Cycling Has An Image Problem

Written on 06/29 at 12:14 AM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Huffington Post TreeHugger Job

I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be seen in its original context here.

Cycling Has An Image Problem
For the last five years the bicycle has been my sole means of transportation, and I happen to feel pretty good about that. Sure, it means my carbon footprint is smaller and I save money on gas and insurance, but what really matters to me is that cycling keeps me in shape and is fun, and I love the beauty and technology of bicycles. In fact, when I complete my masters degree and start earning more money, my hope is not to be able to afford a Mercedes, but rather a carbon fiber race bike. Unfortunately, for most people the bicycle is something you use for transportation until you are successful enough to buy a car; that the bicycle is not seen as a sexy, technologically advanced machine worth aspiring to tells me that cycling has an image problem.

This image problems crops up in numerous T.V. shows and movies. One example is The 40 Year Old Virgin, where Steve Carell, in the role of a loser, rides his bike everywhere. The message that is constantly conveyed is that not only is cycling for transportation inconvenient and dangerous, it’s also a sign of failure. It isn’t surprising, then, that people aspire to purchase a better, faster, sexier car: that’s what signifies that one is moving up in the world. What’s more, any ‘Ten Things You Can Do for the Environment’ list will invariably include cycling, which turns a simple bike ride into some sort of heroic act instead of what it is: fun and good for you. And, as I pointed out last week, people don’t want to be heroes, they want to work for a better world by having fun and using their creativity and talent to solve problems (think of a kind of Google workplace for saving the world).

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You Don’t Have to be Gandhi: Why Anyone Can Save the World

Written on 06/22 at 04:10 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Huffington Post TreeHugger Job

Note: I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be read in its original context here
A New Model
During the twentieth century, if you wanted to save the world chances are you sought to emulate Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King or any number of tremendous individuals whose fight for justice was characterized by self-abnegation and spiritual rigor. To some extent, that was because the average person lacked the requisite tools to reach the whole world with her ideas. But with the proliferation of computers, the internet, and information technology, a new model has emerged that dramatically lowers the barriers to entry to saving the world and, to put it simply, makes doing so more fun. What’s more, not only is the old model outdated, it sets a high bar that keeps out the very creative thinkers that can solve 21st century problems.

Whom Should We Admire?
In a recent NY Times article titled ’The Moral Instinct,’ Steven Pinker posed the following question: “Which of the following people would you say is the most admirable: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Norman Borlaug?” He went on to point out that while most would lionize Mother Teresa, demonize Bill Gates and ask ‘Who is Norman Borlaug?’, if one looks at what each of them accomplished, the answer is quite different. Dr. Borlaug, father of the so-called Green Revolution (for which he received a nobel peace prize in 1970), is credited with having done more to abate world hunger than anyone in history. Bill Gates, through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is at the forefront of dealing with the world’s deadliest, yet most treatable, diseases. Mother Theresa, on the other hand, “offered plenty of prayer but harsh conditions, few analgesics and dangerously primitive medical care.”

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The Future of Our Transportation System is Electric

Written on 06/15 at 07:03 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Huffington Post environment

I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be seen in its original context here.

Here are two interesting points: electric motors are inherently more efficient (and simpler) than internal combustion engines (ICE), and it is far easier to produce green electrons than it is to produce green gallons of liquid fuel.  Both augur well for an increasingly electrified transportation system. 

The first point is incontrovertible: electric motors can easily reach an energy conversion efficiency of 90%, while ICE’s have an efficiency of around 20%.  Simply put, that means that for a given unit of energy, an electric motor will produce more power.  What’s more, electric drive trains are far simpler, requiring 1/10th as many parts as a gas car (no spark plugs, fuel tank, transmission, muffler, etc.). 

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Americans Feeling Pain at the Pump, But That’s Only Half the Story

Written on 06/07 at 05:07 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Huffington Post TreeHugger Job

Note: I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be read in its original context here

It’s amazing how unaware Americans are of the extent to which our economy is dependent on oil. Amazing not only because of the consequences--geopolitical, environmental and social--of oil addiction, but also because oil prices affect every aspect of our daily lives. I was reminded of this fact the other day when I went to my local bike shop. There, the talk wasn’t about carbon fiber and chainrings, but rather about how the cost of shipping has skyrocketed over the last few months (fortunately for the bike shop, high gas prices also mean business is booming). Meanwhile, food riots in Haiti, Egypt and Mexico have made headlines, and the airline industry, hit particularly hard by fuel costs, has gone so far as to begin charging $15 per checked bag.

From high-end bike shops in Providence, Rhode Island, to the slums of Port-Au-Prince, and everywhere in between, people are directly feeling the effects of $130 a barrel oil. Yet there is still no sense of urgency in American political discourse. President Bush was recently on his hands and knees begging OPEC to pump more oil (which they declined to do), and both John McCain and Hillary Clinton have been touting a federal gas tax holiday. Some believe that once oil gets expensive enough America will be forced to truly seek out new sources of energy. But that kind of thinking belies a fundamental problem: the switch to an economy based on renewable energy won’t happen overnight, and it will require far more than a mere policy fix. Just try to think of one product you buy that can be manufactured and delivered without fossil fuels and you’ll see that the scale of the problem dwarfs our current proposed solutions.

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Green Microfinance: Advancing Social Equality and Environmental Sustainability in the United States

Click here to download a PDF of my complete thesis. Questions and comments are much appreciated!

My masters thesis in Environmental Studies at Brown University looks at how microfinance--the provision of small…

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A Solution to the Limited Success of Micro-Credit in the United States?

Micro-credit has undoubtedly been a runaway success in developing countries as a tool of both poverty alleviation and economic development.  To date, some 100 million people have been reached by micro-loans, and Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank…

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Tonight, the Oneness of Things

It is late and my mind should be drifting through the colorful abyss of deep sleep, yet instead i find that tonight sleep will not come.  I am like a hungry flower who dreams of bees so ardently that all…

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