Climate Talks Tomorrow Paris France

UPDATE: Post Paris, Colbert says good-by to OIL.

 Monday 30 November 2015 is the Climate Summit in Paris France. Organized by the United Nations 40,000 dignitaries heads of state and support staff  from every nation on planet Earth will meet to produce an agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (full article Grist) 

• Each nation will submit an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), a commitment to reducing emissions by a target amount. The US commitment is reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2025. 
• All nations INDC's will be combined into a core agreement in two parts, one legally binding the other non-binding, meaning a country can change its commitment without international repercussions.
• Climate scientists argue a change of 2 degrees Celsius must be held to avert the worst impacts from climatic change. The best target temperature in the INDC is 2.7 degrees allowing a chance for agreement but does not meet the recommended target.

But what about those climate deniers? 

NASA and Bloomberg News have prepared animated graphs from climate models (like the graph above) that give more confidence to historical temperature measurements and the computer modeling that matches. To see the animation visit the Bloomberg site here.

What's this got to do with TRANSPORTATION?

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has compiled data showing the contribution to global emissions from their source, by type of gas and by economic sector.  The charts show Carbon Dioxide (CO2)is the largest contributor (65%) from the fossil fuel industry (9 billion metric tonnes in 2010) where the transportation sector contributes 14%. It's noteworthy the Industry, Electricity and Building sectors contribute to both creating and maintaining the Transportation sector.           --LS

Pay When You Play at CAR2GO RideShare

 

Ping it

Take it

Drive it

Park it

Munich has BMW's DriveNOW, in Paris it's Autolib, Pittsburgh has Zipcar, in Oakland it's City CarShare, Palo Alto has Zipcar, in San Diego it's CAR2GO. Worldwide you can find car-shares in 1000 cities but what about Laguna?

Laguna's new mobility plan

CAR2GO is available around the clock. Find one with your Car2Go App (there are no storage depots) or reserve one 30 minutes before your departure. You pay only when you use it there's no monthly fee or subscription. Pay when you play and Parking is included. Read the San Diego parking FAQ's here.  Sign-up for your membership from any smartphone. A one-time $35 fee gets you started so find-out how it works at CAR2GO            -LS

BREEZE New BikeShare in Santa Monica

Reserve
Release
Ride
Return

Reserve an 8-speed bike from any of 80 hub stations around Santa Monica with your Mobile App. Release the bike lock with your smart card - adjust the seat - ride anywhere - return the bike. Lock it at the hub or leave it for the Breeze-van to collect (on-board GPS tracks the bikes).

Santa Monica introduced their new bike share in August with a promotion in November, from now until December 31, 2015 anyone can become a Founding Member for only $99. Founding Members get a full year of bike share use including 60 minutes of daily riding time and a special gift.

Street Car and Bike Share connection

Breeze launches on Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 8:15 a.m. at a City Council ceremony with participation by Mayor McKeown, Assembly Member Richard Bloom, and Presenting Sponsor, Santa Monica-based Hulu.

Santa Monica has adopted an award winning land-use and circulation  element with a bold 5-year phase-in strategy to allow riders of all ages to go anywhere by bike.   

Santa Monica is building their future in transportation, Laguna should join them.    -LS

Pay Plans

Santa Ana hosts Ciclovia Sunday

Santa Ana Ciclovia is Sunday 8 November 2015

Ciclovia is an excellent tool to teach the alternative value of neighborhood streets - a value hidden in plain sight. When will Laguna host theirs? For contact info and a flyer to the car-free event click here.   -LS

Sunday on main open streets (SOMOS).

Laguna's Dirt Fondo Challenge

The Dirt Fondo Invitation Flyer

Learning to bike ride safely and competently on off-road open space encourages kids to learn riding skills free of highway traffic and danger from motor vehicles on PCH and Laguna Canyon Road.  MounTain Biking in Laguna is a great way to stay off the highways and avoid cars altogether.  The Dirt Fondo is a MTB ride fund-raiser to support the LB Interscholastic Mountain Bike Team to hire certified coaches from  National Interscholastic Cycling Association to teach safe riding techniques, trail safety and fitness. IMBT is working with Orange County Parks and the Laguna Canyon Foundation to teach trail sustainability, IMBA trail use rules and maintenance. Riders are taught IMBA Rules of the Trail such as respecting road closures, leave no trace, yield to others and never scare wildlife.

Laguna Beach Tour De Coop 2015

Third Annual Tour de Coop

Know what this is?

Think of a treasure hunt to find Laguna's egg-laying chickens.  Bring the family, get a treasure map, follow the community bicycle ride to find our girls.

UPDATE: Join us Sunday November 8 9:00am check-in at 487 Shadow Lane (Mountain and Carmelita), departure at 10:00am (map detail here). Meet our hosts and get ride details at Seeds Arts and Education. 
 
Ready to pedal?  Register at Facebook page here.

Event history at Independent and Coastline Pilot.

SoCal Active Transportation Forum UCI

October 16 2015 The Active Transportation Forum is sponsored by the UCI Program in Public Health and the Orange County Transportation Alliance. This year's keynote speakers were Mark Fenton, engineer, community design and public health expert, and Leah Shahum, founder and director of Vision Zero Network. Altogether 22 invited guest speakers spoke on the state of active transportation particularly in Southern California and the consequences if a vibrant network is not adopted.

These are highlights from speaker's presentations.

• The cost for treatment of Diabetes and Obesity is $245 billion and $475 billion nationally. 
• The obesity rates of OC adults is 60% children 30%, the rate in disadvantaged neighborhoods is 72%. Obesity leads to type II Diabetes and the health costs are borne by the public sector.
• We bear the health costs of dual epidemics, physical inactivity and poor nutrition, both are a result of our mobility system and lifestyle.
• Fearing constant danger we coddle kids instead of raising old-fashioned free-range kids. 
• We foster the first younger generation whose life expectancy will be shorter than our own.
• Laguna and UCI share the same mobility crisis, over 30,000 enrolled students want to visit the beach with no alternatives to driving a car, and a destination beach town with no-place to park them. 
• Across districts school staff are being used for traffic and parking management not teaching.
• Funding grants 2014-15: OC-PITCH $50M, CAPOC $4M, Measure M. We do more than pot-holes. 
• OC growth: expect 425,000 more people by 2035
• Major European cities have adopted a Vision Zero policy to make traffic accidents intolerable, the major impediment to adoption is POLITICS.  

UPDATE: OC Register posts December article here.
Three residents of Laguna Beach attended the all-day health forum, no representative from the city of Laguna Beach attended.      -LS

Bike Route Safety Conditions on LCR

The Transport Injury Mapping System  shows there were 26 collisons with bicycles for the ten-year period 1/2004 thru 12/2013. The map shows where the collisions occured on Laguna Canyon Road North and South of the 73. Notice the reduction in collisions North of the 73 outside the city boundary versus inside.  Let's look at the road segments on either side of the 73 Laguna city boundary. 

North of the city boundary frequent road signs alert motorists of a "Bike Route" alternating with "Emergency Parking Only". Traveling outbound there are 18 and 11 respectively, inbound there are 21 and 18. South of the city boundary there are 3 and 0.


These photos show the provision for bicycle riders  inside and outside of the city boundary, check-out that 'speed-limit' and a storm-drain grate in the middle of the 'bike-lane'.

LCR Outside City Boundary

LCR Inside City Boundary

Despite the difference in provision for bicycle riders the OCTA Regional Bikeways Map declares a bike route is complete from the 405 to PCH. The on-street provisions and safety record would suggest otherwise.  -LS  

The Livingroom Peleton

When it's too dangerous outside you can join thousands of peleton riders from your stationary bike. Forget Jane Fonda on Beta, with a poke of your waterproof tablet you can connect with  live webcam classes and trainers around the world.  

"Many believe that technology, social media and physical activity somewhat run in conflict with one another, but that's not the case."  - Not from your car-free livingroom naturally, Outside is another story best left for the magazine. (Chicago and New York hope your winters are not too brutal this year.)

"Today we are finding being connected is getting people actually more benefits and maximizing their results from getting physically active."  - Particularly when venturing outside is too dangerous.     -LS

Sustainable Car-Free Cites

Photo Credit: Crawford, Carfree Times

As Paris France prepares to host serious discussions on climate disruption at the climate summit in December, the Carfree Times is promoting their film to promote awareness and topics on sustainable urban living. Among the topics:

• Car-free Cities
• Transport
• Energy
• Food & Fiber
• Water

Carfree.com with Healthbridge Canada and Building a Better Bangladesh premeired the 53 minute film in Dhaka Bangladesh and Kathmandu Nepal 13 August 2015. Watch "Recovering from Disruption: A Comprehensive Approach to Building a Sustainable World"
Vimo format here (recommended)
YouTube format here (popular)
See postcards of car-free cities Madrid, Dublin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Helsinki and soon Paris France at the Carfree Times here.    

Attention NIMBY's:  prepare to duck and cover.

-LS