Archive for the ‘Bike Love’ Category
Bikes: Sweden Gets It
The “No Ridiculous Car Trips” campaign in Malmö. Smart. American cities: take note.
[Via: Grist]
Looking Forward to… Artcrank PDX
Photo courtesy Artcrank
Artcrank hits Portland tomorrow. Bike and art lovers unite! The poster show has been making its way around the world this summer, and it’s yet another example of how bike culture is growing more and more popular; which is great for those of us that believe in getting more people on bikes and supporting cities that believe in investing in infrastructure that supports life on two wheels.
I Love Bikes… and Europe
Love, love, love… and the scheming to move to Scandinavia continues (even if only in my mind).
Via: Traveling Greener
Drop Everything and Become a Conservation Photographer?
Photo courtesy Cristina Mittermeier, iLCP
That’s what the iLCP makes me want to do… they’re in the Great Bear Rainforest right now doing a Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition, where they’re documenting an incredible place that could be severely affected by potential gas pipelines. In other words, they’re fighting oil industry interests. An important cause at a crucial time. After spending ten days in the Gulf last month, this is even more poignant for me than it ever has been.
And they’re doing it all with photos. When we see a place, we connect to it. We are hopefully driven to protect it.
Founder Cristina Mittermeier wrote an excellent piece this week that’s a great reminder of why we need to connect the dots:
What is the big deal in sacrificing the livelihoods, traditions and sustenance of entire indigenous communities, when the rest of us will not accept paying the full ecological and social price at the pump?
Read the whole post here.
“The Hardest Thing in the World is to Simplify Your Life”
Good words and wisdom from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard in this trailer for 180 South: Conquerors of the Useless. The travel/adventure documentary is showing at the upcoming Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride. Excited to see it!
Celebrate Women All Year Long!
Monday of this week was International Women’s Day, and I spent a large part of the day checking out a number of female-focused causes and organizations and reading stories from women around the world celebrating their designated day. I didn’t really know about International Women’s Day until I lived in France during college.
People filled the streets with pro-women related signs that voiced their opinions on everything from education policy to reproductive rights. Pictures from celebrations around the world covered the front page of the newspapers. It seemed like the whole world was brought together for one big party, all focused on the global rights of women. Inspiring.
Unfortunately, I’ve never seen anything quite the same in the U.S., which is not to say that Americans aren’t supportive of women-related causes, but I have never experienced such a uniting event as I have in Europe. Fortunately, there’s the internet, and yesterday the web was swamped with stories, photos and videos of women all around the world. Again, inspiring. So inspiring that I kept thinking about all the cool initiatives and projects I could take part of in order to do my part to promote empowered women around the world.
Which got me thinking: why did it take one day to get me inspired and motivated to get active with some of these causes?
Having a day specifically devoted to a cause is a wonderful thing, because it allows for global targeted action that’s organized, which in turn makes the message stronger. But that energy needs to be rolled into everyday policy. Focusing on girls and women in both developing and developed societies is an integral part of creating healthy communities. Girls need to have the chance to be educated, healthy, empowered individuals no matter where they live; the results of which are felt the world round.
Did you know that an extra year of secondary school boosts girls’ future wages by 15-25%? And that when a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. When we’re talking about big global issues like economic development and over population, these are important statistics.
Celebrating and empowering women needs to, therefore, be an everyday act, no matter how big or small. It’s our future we’re talking about.
Mountainfilm: Submit to a Fantastic Festival of Film, Art and Culture
Photo by Jennifer Koskinen
I heart Mountainfilm Festival, an amazing festival of film, art and culture, and I’m so excited about attending the real deal this year (don’t worry, I’ve been to the one on tour)! So here’s a little something from the Under Solen blog to inspire all you creative types:
Art + Adventure + Culture + Environment. Does it get any better than that?
In its 32nd year, Mountainfilm Festival is so much more than a film festival. It’s a four-day six-senses experience of all those things we love: art, adventure, culture and environment. With the motto “Celebrating the Indomitable Spirit” it’s hard not to get excited.
The festival takes place over Memorial Day Weekend (this year May 28-31), and although it might seem a little early to be making travel plans, if you’re a filmmaker, you’ll want to pay attention. Submissions for the 2010 festival are still being accepted, and if you submit before January 12, 2010 the submission fee is only $60. Submit by February 12, 2010 and your fee bumps up to $70. (Short films — 20 minutes or less — have a submission fee of $25 and will be accepted until February 12, 2010).
Why submit? Because Mountainfilm “is America’s premier festival celebrating achievement in mountain, adventure, culture and environment.”
What do they accept? Mountainfilm accepts and screens films – doc and narrative, feature and short – on a broad range of subjects. They’re particularly into quirky causes and indomitable spirit. Learn more about submitting here. To get a feel for the festival you can also check out a list of last year’s films, and others, here.
Rediscover Cycling: Gothenburg’s Official Bike Campaign
This video, produced by the City of Gothenburg, came out a while ago, but I still think it’s worth a mention.The video was part of an official campaign to get inhabitants to rediscover the benefits and joy of cycling.
There’s also the behind the scenes film which I discovered thanks to one of my favorite Swedish blogs, Below the Clouds. Love them both!
Brooklyn Fare: Smart and Funny Branding
Digging the new ad campaign by Brooklyn Fare which pokes fun at trendy coffee drink sizes. You can see more smart designs from the campaign here.
blog.annabrones.com 