....
Cris....have a look at them too!
hybrid!? can you show me an example so i know what to look for? =)
what's so great about having to live right next to people who play shitty music way too loud?
eco footprint (using data from the past year, living and working in Jacksonville, Florida):
FOOD 3.7
MOBILITY 1.7
SHELTER 3.5
GOODS/SERVICES 3.5
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 12
Food: this one's tough...we have 2 grocers in the area (one normal, one health food) but neither sells local stuff.
Mobility: Short commute in a fuel efficient vehicle, always carpool.
Shelter: I agree with TK...if this were more specific I would have a lower number here. for example, it's a warm, sunny spring day here. The AC is not running and there are no lights on (windows open). 2 computers, a cell phone charger, an external hard drive and the 'fridge are the only things plugged in and turned on.
alright, it's warm in here, i need some water...
that;s the definition.
It's not something unusual, just a "regular bike" with multiple capabilities.
another
my number would be lower for energy if it were more specific as well, as I don't use AC in my home, which I'm sure they're assuming from my weather selection that I do. And I also don't turn on the lights until dusk on the weekends because I have big windows.
guess I'm guilty of living in a singlefamilydetatched house. even if it smaller then average.
It is hard to purchase local produce or groceries in minnesota for most of the year. the best I can do right now is find melons and carrots from california or arizona - even in the organic co-op. Hmm, cheerios are local, along with pilsbury products - too bad I don't like cereal.
So a SUV driving/suburban,/frequent flyer/meat eater would need 76 acres and 17.1 earths to thrive. I feel better!
Food- 5.9
Mobility- 0.7
Shelter- 3.0
Goods/Services- 2.5
Total: 12
Thank you NYC subways!
all i wanna know is this, why do carbon offsets sound like a hustle to me?
Because most of them ARE!!! I was listening to an NPR story the other day about these. Apparently, a lot of factories in China get built as crappy/wasteful as possible, then they sell you carbon offsets, and use the money to improve their environmental performance. They could have done this from the beginning easily, and have just conned you into paying for it.
Wonder K - this is beautiful.
that carbon footprint calculator was nice - however I didn't have my country (small Caribbean islands) so i had to use other places which gave similar responses. But without anothing special my footprint was 16 acres. However I suspect it was alot lower if i really sat and thoought through alot of things.
I was particularly worried about the part that said I would need 3.6 planet earths to sustain the way I live. Wow what a shock!
I just calculated my dad's footprint.... he takes up 1.9 hectares, and we would only need 1.1 planets if everyone lived like him. He's doing pretty darned good! I had to use Venezuala for him though, as like architechnophilia, his country of residence wasn't an option.
where's your Dad from rationalist?
he's running a hotel in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles.
thanks architechno....
I've done the footprint about 3 times now, it DOES work better if you put in your zip code.....
FOOD 4.9
MOBILITY 2
SHELTER 4
GOODS/SERVICES 5.4
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 16
Ask me again in 6 months! Hopefully it will be better then....
rationalist, is he hiring?
from what i have gathered carbon offsets are a bunch of crap. everything that i've read, heard or watched suggests that they are, as Colbert put it (I think it was him), like the indulgences sold by the catholic church to sinners seeking absolution. it's worth noting that this practice, the selling of indulgences, compelled Martin Luther to post his 95 theses...the birth of denominational christianity. how many denominations of 'sustainability' are there?
or should it be called sustainabiliality? greenianity?
that's an interesting perspective AP... one once surmmonted that the demise of any religious belief came about by allowing the intellectualisation of it. And perhaps too might lead to the death of sustainability.
that said, we are professionally trained architects know what to do. There isn't any green secret.
Air conditioners exchanges hot air for cold or vice versa. It takes energy to do this. Once upon a time the stuff that made that converstion was wicked dangerous. Be happy your kids won't know what freon and cfcs are.
If I insulate my building it won't be so fricking cold/hot. It will be cheaper to heat/cool. We always light to keep more money in our pocket.
AP- sure, if you're a native Antillean, speak English, Spanish, and Papiementu, not expecting much in the way of pay, and aren't planning on getting pregnant or having any other sort of medical emergency anytime soon. His current employees are dropping like flies, and the laws there are such that he has to pay them to take tons of medical leave while he fills in their shifts...
Denominations of sustainability? Let's see, there's LEED, there's 'holistic' for real, there's those who say they're holistic but then talk themselves out of doing anything good...
I used to be able to order lunch in papiamento whilst I was in Curacao (not trying to vere off topic); simply because we were eating in dodgy places and were afraid to be recognised as foreigners.
wow, i felt bad for my 11 acre footprint, but that seems to be pretty comparable.
anyone familiar w/ living building challenge (basically LEED 2.2 on hgh)?
family of 4 in louisville:
food 5.4
mobility 1
shelter 4.7
goods/svcs 4
15.1 acres
when we get back in the habit of shopping at the farmers' market, get back in town, etc, we might come out better.
i'll agree that more detail would be good, but would probably introduce an unmanageable number of variables. that excel spreadsheet tk posted made my head hurt and still didn't get at some of the things that someone's specific habits might do to help or hurt.
human-induced pollution in the deepest parts of the ocean creating oxygen-free dead zones and toxic algae.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9537252
what are you guy's thoughts on guilt and ethics as it regards to raising ecological consciousness?
during the GSD Potentials student panel discussions both of these came out as big issues. During the student panel people seemed hesitant to use consciousness-raising approaches that raise "guilt" out of people. The faculty panel kept taking the issue out of an ethical framework. Yet many people (including those of faith) see this as more than just doing-good they see this as an intrinsic part of being human.
I guess that after listening to the ocean's report above I feel guilty for all the plastic I buy and use, about eating the larger species from the oceans, etc... What is the balance? I think that guilt is also a feeling of helplessness, it is easier to feel guilty and think ethicaly if you can have a choice (real or perceived) to do something about it.
My wife and I use 10 acres (2.5 planets). We live in a very small space in an apartment building. We do not own a car and use public transport, I usually walk a lot. The only thing is that we tend to fly a lot with close family in three continents. Thinking about these numbers make you think, what are the consequences of my lifestyle? How many iraqs for the sake of our highway system?
As I was raised catholic, I am skilled in the fine art of guilt-making :o)
However, I try to resist the urge to make other people feel guilty about their lifestyles when I raise an issue of some sort. I just think that it probably doesn't help matters.....it seems like people might take an attitude of, "well I live better than those people, why should I change", etc. That's not something you want to hear if you are trying to get people to tread lighter.....
This commentary by Lewis Black about Earth Day on last night's Daily Show speaks to this same issue, albeit in a very hysterical, and appropriate, way.
*nerd alert*
On a side note, I am interested in the breakdown of our ecological footprints by geographical regions. +q where are you? Massachusetts? And you've got a 10. Blue202 has a 12 in NY.
Steven and I are mid-Western and we've got a 15.1 and 16.
AP has a 12 in FL.
tk has a 19 in MN.
rationalist and squirrelly and Cris have a 16 and 18 and 20 in LA.
Did I miss anyone?
What does this show us......that areas with public transportation result in lifestyles that are less detrimental to the earth?!? Hmmm, tell me something I don't know already :o/
is your pole thinning? freaking hilarious.
If your house is anything like mine.... Oprah washing clothes with her money. :)
Ah haha, that was the best!
I'm all for people trying to bring awareness to the issue but any celebrity saying "if your house is anything like mine..." kind of skews the discussion, lol.
Going backwards into the discussion a little bit, but thank you for bringing up the issue of Carbon Offset credits. I was just discussing this with somebody at work yesterday.
I view carbon offset credits and LEED in very much the same way. It provides an outlet for people who are essentially doing nothing to feel like they are "doing something." People in my office act like they are saving the world just because they have PASSED the LEED test. They aren't even working on a LEED project or contributing to our sustainable efforts in any discernible fashion.
Perhaps I can suggest a new Green Denomination: "9-5 Green" We're going to save the world as long as we can do it between the hours of 9am and 5pm, and as long as it's not during our lunch hour and a half.
Same thing with carbon offsets. I'm still gonna drive around in my Escalade sitting on 24s, but hey I planted a few trees so it's all good.
On public transportation and the impact on the environment.
I moved from Oakland CA to Nashville in January, while I start school in Oregon in the summer. I have noticed that here there is almost no public transportation, everybody drives. I find that interesting, I lived in L.A. for a period of time and I used to hear how that city was so dependent on the car to move around, but here in Nashville I cannot go anywhere if is not by car. I have found that people do not recycle (for what I have seen), where I live everything goes into the same trash container, bottles, cans garbage, paper, you name it...which is very frustrating!
My footprint was 15.
I just thought it might be interesting to hear from others in the Nashville area, or opinions people have in general.
starman, that's interesting. i grew up in franklin, a suburb to the south of nashville, and yes, you're right. @ least here in so cal i can hop on a bus/train and get where i need to go. it might take me 2 hours vs. a 30 minute drive, but @ least i have that option.
so, are you in nashville proper?
I guess is considered Nashville, Bellevue along Old Hickory. And yes traveling by car is way faster and more convenient (at least individually), if they only had a metro or train system...
Blue202, that's a good point. Sad but true.
I am looking at getting a bike like this:
or this:
Those are the female and male versions of the same bike, which is a hybrid Giant Cypress DX. I will have to see how they work when I go in person, but in the meantime, does the lady one look too sissy? Does anyone know what the advantage of getting a women's bike is, if you are a female?
cool! i like the bottom one better. not sure if it's the male or female version, but something about the way the frame is bent (i think it's so that it's easier to step over) in the first one doesn't seem right to me (but hey, what do i know? i'm a bike newb).
i've been looking @ these dahons (still like the folding aspect):
the espresso
and
the jack
Starman, I have a complete opposite experience in Nashville.
I take public transportation to work (and I live 20 miles away!). Honestly, sometimes it's not convenient but you have to make sacrifices to take public transportation in a city this size. Nashville actually has a decently high percentage of riders to population.
Everyone I associate with are big recyclers. It's unfortunate that parts of Davidson County stopped the curbside recycling so it is more on one's own initiative but free recycling centers can be found pretty easily throughout the town.
As a whole, I don't think the city is extraordinarily 'green' but it is making decent strides. We even have our futural mayoral candidates taking about LEED buildings.
Ok, forget my bikes, Cris, I want that espresso! And there's a dealer 5 minutes away from me! Score!
n_ how long does that 20 mile bus ride take?
awesome dubk!!! they are nice, aren't they!?
the ride is about 20 minutes. it's an express bus so it's interstate riding the whole time. i pick up the last stop before it enters the interstate and my work is the first stop in the downtown core.
the ride is about 20 minutes. it's an express bus so it's interstate riding the whole time. i pick up the last stop before it enters the interstate and my work is the first stop in the downtown core.
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