On Sunday, April 22, Earth Day, I went to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, to hear a talk by Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives (TA) in New York City. Young, charismatic, and energetic, White is a national leader on issues related to getting us out of our cars and using transit, bikes, and our own feet.

His talk was titled “Reclaiming Urban Public Space to Lessen Environmental Impacts and Maximize Human Happiness.” He began by discussing the environmental advantages of densely populated urban environments, then declaring his interest in our streets, “the spaces between our buildings.” Only recently have streets been given over to cars, he said.  Read the rest of this entry »

I was listening to the radio while cleaning up the house this morning and heard an interview with poets Galway Kinnell and Josephine Dickinson. Hearing them speak brought back memories of the important place poetry once took in my life. When I was in academia, I read and taught a great deal of poetry, and I wrote quite a bit as well. When I left academia, I continued to read and write poetry, but for a number of years now it’s been a much smaller part of my life. The choice was a conscious one, and I don’t want to sound morose or whining about it. Simply put, I chose to focus on other things.

However, hearing Josephine Dickinson, a British poet, talk and read made me think I’ve let poetry recede too far into the background of my life. She caught my attention when she mentioned that she had lived for some time near Alston, England. Alston is a place I became familiar with through the work of the poet W.H. Auden, who loved and wrote about the area around that remote village in the northern Pennines. I also visited the town and surrounding countryside for several days about 10 years ago and greatly enjoyed its natural beauty and its connections to Auden and his work.

Dickinson, who became deaf at the age of six, spoke of her new book of poems, Silence Fell. The word “fell” here has a double meaning; besides its meaning as a verb, in Britain it also means, according to my dictionary, “a high barren hill or moor.” (I wouldn’t say “barren,” however; “treeless” would be better. The word fell comes from the Old Norse word for mountain; the Norwegian word for mountain is fjell.) Thus the title is also a place-name.

I hope to read the book and walk the fells again in my mind. Until then, I’ll dip into Auden. “Alston Moor” is a piece of romantic juvenilia by the teenaged Auden, but its opening lines are worth quoting, particularly given the time of year:

April, fair maid, is come with laughter in her eyes
And everywhere she weaves her lovely spells
On plain and hill; I know that now the South Wind cries
Her name upon the long slow curvings of the fells.

(Juvenilia: Poems, 1922-1928, p. 32)

Some weeks ago a new blog, “Rudely Stamped: Heterodox Views on Politics and Public Policy,” made its debut. Its author, Michael Blaine, offers valuable and incisive comment on politics and culture from a generally left-wing perspective, with an international outlook that is often missing in the United States.

Of the early posts, I especially appreciated one on immigration. Recently I’ve come to think of immigration as necessary to save our social safety net. That is, with fewer young workers supporting an increasingly elderly population, I believe we’ll need a healthy level of immigration to provide the tax revenue to support Social Security and Medicare. Anyways, here’s an excerpt from Rudely Stamped that puts Latin American immigration into the U.S. in a positive light:

In reality, the U.S. finds itself in a relatively fortunate immigration situation. The vast majority of our nation’s newcomers are Roman Catholic, capitalistic, zealously eager to work — that is why they come, after all — and family-oriented. These millions of Latin Americans speak a European language and are eager to become part of their new society, even if they also retain a foothold in their old one. Indeed, these people already are American in the sense that they have grown up in the Americas, the New World we natives are taught in school to cherish. Without them, our nation’s population would actually decline, a phenomenon that would produce difficult economic consequences.

Contrast this with Europe, where most new arrivals are not Christian, do not know Western-style capitalism or democracy, and do not join the social mainstream. These North Africans and Middle Easterners communicate using inscrutable languages, and frequently remain alienated from their host societies (by choice or not), while retaining loyalties that do not include their new countries. Europe thus confronts an enormous and ongoing immigration challenge, one that by most accounts it is not handling well.

By the way, the phrase “rudely stamped” comes from Shakespeare’s play, Richard III, I’ve been told. Richard calls himself “rudely stamped” – that is, ugly. Methinks Mr. Blaine is too hard on himself!

The StarTribune has a blog called Road Guy, which I read for the first time today. Its author is described this way:

Roadguy is Jim Foti, a transportation geek who is fascinated with the ways that Minnesotans get around town. Join him for smart remarks, navigational nuggets and adventures in the Twin Cities and beyond.

I kind of like the term “transportation geek” and have to admit that, much to my surprise, it’s come to apply to me.

I’m glad to see that the Road Guy pays attention to issues that affect cyclists and pedestrians, and I thought I would pass on this quiz that he provided in a post. I’ve included the answers, I’m afraid, because my main interest is in spreading knowledge about Minnesota state laws:

Answers to the bike quiz

1. How many feet of clearance are Minnesota motorists required to give when passing cyclists? Three (state law)
2. Where are cyclists allowed to ride on sidewalks in Minneapolis?
• Anywhere except business districts or where posted
3. Are cyclists restricted to the bike lane on streets that have a bike lane? No (state law)
4. Is a motorist required to yield the right of way to a cyclist riding in a crosswalk? Yes (state law)
5. In Minneapolis, is it legal to park and attach your bike to:
   • A tree? No
   • A signpost? Yes
   • A parking meter? No

In looking up Transportation Alternatives, I came across their “Green Transportation Hierarchy.” Pretty cool. Spread the word.

Here’s the “green” version that I found, which is smaller and harder to read:

Celebrate Earth Day, Sunday, April 22, by attending a panel discussion on how to make cities more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. Paul Steely White, Executive Director of New York City’s Transportation Alternatives, will join Steve Clark and others for an expert panel presentation at Macalester College.

Here is the notice from the Macalester events calendar:

Sunday, April 22, 1:30 PM Earth Week Bicycle Activist Panel
1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel
MacBIKE celebrates Earth Week with 5 speakers: Paul White, director of New York City’s Transportation Alternatives, will speak on a panel with bicycle activists from around the Twin Cities. Presentation and discussions will highlight the steps necessary to build a bike-friendly city.

Here’s a simple idea I’ve been using to reduce energy use in our house. It goes into the “duh” category of energy efficiency: in light fixtures that use multiple light bulbs, use fewer bulbs. For example, in our bathrooms we have light fixtures that use three or four bulbs, the kind that are right above the mirror, where the bulb is not covered by a larger glass fixture. In our larger bathroom, with his-and-hers sinks, we have 8 light sockets! What I’ve done there is simply slightly unscrew the two outer bulbs in each four-bulb fixture, so that they turn off. This leaves only the inner two bulbs on. When bulbs go out, I rotate the burned-out bulbs to the outer sockets.

There is still plenty of light, and by leaving all the bulbs in place you don’t have an unsightly and dangerous empty socket. Besides using less energy, we also save on replacement costs for bulbs.

In other parts of the house, where bulbs are covered by a larger glass fixture, I’ve simply put in one bulb and left the other one or two sockets empty. And there’s still plenty of light.

Of course, when light bulbs go out I generally replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs.

This environmentalist is laughing all the way to the bank – at least until they raise the electric rates.

We’ve created a new online discussion group for nonmotorized or “active” transportation issues in the Northfield, Minnesota, area. Already 20 strong, the group is a good way to hear what’s going on in terms of advocacy and events on this issue. You can join online.

Here’s the description of the group, which is a Google group:

The RENew/Coalition Active Transportation group focuses on human-powered or nonmotorized transportation advocacy and recreation in the Northfield-Dundas, Minnesota, area. Organized by RENew Northfield (renewnorthfield.org), it is meant to foster a coalition of groups around this important issue.

On Saturday, April 14, 16 people in Northfield, Minnesota, participated in Step It Up 2007, a “Global Warming Day of Action” organized nationally by the Sierra Club. After gathering in the Northfield High School parking lot (top picture) at noon, participants climbed on 13 bikes and rode down Division Street to the Northfield Public Library. Two children rode in child carriers and Andy Alt joined Charley Skinner on Charley’s Blackbird “quadribent” dual recumbent.

I participated with my wife and daughter. As we rode down Division Street, many of us rang our bicycle bells, making delightful music.

At the library (bottom picture), participants signed letters urging four Minnesota leaders to take action to mitigate global warming: U.S. Senators Coleman and Klobuchar, U.S. Representative John Kline, and Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Thanks to Grant Dobbe and Andy Alt for organizing the Northfield event.

The weekend before last I saw Northfield News publisher and editor Sam Gett at our church. I recognized him from his photo in the paper and I introduced myself. We talked for quite a while about Northfield, the newspaper business, and local efforts to promote biking and walking. I learned that Sam’s wife has been a diabetes educator, so he already knew about the toll that physical inactivity can take on health.

I was delighted to find a few days later that Sam addressed the topic of health and physical activity with gusto in his column, titled “Let’s develop a healthy city.” Here’s an excerpt: Read the rest of this entry »