End of Suburbia

I've just seen this documentary - and i recommend it. You can see the trailer on youtube.


It's quite stunning to see how our entire lifestyle is quite literally built on the assumption of cheap petrol - and the problems that will occur when that's no longer the case.

ps. if you're seeing it, make sure to watch the bonus features - there's some classic 50's short films that are hilarious, but also kinda scary.

It's Over ... (unless you drive)

Saw this billboard (ironically at a bus stop). Not clear what it's about, so i'm taking it to be heralding the convenience of walking, cycling and taking public transport.

Scenery For Active People

Posted this pic on my photo blog, and it struck me that little pleasures like waterfalls are another added bonus of being car-free. It's the kind of thing one misses out on when sitting on the expressway, amidst 7 other lanes of traffic.

Tree-life

Walking home last night
Rustling in the tree above
Possum scampers, nestles on a branch

Benefits Package

Often i write here about the benefits of being car-free. Today i noticed the footer on an email from the people at Ecomotion Concepts.


Sums it up nicely - i reckon.

Path Peace

Riding home after an early morning brekkie with friends, i hear another rider catching up to me on the path (remember i'm not the fastest rider in the world). Anyway, i veered onto the grass to let him pass (some paths are incredibly narrow in places).

Then i hear "It's ok mate - there's no rush". He casually cruised along behind me until we got over the hill and onto a wider section of path.

It was a sharp contrast to the hooting and hollering of road rage, so i've decided to call it Path Peace.

Brekkie Cycle

This morning i met up with some friends for a very early brekkie in Toowong. I decided to ride there, not just for the extra 10 min of sleep-in, but the novelty of having the bulk of the road to myself :)

Riding back was good too. Waved to a friend stuck in traffic. Even struggling up hill, i reckon i was doing double the speed of the morning crawl (going the other way).

Destiny

I've been reading "Heat" by George Monbiot. In chapter 8 he has a great quote from Russian journalist Ila Ehrenburg. In 1929 he said of the automobile...

"It can't be blamed for anything. Its conscience is as clear as Monsieur Citroen's conscience. It only fulfils its destiny: it is destined to wipe out the world."

And he wrote this before the days of SUVs, multi-storey carparks and 12-lane highways. Decades before we understood the impacts of climate change, or depleting non-renewable resources.

Walk / Don't Walk

A few of my writings here have illustrated the health benefits of walking (which we do more of when we are car-free). I think the following illustration sums it up succinctly (though it may not be subtle).

Bus-stop Snack

After watching the cricket, i decided to go for an evening walk - i hadn't been out of the house all day. On the way home, i bump into a friend of mine who i haven't seen for a while (he used to live in my unit block, but moved out a few months ago). It was one of those coincidences that he just happened to be at the bus-stop as i was on my walk.

In a further piece of good luck, he had just bought a pizza. So we sat at the bus stop, eating pizza and talking ... until his bus came.