From the Streetfilms site – “The first time you visit Portland, Oregon, the gaggles of cyclists streaming over the Hawthorne Bridge during rush hour is a sight you will never forget. It’s something other cities need to see and be inspired by.”
USA Today reports that Germany has increased new-car registrations in Germany by more than 21% to 277,800 in February compared with the same month last year. These sales were achieved by the German goverment’s bonus to people who scrap older cars and buy new ones, an amount of $3,134 at Tuesday’s exchange rate. A buyer has to trade in a car at least 9 years old and agree to let it be scrapped. America, take note.
Now here’s a very simple and concrete way to save some trees…sign up to stop the unwanted delivery of the Yellow and White pages. Here’s the link, it takes about 30 seconds..
I wrote on this blog back in March about the success of plastic and paper bag elimination in Ireland. The government there made it a priority to reduce the use of these bags and worked with business to make it happen. Here’s my blog post on the subject.
The campaign was incredibly successful even though it meant adding a tax penalty to both shoppers and grocery store owners to make it work. It has now become as socially unacceptable to be seen using plastic grocery bags in Ireland as it would be to be caught smoking in a maternity ward. It is not hard to switch peoples social behaviour when it is seen to be for a social good. It was made clear to the Irish that the amount of energy that went into manufacturing plastic bags, that were all destined to end up in landfills anyway, was not sustainable. Paper bags were not the answer either as they are just as wasteful of natural resources as their plastic counterpart. reusable shopping bags were the answer and the Irish bought that argument.
The Irish now pack reusable bags in their cars and offices and carry them with them on buses when they go shopping. It’s simple and effective and it is a small step toward energy independence. Portland can do it.
