Here’s the news that caught our eye this week:
– Attempts to stop the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico have failed, and officials are now saying that it may continue gushing all summer or longer; it’s also now being called the largest environmental disaster in US history. Here’s how engineers say it started, and here are some sobering photos.
– While riding a bike in traffic you inhale five times as many toxic particles as you do in a car, finds a new study.
– And the public health research continues to roll in: the “hidden” health costs of car dependence are major, from illness brought on by inactivity to toxic pollution to the many costs associated with car crashes.
– An interesting, somewhat rambling look at bike infrastructure politics in Paris, Montreal, and Toronto.
– A proposal in the US Senate could offer aid to some transit agencies to stop or reverse service cuts and fare hikes.
– Do cars and freeways help or harm rural livability? It’s a controversial topic right now. Gary Toth weighs in.
– Being injured in a car crash may be an indicator for reduced standard of living.
– At the NY Times, a panel of experts weighs in on the question of: “Do we tolerate too many traffic deaths?”
– Two new companies hope to set up private car rental schemes between people who own cars and their neighbors who don’t.
– The mayor of Berkeley says he has “become a better mayor” since he sold his car and started walking to work a year ago.
– Do you identify as a cyclist? Or do you just ride a bike?
– Among these recollections of the Vanport flood in Portland in 1948, one man remembers pedaling to safe ground with his friends.