With bike weddings, bike parades, hundreds of naked bicyclists, bike fashion shows, popular & interesting cargo bikes, and travelling bike pubs, Portland is #3 on this great bicycle city photo tours list.

Portland has great bicycle facilities (colored bike lanes, bike boxes at intersections, great bike signs, off-road bicycle paths, etc.), a large number of people using the bicycle for transportation, and a bike culture that brings the fun of bicycling to another level.

As a result of these factors and more, Portland was the first large city in the US to achieve the Platinum level Bike Friendly award from the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) — the Platinum level being the highest level possible (above Gold, Silver and Bronze). It is truly a world-class bicycle city now, and the amazing photos in this photo tour help to show that.

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Home of the upcoming climate change conference, Copenhagen is #4 in this great bicycle city photo tour series. With about 55% of trips being by bicycle, Copenhagen is an amazing place to visit or live if you like bicycling.

The photos to follow give you a taste of this great bicycle city. From dogs on bikes to bikes on bikes, from bikes in ice to bike counters, enjoy these great bicycle photos.

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From bicycle lovers to lovers on bikes, bike art to art on bikes, the largest bicycle sharing program in the world to some of the smallest bikers, enjoy this bicycle city photo tour of Paris, France!

Paris doesn’t have a long history as one of the best bicycle cities, but with the introduction of the largest bicycle sharing program in the world, bicycling in Paris has boomed and the city is becoming commonly associated with the bicycle now. Its whole culture is changing due to the bicycle’s increasing relevance in the city’s daily life.

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Groningen would be number one on this list if we were looking at percentage of residents who bicycle for transportation purposes. About 57% of travel in Groningen is by bicycle!

The city has been named the world’s best bicycle city a couple of times (1993 and 2006). It is a university city which is part of the reason why it has so many people bicycling, but it has done amazing things to make the city more bicycle friendly as well. The bicycle facilities you can see on the following pages will probably blow your mind away.

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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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Naked bicyclists, folding bikes, balloon bikes, and more — enjoy this bicycle photo tour of Barcelona.

The third B in a row, Barcelona is next on this list of great bicycle cities (right ahead of Basel, Switzerland and Bogota, Columbia). As a dense city with a wonderful climate, Barcelona is naturally a wonderful place for bicyclists. However, a lot has been done to make it more so. The biggest carrot encouraging bicycling, by far, is Barcelona’s relatively new bike sharing program — Bicing. This is perhaps the best or second best bike sharing program in the world. It is one of a new generation of sophisticated, smart bike sharing programs. Read more about it on page 2.

Beyond Bicing, the city is also working on creating new bicycling routes and bike parking and it hosts fun Bike Week celebrations every year in May. Also, it has been creating better infrastructure for bicyclists due to so many more people bicycling within the past few years. It is transforming itself into a truly world-leading bicycle city.

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Bogota is a true testament of how a city can be transformed. Through “radical” action for a better city and clean green transportation, Bogota has become a leader in bicycle transportation.

One step ahead of Basel, Switzerland on this list, Bogota boasts an amazing transformation in the transportation infrastructure and alternative transportation usage of a modern city. Unlike many cities that are renovating primarily for cars or, more admirably, mass-transit, Bogota made sure to put a lot of focus on improving their city for bicyclists and pedestrians as well, the greenest transportation modes!

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I’m getting older. I realize this because the arrival of summer just doesn’t matter as much as it did before. Beyond serving as an indicator for when I can stop wearing sweaters and when I need to start giving up my weekends in favor of weddings, summer brings little in the way of day-to-day change.

That’s not the case for the younger kids in my life—little cousins, nieces, nephews. To them, summer is the light at the end of the tunnel. There are no weddings (or at least, nothing they need to plan for). There’s only opportunity.

I am fascinated by what “opportunity” means to this generation. When I was young, I had two non-religious opportunities to get involved. I could volunteer at our local hospital, or I could volunteer with our local congressman. I ended up doing both—and feeling fulfilled by neither.

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Think of Ansel Adams and his influence on early 20th Century government leaders in the United States; he helped demonstrate the value of nature and the need for national parks.

Think of the Farm Security Administration photography effort of the 1930s, led by Roy Stryker (photographers included: Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks).

Now, think of DOUBLEXPOSURE, and the work of two photographers who are pairing work that “brings the viewer into panoramas of glaciers once grand but now receding. The compelling comparisons put into stark view the fact of melting glaciers.”

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I am often asked to define “conservation photography.” The idea, of course, is nothing new, but the conceptualization behind it is still evolving. Perhaps the best way to define it is through actions, and not just words. Being a conservation photographer is not just about visualizing the issues or following interesting story lines. These are important, of course, but make no mistake, the real work of the conservation photographer begins after the last click of the shutter has been made. It is what happens with the images afterwards that matters most. Making wonderful pictures is important; being accomplished story-tellers is a must; following journalistic guidelines should be an automatic part of of our workflow, but what we do with our images to make sure conservation action takes place, is what defines our unique brand of photography.

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So get your thinking caps on, brush up on your upcycling and take that trash and turn it into treasure for the SMART Art ‘Trash into Treasure’ competition. Your sculpture, functional item, photograph, video or music could net you fame and fortune, or a winning cash prize, as long as you can show reuse.

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[Creative Commons photo by M.A. Enriquez]

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Ciclovia — roads closed for bikes and coordinated events on Sunday mornings

Image Credit 1: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: themikebot via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: a_isacson via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 4: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Great Bike Roads & Paths

Image Credit 1: taisau via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 4: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 5: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Bicycle Art

Image Credit 1: _physicist sight via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Carlos Caicedo via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: invisible consequential via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Bicycle Shippers

Image Credit 1: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Secure Bike Parking

According to the photographer: “Near Transmillenio station. Spaces for 100 bikes and a full-time guard. Elevator to more bike parking on the right.” Great little bike storage facility!

Hope you enjoyed this information and photo tour of Bogota. To keep yourself updated on the next eight photo tours, keep your eye on EcoWorldly or even subscribe to its feed or email list. Have something extra to add? Comment below!

Image Credit: taisau via flickr under a Creative Commons license

The Great Aletsch is the largest and longest glacier in Europe, and forms part of a region in southwestern Switzerland that was named a United Nations Natural World Heritage Site in 2001. The site, which was enlarged this year, is situated in the Bernese Alps and consists of mountainous terrains that harbor a variety of ecosystems and a precious diversity of plant and animal species. The area as a whole, and the Aletsch Glacier in particular, is highly threatened by climate change.

According to Pro Natura, the conservation non-profit organization that runs the Aletsch Ecological Center, since the last ice age some 11,000 years ago, the glacier has been slowly retreating. But, there have also been times when it advanced. For example, in 1860 the glacier was 1.8 miles longer than it is now and about 650 feet higher. Today, due to the clearly visible effects of climate change, the Aletsch glacier is retreating at an alarming rate, losing 50 meters or around 165 feet a year. At that rate, not only the Aletsch but also most of the world’s glaciers are predicted to disappear by 2080.

By photographing the large assembly of naked people on the Alestch, Tunick said he aimed to draw a link between the human body and the glacier, and to highlight the vulnerability of both in the face of climate change. Members of Greenpeace organized the event: they recruited the six hundred participants as volunteers through their website, negotiated with local authorities, and managed the logistics of the photo shoot. The volunteers came mainly from across Switzerland, but some traveled from neighboring countries to take part in the mass installation art.

Vincent Donzé, a journalist for the Swiss newspaper Le Matin, described his experience as a volunteer. Tunick and his team of six assistants, the organizers from Greenpeace and the six hundred volunteers hiked up for several hours to reach the Aletsch. At an altitude of around 7545 feet, the volunteers stripped and, at Tunick’s command, took up different poses: standing by the edge of the glacier, standing spread out across the ice, or lying down and huddled together. They made use of slippers and pillows provided by Greenpeace to guard against the cold as they walked or lay on the glacier, and the air temperature hovered at around 10° Celsius or 50° Fahrenheit.

Another journalist for Le Matin reported that Greenpeace paid Tunick more than 20,000 Swiss francs, about $16,600, a sum that covers fees for the artist and his six assistants, and buys half of the rights for the photographs, which will be used for a Greenpeace publicity campaign in the near future. The artist will also sell his pictures to art dealers for thousands or possibly tens of thousands of dollars.

Reflecting on the costs of mounting such an eco-artistic project - the time, effort and money involved - raises the question: how effective was it? You might argue that the aim of raising awareness about climate change was reached, because the story of the six hundred naked people on a melting glacier made international news, featuring, for example, on the BBC and in major American and European newspapers. Or you might wonder what percentage of those who saw or read reports on the event had previously been unaware of climate change.

In other words, what kinds of response did the reports and the accompanying media photos incite? One reader, Jean-Pierre, wrote to a Swiss newspaper asking whether the impact of the project was significant enough to justify the energy consumed and the emissions produced, before, during and after the photo shoot. He doubted that Tunick and the volunteers had paused to consider the energy and the CO2 expended in the process.

These arguments and others lead us to ponder the more general issue of the role art plays in the green movement. I believe art can play a powerful role in furthering awareness and encouraging action on the various environmental challenges we are faced with. The story of 600 naked people on a Swiss glacier has caused a stir in the media, and it doesn’t end there. The resulting nude photos will drive the Greenpeace publicity campaign, and will be featured in galleries and museums, thereby reaching a wide audience.

We need not seek to quantify the contribution of a particular work of art, for we would be missing the point entirely. Eco-art and art for the environment should be vigorously but judiciously promoted. So, while we cultivate the development of green art, we must also be wary of vacuous gimmicks and inane publicity stunts that masquerade as creativity with conscience.

Image source: 24 Heures

Greenpeace

BBC

Le Matin

Ciclovia — roads closed for bikes and coordinated events on Sunday mornings

Image Credit 1: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: themikebot via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: a_isacson via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 4: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Great Bike Roads & Paths

Image Credit 1: taisau via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 4: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 5: pattoncito via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Bicycle Art

Image Credit 1: _physicist sight via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Carlos Caicedo via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: invisible consequential via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Bicycle Shippers

Image Credit 1: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: Velaia (ParisPeking) via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Secure Bike Parking

According to the photographer: “Near Transmillenio station. Spaces for 100 bikes and a full-time guard. Elevator to more bike parking on the right.” Great little bike storage facility!

Hope you enjoyed this information and photo tour of Bogota. To keep yourself updated on the next eight photo tours, keep your eye on EcoWorldly or even subscribe to its feed or email list. Have something extra to add? Comment below!

Image Credit: taisau via flickr under a Creative Commons license