Cargo bikes – carless joy

Do something good for yourself and the planet.



from here.

My first cargo bike (made from recycled parts)...

Then our carport becomes our bikeport (car-free and not looking back)

we have spent money cleaning it and having it worthy of the road. we’re a little tense as it’s raining and one of us, eight years old, is not so aware or interested in the effects of mud on upholstery. we still have some petrol in the tank. it will be enough for the journey. it’s been a year since we made the decision and we’ve rehearsed being without it all through the winter recording each kilometre travelled, each litre expended. and now, we’re at this point, ready to drive for the last time from the town with little public transport to the city dripping in it, where the young guy who works for the armed services credit union will hand us a cheque to cash in at the bicycle shop.

from here.

Read more...

Society for the retardation of time

I've been reading John Zerzan's Running on Emptiness, in which he describes a small group of Europeans who collectively call themselves The Society for the Retardation of Time. Zerzan argues that time and time compression are things of civilisation, things that require constant criticism and awareness if we are to reclaim our lives from alienation, reification and estrangement.

Joy and status anxiety rarely collaborate, and as Michael Pollan says "if it's advertised it's probably toxic".

Zerzan's essay Time and its Discontents is available here.

Read more...