NYC bike commuting takes off

Yesterday I had a lovely ride home from work, cycling amid clusters of bikers fast and slow, all crossing the Manhattan Bridge en masse back into Brooklyn. It was something I've been noticing more and more since I started riding regularly last spring: the volume of bike traffic in New York has been growing tremendously — up 26 percent from last year, according to the latest city stats!

It's a phenomenon attributable both to the economy — thanks to Condé Nast budget cuts, even Self mag editor Lucy Danziger (above) is biking to work, the NYT reported recently — and to improved biking conditions, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg's amazing transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. Profiled this spring in NY Mag, Sadik-Khan has shaken up the city's streets by adding 180 miles of bike lanes, closing off Times Square to traffic, and all in all making the city a safer place to bicycle.

Of course, this doesn't mean everyone's on board with the changes: On my daily rides, I often encounter police cars parked in bike lanes, while super-aggressive drivers constantly cut me off when I should have the right of way. But, as Critical Mass philosophizes, when enough bikers are on the streets, drivers will have to pay attention. And it looks like we're getting there: according to city stats, New York now has more than 15,000 daily bicycle commuters — meaning bike traffic has more than doubled in the past 4 years. Okay, that's still less than 0.2% of New York's population, so we've got a ways to go; but the momentum is huge!

Culturally, bikes are getting more and more attention, with indie fashion site Refinery29 blogging about favorite men's and women's bikes; NY Mag running an entire feature on bike commuting, complete with safety tips and gear recommendations; and the Times taking a humorous look at pedicabs. Next up: Biking to work without drivers yelling at me or trying to run me over. Well, we can always hope...

Streetsblog via PSFK | Photo via NY Times

Titania in the news...

Yay, my very first profile is out! Written by the fabulous Kate Bryant, on Sheepless.org!

DIY at its best — and worst!

Unlike certain catastrophic Project Runway episodes, this Vogue UK editorial makes recycled fashions look hotter than ever — at least between its covers, as it's hard to imagine how well a paper doily top would hold up in real life (not very, especially as I tend to spill food down my front on a near-daily basis).
In my San Francisco crafty days, I used to be fascinated with each new issue of ReadyMade magazine, as they demoed how to turn a bit of felt into a cool wall-hanging organizer, or hold a wedding in a parking lot strung with Christmas lights. But really, when it came down to it, how many wall shelves made out of books or clocks made of old records could one household possibly use?

Enter Remake It Home, a new bible for the ReadyMade demographic — with a history of recycled design from Duchamp to Arad, and 20 cool projects that come out looking more like quirky Dutch design and less like, well, repurposed household goods. Or maybe it's just their photography that rocks... Still, the few photos I've seen have renewed my faith that reusing discarded goods can look better-than-new, and certainly better than Regretsy.

Via Cool Hunting

Beijing, bike city

Just got back from a trip to Beijing, where bikes may no longer rule the streets, but remain a force to be reckoned with in the city's transit.

The number of vehicles in the city has multiplied sevenfold in the last 16 years, and the new high-tech subway lines link downtown to the outskirts like never before. But bicycles are the wheels that get everyday Beijingers to where they want to go — and cargo trikes are the basis for innumerable small businesses, too.

Beyond the usual rickshaws, there are enclosed bike cabs; platform bikes for hauling blocks of coal, wares for sale, or the neighborhood's recycling; food vendors selling their wares from bike carts; and even portable bike repair shops that store everything from chain locks to new tubes to baskets and smaller parts in their compact shelves.

Once I sort of knew my way around, I rented a bike (from one of the plentiful curbside rental stands) and delighted in cruising freely around the city, which is too spread-out for walking, and tough to cab around when you don't speak Mandarin. Traffic is always crazy, but busy streets have wide bike lanes separated by a median. Like Europe, but unlike in the States, drivers keep an eye out for bikes — which means everyone feels safe enough to ride without lights or a helmet. And for any visitors looking for a cheap souvenir, the classic, monochrome Flying Pigeon bikes that have gained a small cult following Stateside cost a mere $30-40 in Beijing bike stores. Ride on!

Saving energy… through peer pressure, of course!

Some eco-organizations, like Make Me Sustainable, have tried using Facebook-style networking to get people to lower their carbon emissions. But nothing, apparently, is as effective as shame -- a tactic used successfully by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which essentially gave 35,000 test customers a report card on each monthly bill, comparing their usage to their neighbors'. Customers who received the report cards reduced usage by 2 percent more than customers with standard bills, reports the NY Times. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, three towns competed on a reality show to lower their energy usage. We may grow up, but it seems our inner child never really does leave grade school.

When design and politics go hand in hand

During last year's presidential campaign, I'd been planning to write a post about the superior design of Obama's campaign logo and merchandise, vs. McCain's. But while I was slacking, the Obama juggernaut rolled on to glorious victory, and the association of fantastic design with our socially conscious president has continued: with the drooling coverage of Michelle's wardrobe, the instantaneous rollout of the sleek new White House website, and now the induction (above) of Shepard Fairey's iconic poster into the National Portrait Gallery. Meanwhile, various celebs have been making appearances in Obama-wear, and Refinery29 has assembled a series of pics of Obama street fashion.

In honor, I'd like to call out a couple of nonprofits that have already seen the potential for good design to further social issues:
• Housing Works, not only for its website, but for its excellent bookstore/cafe, and for the highly professional merchandising of its thrift stores; and
• Bono's ONE campaign and Product (Red) series.

There must be plenty of other organizations that deserve to make this list - can anyone suggest any other nominees out there?

Saving the auto industry in spite of itself

Making good on his campaign promises, President Obama… yes, let's savor that phrase, President Obama… yesterday ordered the government to reconsider letting California implement stricter emissions laws for cars. Automakers, as usual, set up a hue and cry insisting that, according to the NY Times, "rapid imposition of stricter emissions standards could force them to drastically cut production of larger, more profitable vehicles, adding to their financial duress."

Hold on. Dealers currently have thousands upon thousands of these larger, more profitable vehicles sitting in their lots, because customers don't want them. Meanwhile, the Big Three are closing their specially-designed SUV factories, or retooling them to make smaller cars. And let's not forget that their own lobbying for lower emissions standards helped make them noncompetitive in the first place.

Remember in the '90s, when baggy jeans went mainstream, and denim giants like the Gap and Levi's missed the boat? They'd failed to realize that the baggy look was a paradigm shift and not just a passing fancy. Message to car makers: learn your lesson, already!

Farewell, despair. Hello, hope!

Photo via NY Times

The bright side of sweatshops - and the dark side of recycling

Columnist Nick Kristof makes an eloquent point in the other day's NYT in favor of sweatshops as creating jobs in third-world countries. Factory jobs, he points out, are at least in the shade and not atop a steaming landfill, where junk collectors work. And as long as conditions and pay are up to reasonable standards, sweatshops can be far, far better than the alternative. This isn't news, really; in fact, it's the same principle that guides Edun's work in Africa, where they produce many of their clothes with the long-term goal of creating sustainable apparel industries.

On a related note, Kristof's accompanying photo of a Cambodian trash mountain brought to mind the filthy Chinese city of Guiyu, where many of the West's (and the East's) outdated electronics go after they die:

Grease, reincarnated as soap.

Remember in Fight Club, how Brad Pitt made fancy soaps from liposuctioned fat he stole out of dumpsters -- and then sold it back to the same wealthy ladies who had presumably jettisoned the fat in the first place? Possibly one of the creepiest forms of recycling, it came with a sort of poetic justice. Well, Pasadena-based Further operates on a similar principle, though without the yuck factor of human-based soaps. Proprietor Marshall Dostal used to pick up waste grease from restaurants to fuel his car, then one day had a flash of inspiration: the leftover glycerin could be reused to make soap. After some tinkering with the scent, the soap is now on the market -- and being sold back to the restaurants whose grease was used to make it.

via NY Mag; photo via Further