Green Options » history

#7 Berlin, Germany: Great Bicycle City Photo Tour

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:10:05 +0000

Berlin is a great bicycle city! Full of bicyclists, bike art, bicycle infrastructure, and unique bikes for a variety of different purposes, Berlin is #7 on this “great bicycle cities” list.

If you go to Germany, you will probably hear some Germans saying how much they love their cars (i.e. Mercedes, BMW, Audi). However, you will probably be surprised to see how many people actually love their bikes. Berlin is perhaps the best example. You can see people from across the class spectrum using the bicycle for a wide range of purposes. Even the postal service and other delivery services use bicycles.

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Our National Parks: America’s Best Idea

Rhonda Winter — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:17:28 +0000

Filmmaker Ken Burns’ most recent PBS documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, is a stunning and utterly engrossing tribute not only to our country’s many awe-inspiring natural landscapes, but also to our nation’s fundamental democratic principles. Burns interviews scores of ordinary people, from park rangers and activists to journalists and historians, as they trace the origins of our greatest collectively-owned resources, and share their unique personal experiences in the vast beauty of our national parks.

“When we look at the parks and we look at the United States and we examine the whole idea of democracy, I think that the park experience is an exploration of the idea of freedom.”

-Shelton Johnson, Park Ranger

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A Brief History of Weed

Rhonda Winter — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:17:39 +0000

The Showtime series Weeds brings us this abbreviated animated history of marijuana. It wanders from China to Turkey to Queen Victoria, and also states that cannabis is the number one cash crop in the United States, raking in nearly $36 billion untaxed dollars every year.

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Biking Through History

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag (home of the German Parliament)

Image Credit 1: tehf0x via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Pesterussa via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: helter-skelter via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 4: pixelroiber via flickr under a CC license

Bike Sign & Lights

Image Credit 1: welu-berlin via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: swizzled via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: Fanny B. via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 4: Schockwellenreiter via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 5: Songkran via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 6: The Infatuated via flickr under a CC license

Bike Sports

Image Credit 1: Ollie T. via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Ollie T. via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: Ollie T. via flickr under a CC license

Bikes for Two or Three Babies!

Bike Buckets for Kids!

Image Credit 1: john-aïves-1946 via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: derpunk via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: sualk61 via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 4: Johann C. Rocholl via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 5: Johann C. Rocholl via flickr under a CC license

Group Bikes & Big Bike Taxis

Image Credit 1: boliston via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: -[j á n o s]- via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: thomas.ritz via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 4: fredpanassac via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 5: tellmewhat2 via flickr under a CC license

Bike Parades

Image Credit 1: Schockwellenreiter via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Schockwellenreiter via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: Schockwellenreiter via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 4: viernullvier via flickr under a CC license

Strong Bikes & Strong Bikers

Image Credit 1: Baptiste Pons via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: smallcaps via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: extranoise via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 4: cloud_nine via flickr under a CC license

Bike Postal Service & Other Delivery Services

Image Credit 1: adamgreenfield via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Kunstee via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: Zachary Shahan
Image Credit 4: Zachary Shahan
Image Credit 5: demimismo via flickr under a CC license

Bike Antique as Bike Planter

Car Heaven is a Bike

Image Credit 1: Andreika via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: elmada via flickr under a CC license

Wheatless Wednesday: Herbert Hoover’s WWI Food Preservation Plan Inspires Meal Ideas [Recipe: Vegetable Patty]

Gina Munsey — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:26:49 +0000

Wheatless Wednesday, along with her currently more popular cousin Meatless Monday, were the brainchild of Herbert Hoover during World War I. Already active as a food relief administrator in Europe, Hoover was appointed to preside over the U.S. Food Administration in 1917, just before the United States entered the First World War. It would be twelve more years before Hoover was inaugurated as the 31st president of the United States, but by that time he was already a household name.

Hoover’s massive food preservation program encouraged Americans to reduce food consumption so that the food supply for the troops and war-torn Europeans would remain strong. The uniqueness of his plan– as opposed to later World War II efforts — was that Hoover’s program avoided rationing, while still successfully reducing American food consumption by 15%.

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The True Thanksgiving Day History: Thank Journalism, not Pilgrims

Brian Liloia — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:04:44 +0000

As you recover from your day of Thanksgiving feasting, you might be curious as to whom you should really thank for your day off from work or school day of celebration. There are many stories, myths, and misinformation surrounding Thanksgiving history. Equally significant are the many strong emotions and opinions evoked this holiday, including everything from the feel-good and sense of hope, to doubt and downright condemnation of the infamous feasting day.

But there’s a little-known truth about Thanksgiving that you may not realize. The real reason we celebrate the fourth Thursday of every November as “Thanksgiving” is because of a journalist, not the pilgrims.

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Where Were You When You Heard the US Had Elected Its First African American President Barack Obama?

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:50:47 +0000

There is no doubt that yesterday’s US presidential election was a historic event. No matter who you supported in the race, the fact that Americans elected a multiracial president is a significant event in a country where African Americans were once slaves. It is an event that will be remembered for generations around the world, and people will remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard Barack Obama was the President-Elect of the United States of America.

I voted by absentee ballot, as there are no polling places in my tiny, mountain community. On election day, I was headed home from a quick trip to Seal Beach, CA. In order to avoid traffic, my twelve hour drive home began at 4:30 am. As I drove by McCain/Palin signs in Republican Orange County and the vast farm lands of I-5, I began to doubt an Obama victory. We listened to talk radio, from conservative to liberal stations on the satellite, before finally setting on the BBC. Hearing callers from around the world share their excitement and hope that Obama would win, I was moved at how this man has reached out to the world with the same message of hope and change he has given the American people.

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16th Century British Navy Helping Modern-Day Climate Scientists

Joshua S Hill — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:22:02 +0000

One of the biggest problems facing meteorologists and climate scientists is the fact that we simply don’t have long term climate data. Sure, we’ve seen our planet get hotter and nastier in the last few decades, but, did it happen the same time a hundred years ago? What we’ve needed are data from the past, so that we can see just what is happening.

And thanks to Captain Cook and Lord Nelson and the East India Trading Company, a wealth of information has been uncovered by experts from the British Meteorological Office.

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Godfather of Green Building

Philip Proefrock — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:04:26 +0000

Kansas City MO architect Bob Berkebile is one of the key figures in establishing the importance of green building in this country. Berkebile was instrumental in the founding of both the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as well as the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (COTE).

Those once-radical ideas have started to go mainstream. In 1993, Berkebile helped create a new group that wasn’t confined to architects: the U.S. Green Building Council. The inaugural meeting of the council fit into a conference room at AIA headquarters. Last November, more than 22,000 green-building advocates and entrepreneurs traveled to Chicago for the council’s annual conference.

Read a profile of Berkebile via: The Pitch

Biking Through History

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag (home of the German Parliament)

Bike Sign & Lights

Bike Sports

Image Credit 1: Ollie T. via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Ollie T. via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: Ollie T. via flickr under a CC license

Bikes for Two or Three Babies!

Bike Buckets for Kids!

Group Bikes & Big Bike Taxis

Bike Parades

Strong Bikes & Strong Bikers

Bike Postal Service & Other Delivery Services

Bike Antique as Bike Planter

Car Heaven is a Bike

Image Credit 1: Andreika via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: elmada via flickr under a CC license

Shades of Green: The Real History of Green Cars

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:19:40 +0000

Yabba dabba doo! Thanks, as always, to Brad and Peter for allowing us to republish “Shades of Green.” You can find more of their work at The Green House. And, of course, there’s always more on alternative transportation at Gas 2.0.

Biking Through History

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag (home of the German Parliament)

Bike Sign & Lights

Bike Sports

Image Credit 1: Ollie T. via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Ollie T. via flickr under a CC license
Image Credit 3: Ollie T. via flickr under a CC license

Bikes for Two or Three Babies!

Bike Buckets for Kids!

Group Bikes & Big Bike Taxis

Bike Parades

Strong Bikes & Strong Bikers

Bike Postal Service & Other Delivery Services

Bike Antique as Bike Planter

Car Heaven is a Bike

Image Credit 1: Andreika via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: elmada via flickr under a CC license

‘Feast or Famine’ Cycles of Clean Energy Development in the US (part II)

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:59:03 +0000

The Solar Thermal Edition

In my first post about the feast or Famine Cycles of American Clean Energy Development, I discussed renewable energy more broadly and used the example of wind to show my point. I also touched upon the up and down nature of federal funding for renewable energy deployment in the late 70s and early 80s. With that said, the following examination adds some more context with a historical-institutional perspective of what went down in the early 80’s, how, and why. And in the spirit of some of the earlier posts this week that covered the technology of solar thermal, and the practical application of solar thermal technology to entire neighborood developments, I have decided to follow suit by writing about solar thermal as well. I hope to show that the decline and slow fazing out of federal support for solar thermal research and development during the Reagan and George Bush administrations has had a substantial effect on where the industry is today.

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