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Living near public transport can lead to longer, healthier lives

A new study for the The American Public Transportation Association finds that people who live in communities with high-quality public transportation generally live longer, healthier lives:

People who live or work in communities with high quality public transportation tend to drive significantly less and rely more on alternative modes (walking, cycling and public transit) than they would in more automobile-oriented areas. This reduces traffic crashes and pollution emissions, increases physical fitness and mental health, and provides access to medical care and healthy food. These impacts are significant in magnitude compared with other planning objectives, but are often overlooked or undervalued in conventional transport planning.

The good news:

[M]any simple, affordable, and often enjoyable lifestyle habits can lead to healthier and happier lives: breath fresh air, avoid dangerous driving, maintain healthy weight, be physically active, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, maintain friendships, and avoid excessive stress.

The bad news:

Many people find it difficult to maintain healthy habits. As a result, the U.S. has relatively poor health outcomes compared with peer countries, and according to some projections average U.S. lifespans may actually decline in the future due to growing but avoidable health risks.

But:

This analysis can help transport and health professionals better coordinate their efforts to create communities where people can live long and prosper…. When all impacts are considered, improving public transit can be one of the most cost effective ways to achieve public health objectives.

Interesting to consider, then, how transportation planning techniques like Hans Monderman’s — based on the observation that individuals’ behavior in traffic is more positively affected by other people and the built environment of the public space than it is by conventional traffic control devices and regulations — might take part in a predominantly public-transport culture.

via planetizen.com

11 August 10

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It’s no more cars in San Juan, Puerto Rico | fastcompany.com
“The government has decided to infuse the city with $1.5 billion dollars to re-develop San Juan and, most of all, make it a walking city, with no cars allowed. The plan, announced last month, also lays out a new mass transit network, new roads and intersections, and beach access points.”

via urbangreens

It’s no more cars in San Juan, Puerto Rico | fastcompany.com

“The government has decided to infuse the city with $1.5 billion dollars to re-develop San Juan and, most of all, make it a walking city, with no cars allowed. The plan, announced last month, also lays out a new mass transit network, new roads and intersections, and beach access points.”

via urbangreens

22 June 10

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Is Your Trip Necessary? - boingboing.net

via iaminlikewithmybike: youngmanhattanite: dhk: mattlehrer

21 September 09

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Poo Train Runs on the Weight of Sewage : TreeHugger

“There are often simple, low-tech solutions to difficult problems… Furniculars, those cable trains that were built up the sides of hills and mountains, often ran on water! The two cars were connected by cables, so you added 400 gallons of water to the one at the top, to make it heavy enough to roll down the hill while pulling up the lighter one at the bottom.
In Fribourg, Switzerland, they had a much better idea. One area in town is at the top of a hill, and the other at the bottom, separated by about 375 feet of elevation. And if there is one thing that is always flowing from the top to the bottom, it is sewage. Instead of running in a pipe, they pump some of it into the car at the top; at the bottom, they open it up and let it run into the lower sewer.”

Often the most “green” solutions are simply those that don’t give up and choose an easier, but less efficient, option.

3 September 09

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Jargon Watch: “Transportation Energy Intensity” of Buildings : TreeHugger

According to this report, it takes 30% more energy for Americans to get to their offices than those offices use directly!

Until Americans are willing to expend a little more effort and energy into their transportation options, this will change little and pollution & demand for oil will continue to rise.

via landscapearchitecture

20 August 09

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New Belgium’s 11 City ‘Tour-de-Fat’ will use Eco Products’s compostable cups as they tour the country raising money for non-profit organizations. In 2007, New Belgium raised $245,000 for charities.

New Belgium will also be handing out 11 hand-crafted, Fort Collins-built commuter bikes to winners who pledge to give up their car for a bike-only lifestyle, in the Trade your Car drawing.

23 March 09

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Graphic Sociology » American Public Transportation - Costs and Usage]

via minusmanhattan: ambivalence: standardgrey: sexartandpolitics

10 March 09

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Make it Green

three pictures show the amount of space filled by vehicles to transport the same amount of people, whether by car, bus, or bicycle.

taking the bus or riding your bike are less convenient and offer less freedom than driving your own car, but charts like this are good for visualizing the large amount of mass that your fuel dollars are going toward hauling around town needlessly.

via urbendisaster: amaranthinedecay: adora

9 March 09

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Boat made of plastic bottles to make ocean voyage

De Rothschild is building his one-of-a-kind vessel on a San Francisco pier from recycled of plastic bottles, which he says are a symbol of global waste. Except for the masts, which are metal, everything on the 60-foot catamaran is made from recycled plastic.

“It’s all sail power,” he said. “The idea is to put no kind of pollution back into the atmosphere, or into our oceans for that matter, so everything on the boat will be composted. Everything will be recycled. Even the vessel is going to end up being recycled when we finish.”

De Rothschild’s vessel, scheduled to set sail from San Francisco in April, is called the Plastiki. Its name is an homage of sorts to Thor Heyerdahl, the fabled Norwegian explorer who in 1947 sailed 4,300 miles across the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made from balsa wood.

3 March 09

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burning fuel » goodmagazine.com

an average car burns 1125 calories of energy per minute at 60 mph
an average human burns 4.6 calories per minute at 3 mph

so, should you walk or drive that mile to the store? walking will take 1.5 calories (or 6,280 joules), while driving would take 19 (or 79,549 joules).

that’s over 12x more cash, pollutants, and resources burned into nothing.

18 February 09

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codery:

The batteries, with a 400 charge lifespan are housed in the curving arc of the frame and can be topped up by regenerative braking (A Prius convertible/cabriolet, if you will!). (via Ride like the Sun: Electrobike - Solar Electric Bicycle : TreeHugger

)

17 February 09

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Forget About Cars for a Minute: 11 Heavy Duty Green Trucks

12 February 09

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davereed:

Getting Around: Fuel Use of Various Modes of Transportation » GoodMagazine

10 February 09

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nickmcglynn:

Habitaflex

Habitaflex, a subsidiary of Maisons Laprise Inc manufacturer of energy efficient prefabricated homes since 1989, is proud to present a new home concept unique in the world : a folding and transportable home! New looks, dimensions, colors and options are available to satisfy a wide range of applications.

just make sure there aren’t people still in there when you fold it up!

Themed by Hunson. Originally by Josh