Here’s the news that caught our eye this week:
– An attempt to cap the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has failed. Meanwhile the government’s lack of increased regulation on other drilling projects is under fire, and a ban on drilling off the west coast is under consideration.
– In Portland, one woman’s efforts have succeeded in preventing trucks from idling for hours outside her low-income apartment building.
– Remember the kids who make scraper bikes in Oakland? There’s a beautiful and inspiring new film about them.
– The ethanol lobby is questioning an auto industry study that has found that gas containing ethanol damages car engines.
– San Francisco has its first green bike lane.
– Malmö, Sweden is naming and plotting its off-road bike paths so they can be navigated by GPS.
– Change is coming to the most unlikely places: Des Moines is moving ahead with strategies to reduce car use.
– One reason change comes so slowly is that road builders follow an antiquated set of car-oriented design standards. Here’s one attempt to rewrite them for walkability and bicycling.
– A new study explores ways that the U.S. can emulate the greater bicycle and pedestrian safety records of some European cities.
– Need some uplifting reading? Check out the Stolen Bike Registry’s stories of recovered bicycles, some years after they went missing.
– Budapest, Hungary has the biggest Critical Mass in the world, and it was on Earth Day this year. Check out the video.