Maybe your apt or condo bldg has a bike locker with a few old bikes left behind by former tenants? You have an old mtn or road bike that’s looking lonely and unused while the new bike gets all the mileage? Here’s a great way to do some fall cleaning and help out kids in need.

Bikes.Community is holding a bike drive on Sept. 29th from 1:30 – 5pm at King George Secondary at 1755 Barclay St in the West End.  They’re looking for bicycles that can be used as part of a program that teaches intercultural and inter-generational leadership skills to youth in the downtown peninsula through recycling bicycles and cycling together. Click on the PDF link below for more information:

Donation Brochure

This was a great day of shooting. Great music, lots of engaged visitors, and excellent presenters offering a taste of local history.

I would not recommend a back-mounted child seat because I think it puts the weight up too high and makes the bike more unstable. It’s also bad for kid’s necks when they fall asleep in those seats and their heads flop over. The seats for small children where they sit in front of the parent are good, but it’s for small children (max 3 yrs), so they grow out of it quickly.

A double trailer is good because you can take both kids and take turns pulling the trailer. If possible get the kind that has a really sturdy connection with a ball on the trailer fitting into a socket attachment at the rear wheel, such as on a Chariot brand.

You can also consider a trail-a-bike for your older child. Your younger child can grow into it by the time the older one has their own bike. For short trips, if you already have a kids bike at your house, one of these trail-gators might work for you.

This summer, three groups of young people collaborated on videos about Healthy Parks, Healthy People as part of Metro Vancouver’s 2011 Youth Video Project. I wrote the script for this behind the scenes look at their experience.

Hey folks,

Did you know that the organization behind Our Community Bikes has been running after-school Bike Clubs in Vancouver Public Schools for the last four years?
This year (after winning on the Social Enterprise Dragons competition) they are pleased to be offering Our Community Bike Club SUMMER BIKECAMPS!

The rider learns to safely shoulder check by spotting the instructor's signal

What’s Summer BikeCamps about?
FUN , safety,   fitness, and   independence

Your kids will learn to ride their bikes safely and confidently while having fun exploring the neighborhood.
Days will consist of Fun Games! plus Bike Safety, Bike Rides, & Basic Repairs.

No bike? No problem! Loaner bikes available to kids who need them.

For more information, subsidy inquiries, or to register
CONTACT Steph, Tyler or Kelly at: bikeclub@pedalpower.org

See this article in the Vancouver Courier about the upcoming BikeCamps.
Or See the full poster here
Web: OurCommunityBikeClub.org

Program Basics:
1 week camps for kids AGES 8 to 13
TIMES: 9:00am – 2:30pm, daily

Cost:
$265 per session***
$245 Early-bird rate before July 1.
***Many subsidies available please inquire.

Locations & Dates:
Grandview/¿uuqinak’uuh Elementary (2055 Woodland Dr. Vancouver)
August 2 to 5* or August 8 to 12

Hastings Elementary (2625 Franklin St. Vancouver)
August 8-12 or August 15-19
* August 2 to 5 Camp is four-days only, due to August 1 Holiday. Cost is adjusted to $205 for the week.

Did you know?
- Our Community Bike Club has been running in Vancouver Public Schools for 4 years as an after-school program. We are excited to be offering summer camps this year!

- Our Community Bike Club is the only summer bike camp in the Lower Mainland with Nationally Certified Instructors (CANBIKE).

Here’s a map of restaurants, coffee shops, and fast food outlets
along the Hornby and Dunsmuir separated bike lanes.

View Bike Lane Eats in Downtown Vancouver in a larger map

There’s been a spate of Tweets and articles circulating in the cycling world about how Tokyo commuters, stranded by a lack of transit due to the recent earthquake, cleaned out bike shops in the city, looking for a way to get home. Frankly, it rubs me the wrong way and you better believe I’m not going to link to them to prove my point.

While I appreciate the utility of a bicycle when other options fail, I’m not sure crowing about it is a great reflection on active transportation. I doubt many bike boosters would disagree with Naomi Klein’s distaste for Disaster Capitalism, but using the actions of desperate people without options to promote increased transportation choices is a questionable move, both for the potential of a PR backlash and the fact that the tragedy-fuelled uptick in sales isn’t really the same as somebody choosing to give up their car or bus pass, for all the reasons typically put forth by the cycling community.

Imagine the outrage from cycling advocates if a car company ran a marketing campaign promoting their vehicles as a solution to a commuter train derailment.  What do you think? Am I being overly sensitive, or is it OK to capitalize on a disaster in this manner?

“When will we learn to ask  ‘And then what’ as a matter of course?”

JEREMY CHERFAS
Biologist and BBC Radio Four broadcaster; author of The Seed Savers Handbook.

I’ve swiped the above quote from a great website called Edge (http://www.edge.org/). Its mandate is to: “arrive at the edge of the world’s knowledge, seek out the most complicated and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.”

I first discovered it about ten years ago, and every once in a while I go back and check it out to see what people smarter than I are pondering. Many of the questions are complex, and some are quite beyond my ken. But the one I’ve quoted at the top stuck with me. It’s so simple and so sensible. As for the website itself, not only does it honour the value of good questions and forward thinking, it also recognizes the benefit of seeking help outside our immediate sphere.

The ‘and then what’ question struck me again this week, while thinking about the events which led to 100 dogs being shot at a Whistler outdoor adventure company. In this tragedy of errors, it seems failing to ask that simple question at the outset is at the root of this terrible case.

“‘We’re going to get a bunch of sled dogs and cash in on Olympic tourism.”

And then what?

Unfortunately, no one involved — from the company that owned the dogs, the vet that didn’t put them down humanely, the SPCA which didn’t do a site inspection, to the man at the center of the storm, dealing with the impact of Post-Tramautic Stress Disorder, seems to have ever considered their decisions and said to themselves… and then what?

Now, we all are sickened by the chain of events, which grew more inevitable with each failure to consider the future. The impact is far-reaching. The company in question is unlikely to ever recover, Whistler has suffered an international black eye, and most importantly, a hundred dogs, for which one can only surmise loving homes could have been found, if the owners had been honest about their predicament and sought the help of the community at large, died in a horrific fashion.

For individuals and organizations this is a sad, but valuable lesson. Hopefully this kind of scenario is something you’ll never have to face. But if it does, and you find yourself considering the unthinkable, please, ask the question. And then what?

Thanks for reading,

Chris Keam

In case you missed it the first 47 times I mentioned it, here’s a link to my latest article for the Tyee, because I haven’t posted anything over the holidays. Happy New Year!

But while the heroes of Hollywood’s cinematic comic strips may save the world on occasion, how do they stack up at saving the environment? Turns out only a couple of comic book creations can rightfully say they put the green on screen. From worst to best let’s look at five enduring heroes.

HULK SMASH GHG EMITTERS!

Read more

Back in June, I posted about John McTaggart and his attempt to go coast to coast across the southern U.S. with the Pterosail, a pedal, sail, and electric-assist powered recumbent trike. Well, he’s done it! Check out this innovative machine and highlights of his journey in this 5 minute Youtube video.

Congratulations John!