4 ms·

> Replacing your short-range transport needs with a bicycle, on the other hand, is a great idea. I don’t disagree, but not every area is what I would consider

> Replacing your short-range transport needs with a bicycle, on the other hand, is a great idea. I don’t disagree, but not every area is what I would consider bicycle friendly. Especially in the US. Nearest grocery to me is 4 miles away. Certainly do able on a bicycle, but unfortunately in this area the roads are not super friendly for bicycles. I’d rather not be run over by a semi full of tomatoes, while going to buy some tomatoes.

b112 4y ago
It's so site specific, and people make stringent statements based upon their location. It's not clever, or being insightful, or forward thinking, if it makes no sense. Try getting groceries on a bike, at -40C and with ice and snow everywhere. Now try it as an octogenarian, or even as a 40 year old in those conditions. Come on! People need transportation 12 months a year, not 4 of them! A bike is absolutely, positively not a car replacement in many places, at all, ever, period. My statment may seem harsh, but I keep seeing all these suggestions which show people only thinking of where they live. Oh and the hilarious counter suggestion I've heard sometimes. "Don't live there then". What? OK, abandon Canada, and its ability to feed the world with wheat, rye, meat in its summer. Good call, that.
- jeffbee 4y ago
  People are going to have to come to a point where they realize that their ridiculous libertarian fantasy of living to old age in a cabin surrounded by glaciers ten miles from anyone else is never going to work. There is no transportation solution to poor land use planning. The fact that this particular fantasy can't work is not an indictment of the bicycle, it is an indictment of the fantasy. Civilized people live in little clumps called villages, towns, or cities, where the transportation problem is amortized by bringing essential goods such as food by truck to the center of the village where it is within walking distance of even the octogenarians. I recently got so fed up with the meme that most people live far from other people that I made this visualization of where people live in California. The territory-weighted view of life is completely defective. The overwhelming majority of people live near other people. That some people live far from other people is not important for general commentary or policy. Those few people can do what they like and it's just not important enough to discuss. https://observablehq.com/@jwb/californians-from-oregon-to-mexico https://observablehq.com/@jwb/californians-from-oregon-to-me...
  - b112 4y ago
    California's population is about the same size of Canada's, a country larger than the entire US. While many people do live in cities, many live in, and outside cities, in rural areas. Rural areas which support the farms you seem to like. Farms do not live in a vaccuum, and require an entire infrastructure of people working, and living in these areas, including schools, etc. But outside of this, I noticed you completely glossed over climate as an issue, ignoring inclement weather for most of the year. Your map of warm California is irrelevant here, and does not discuss this. Canada has very excellent urban planning, and often has grocery stores near by. That only helps at certain times of years, and only helps in dense areas. This is part of the problem. Electric cars are an awesome solution, yet what I see always is hard core environmentalists harming positive change. An electric car is far, far better than gas, yea? Is it? Then holy hell, just drop the blather and embrace it, and be happy change is happening. Get behind the positive. We have vegetarians manipulating the climate crisis to get their way (no beef is not bad for the environment), we have the bike/anti-car side doing the same. You want truth? Here's truth, and you saw it with all the covid political stupidity. Push too far, and it backfires...
    - jeffbee 4y ago
      > Push too far, and it backfires... Ah yes, it always ends in the implicit threat of violence with people like you. Look what you made me do!
      - b112 4y ago
        Good grief. Reality is reality. And you mentioned violence, not I. Push back can be an election which reverse years of progress. How do you think Trump got elected?! Pushback. You want more of that?!? The US left and right... nutjobs one and all!
  - mech987 4y ago
    I kinda feel like cars are a pretty good transportation solution to poor land use planning.
  - 4y ago

b112 4y ago

It's so site specific, and people make stringent statements based upon their location. It's not clever, or being insightful, or forward thinking, if it makes no sense. Try getting groceries on a bike, at -40C and with ice and snow everywhere. Now try it as an octogenarian, or even as a 40 year old in those conditions. Come on! People need transportation 12 months a year, not 4 of them! A bike is absolutely, positively not a car replacement in many places, at all, ever, period. My statment may seem harsh, but I keep seeing all these suggestions which show people only thinking of where they live. Oh and the hilarious counter suggestion I've heard sometimes. "Don't live there then". What? OK, abandon Canada, and its ability to feed the world with wheat, rye, meat in its summer. Good call, that.

jeffbee 4y ago
People are going to have to come to a point where they realize that their ridiculous libertarian fantasy of living to old age in a cabin surrounded by glaciers ten miles from anyone else is never going to work. There is no transportation solution to poor land use planning. The fact that this particular fantasy can't work is not an indictment of the bicycle, it is an indictment of the fantasy. Civilized people live in little clumps called villages, towns, or cities, where the transportation problem is amortized by bringing essential goods such as food by truck to the center of the village where it is within walking distance of even the octogenarians. I recently got so fed up with the meme that most people live far from other people that I made this visualization of where people live in California. The territory-weighted view of life is completely defective. The overwhelming majority of people live near other people. That some people live far from other people is not important for general commentary or policy. Those few people can do what they like and it's just not important enough to discuss. https://observablehq.com/@jwb/californians-from-oregon-to-mexico https://observablehq.com/@jwb/californians-from-oregon-to-me...
- b112 4y ago
  California's population is about the same size of Canada's, a country larger than the entire US. While many people do live in cities, many live in, and outside cities, in rural areas. Rural areas which support the farms you seem to like. Farms do not live in a vaccuum, and require an entire infrastructure of people working, and living in these areas, including schools, etc. But outside of this, I noticed you completely glossed over climate as an issue, ignoring inclement weather for most of the year. Your map of warm California is irrelevant here, and does not discuss this. Canada has very excellent urban planning, and often has grocery stores near by. That only helps at certain times of years, and only helps in dense areas. This is part of the problem. Electric cars are an awesome solution, yet what I see always is hard core environmentalists harming positive change. An electric car is far, far better than gas, yea? Is it? Then holy hell, just drop the blather and embrace it, and be happy change is happening. Get behind the positive. We have vegetarians manipulating the climate crisis to get their way (no beef is not bad for the environment), we have the bike/anti-car side doing the same. You want truth? Here's truth, and you saw it with all the covid political stupidity. Push too far, and it backfires...
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    > Push too far, and it backfires... Ah yes, it always ends in the implicit threat of violence with people like you. Look what you made me do!
    - b112 4y ago
      Good grief. Reality is reality. And you mentioned violence, not I. Push back can be an election which reverse years of progress. How do you think Trump got elected?! Pushback. You want more of that?!? The US left and right... nutjobs one and all!
- mech987 4y ago
  I kinda feel like cars are a pretty good transportation solution to poor land use planning.
- 4y ago