News & commentary on sustainability, activism, urban planning, politics, and our world.
While we were in Canada we spent a lot of time just wandering around on foot; while exploring Stanley Park we even encountered a massive beaver. Being a pedestrian is definitely one of my favorite ways to get to know a place; since we had taken the train, it was also great to not have a car to worry about dealing with while we were in the city. Here are a few images that I took while we were walking up and down East Hastings Street, one of Vancouver’s main thoroughfares:
Who doesn’t love small, independent bike shops (other than big, corporate bike shop chains, that is…)? But for those of us who travel or move around a lot (and I think that’s most people these days), it can be hard to find such bike shops in new cities (ok, not that hard, but not always that easy either). Additionally, in some places, there’s no independent, local bike shop at all. The Bike Store Guys is a website that links up many of these shops, though, and helps create a broader community of such bike shop owners and lovers, for people across the U.S. Here’s more from their website
If you’ve read many of my posts at all, you know that I love bikes — they are one of the greenest things on the planet, are cheap, are widely available, and are fun and relaxing to ride. You may also know that I lived in the Netherlands for 5 months, perhaps the best country in the world for bicycling.
Just before the murder of the Death Row prisoner, this week the U.S. Supreme Court split on another contentious 5-4 decision, with the conservative majority voting to not delay the Texas execution of Mexican citizen Humberto Leal Garcia, even though he was never allowed any aid or consular access from his home nation, as is guaranteed by international law. President Barack Obama also weighed in against the execution; but unfortunately his serious concerns fell upon the deaf and oblivious ears of right wing extremist Texas Governor Rick Perry.
