Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

Cyclists and pedestrians take to Sunday Streets SF.

Yesterday, San Francisco hosted its first Sunday Streets event, providing Bay Area residents and visitors nearly five miles of car-free road to bike, walk, and play. Stretching from Portsmouth Square, which borders Chinatown and the Financial District, to the Embarcadero, down through South of Market and the Bayview, streets normally choked with automobiles were filled with cyclists, baby strollers, and lots of leisurely pedestrians.

Next Sunday Streets SF Is September 14

A second Sunday Streets SF event is planned for Sunday, September 14, 2008. City organizers say that if the event proves popular and doesn’t negatively impact businesses, they would like to continue and expand the program. They hope it will bring more people to the city, enhance life for residents, get people out of their cars, and promote physical fitness.

It’s also a fabulous opportunity to people watch. I saw people riding unicycles, old-fashioned high-wheel bikes, tandem bikes, and more. I also saw one pedicab driver smoking on his break and thought that it might not be the best habit for a pedicab driver.

Some Merchants Worried about Business

Despite the event’s apparent success, Sunday Streets SF isn’t without critics. I heard more than one toddler beg to be carried as we continued along the route. The parking lots that charge $15-30 to park for the day sat empty, and I’m guessing their owners were not happy.

Fisherman’s Wharf merchants, especially, were worried that street closures would hamper business. Funny, I thought only selling Alcatraz shot-glasses and “I Got Crabs at Fisherman’s Wharf” t-shirts might be bad for business, but we’ll have to wait and see until Sunday’s sales figures come in.

Many Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, and North Beach merchants similarly opposed the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The controversial freeway, which blocked beautiful views of the bay and turned the area into a pedestrian no-man’s-land in the 1950s, was reviled by many city residents. Now that retail and dining business is booming along the waterfront and the area hosts wide sidewalks and bike lanes, you’ll find few people who want the massive old freeway back.

In my own walking-induced euphoria this Sunday, I paid $8.50 for a small Icee and cotton candy, so hopefully that will help put skeptical merchants in the black. My family also bought lunch at the Ferry Building, which was packed with hungry diners and shoppers.

Popular Car-Free Events Spreading Worldwide

Modeled on Bogotá, Colombia’s 25-year-old Ciclovía events that close 70 miles of city streets every Sunday and major holiday, Sunday Streets SF is just one of a growing global phenomenon. Worldwide, Guadalajara, Mexico; Santiago, Chile; Ottowa, Canada; Tokyo; Paris; and Kiev have hosted similar car-free events. This summer, New York City and Portland, Oregon, also freed up roads for cyclists and pedestrians.

More resources:

Videos of Ciclovía and other Sunday city street closures:
http://www.sundaystreetssf.com/PortlandSundayParkways.html

“Thousands Enjoy SF’s Sunday Streets Event,” September 1, 2008, San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/01/BAC212M16J.DTL

“Ciclovia New York City” on the WashCycle blog:
http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2008/07/ciclovia-new-yo.html

“Ciclovia Comes to North America,” on CommuterPageBlog: http://www.commuterpageblog.com/2008/06/cyclovia-comes.html

photo credit: ..· ✈Katherina ➳·..

As host of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, China missed key opportunities to leave a meaningful, lasting environmental legacy.

In a recently released report, Greenpeace commends China for living up to many of its environmental promises. But, the watchdogs note, a lack of transparency and independently verified data made evaluation difficult. And many solutions, especially those relating to Beijing’s air quality, are temporary fixes that will not continue after the games, and therefore not be of real benefit to the people of Beijing.

Here’s a quick look at Beijing’s missed opportunities:

• Waste management
  Instead of moving toward a zero-waste policy, polluting incineration was encouraged and more landfill was created.
• Car ownership
  While four new rail lines were added to boost public transportation infrastructure, little was done to curb private car ownership. About half a million cars were added to Beijing’s roads last year, a pace that is expected to continue.
• Air quality
  Dramatic quick fixes like temporarily halting industrial production and banning most private cars from the road may improve air quality for the games, but they are not lasting, cost-effective solutions. A better approach would be to enforce stricter emission standards for manufacturing, make public transportation viable for more riders, and move away from reliance on coal-burning energy plants.
• Water conservation
  Water-saving technologies used at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing and Canoe Park could have been more widely adopting to prevent and further strain on Beijing’s dwindling water supply.
• Air-conditioning and refrigeration
  Most of the cooling technologies used eschew ozone-depleting CFCs, but many use climate-boosting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Because most of these systems are new and will likely not be replaced for some time, it represents a failure to leapfrog to more-efficient, greener technologies.
• Building construction
  Green building techniques were encouraged but non-binding, limiting their implementation.
• Sponsors
  Electronic companies Lenovo and Panasonic provided equipment containing known toxic substances like PVC and BFR.

More resources:
Greenpeace’s full report:
http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/news/green

“IOC Could Have Done More,” TreeHugger
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/beijing_ioc_get_mixed_report_greenpeace.php

photo credit: (nutmeg)

A new report from the environmental watchdogs at Greenpeace says that Beijing has lived up to many (though definitely not all) of its green promises made in its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.

As the Olympic Committee has noted, part of its selection decision was based on the hope that sustainable development would benefit China as it continues its crash course in rapid development. While there are many areas that could have been improved, sustainable development advocates are hoping that Beijing’s environmental successes will serve as a blueprint for other developing cities in China and around the world.

Greenpeace found that “Beijing achieved and in some cases surpassed original environmental goals but missed some opportunities that could have ensured a better short- and long-term environmental Olympic legacy for the city.”

Here’s a quick look at Beijing’s laudable green triumphs:

• A Shift Away from Polluting Fossil Fuels
  New Olympic venues showcase an array of sustainable energy technologies, including solar hot water, geothermal heating and air-conditioning, and solar photovoltaic systems. And wind power from a new nearby wind power station will provide enough energy to meet the annual demands of 100,000 families.
• New Energy Efficient Upgrades
  More than 32,000 household-heating systems have been upgraded from coal to electricity. And more than 50,000 large-scale boilers have been upgraded to be more energy efficient.
• Stringent Vehicle-Emission Standards
  Ahead of what was originally promised, new vehicles must now meet EURO IV emission standards, which are among the strictest in the world.
• Improved Public Transportation
  Four new rail lines have been added in Beijing. A fleet of new, natural-gas buses are running during the games. And fares have been reduced to encourage ridership, which now averages 19.5 million a day. (Olympic ticket-holders can ride free, for 51 days.)
• Improved Wastewater, Water Reuse, and Sewage Systems
  Drinking water now meets World Health Organization (WHO) standards and new reusing technologies should help with increased water demand. Rural sanitation construction is set to protect groundwater supplies. And the government has cracked down on illegal construction, farming, and mining, which pollutes waterways.
• Sponsors Going Green, Too
  Coca-Cola’s nearly 6,000 refrigeration units are HFC-free. (Hydrofluorocarbons replaced ozone-depleting CFCs in refrigeration units in the U.S. in the 1980s, but have since been pinpointed as a source of global warming because of their heat-trapping properties.) And Samsung is providing cell phones that are free of polluting polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and bromide flame retardants.

Overall, Greenpeace commends China and the city of Beijing for its efforts and for demonstrating that, given the political will, it is possible for a rapidly developing city to leap ahead of polluting technologies. But for any of the green initiatives to have any meaningful and lasting impact for China after the games, the country must engage in long-term energy reforms and move away from its dependence on hyper-polluting coal as an energy source.

Read the full Greenpeace report at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/news/green

photo credit: Pear Biter

To some, hypermiling is an art, not a science.  Those select individuals who choose to drive their vehicles in such a way to maximize gas mileage, however, may soon find this form of art giving way to science.

Nissan has developed an accelerator pedal designed to “push back” on the driver’s foot if the pedal detects that the hypermiler is indeed not hypermiling.  While Nissan’s new feature comes with an on and off switch, it does push this eco-friendly driving technique further into the mainstream.

To learn more about Nissan’s “eco-pedal”, visit:

http://www.greendaily.com/2008/08/04/got-a-lead-foot-nissans-new-pedal-pushes-back/

and

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUST25709120080804?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

photo credit: .magullo.

Biking is the preferred mode of transportation for 39 percent of the Beijing population, and with the upcoming Olympic influx, more bikes will hit the narrow hutongs of the Chinese capital than ever before.

To promote this transport option, Beijing launched public education campaigns to encourage walking and bike riding and upped bike rental availability. While one source (from the Wall St Journal) reports over 100 new bike rental locales, another (from newindpress.com) totals 200 bike rental venues overall, most near subway stations and hotels to provide city-wide rental and easy-return services.

Without a doubt, biking has been the preferred mode of transport for environmentalists, but mainstream organizations in the US are encouraging their employees to also take the bike lane—and providing incentives for those who do.

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photo credit: striatic

News about the upcoming Beijing games has flooded the headlines. You can’t open a magazine or flip through the digital TV channels without being flogged by the events to jumpstart on 8-8-08. And a lot of this coverage has highlighted China’s attempts to clean house before company comes.

While I’m still undecided on how much we should praise China after years of pollution, cutting corners, and questionable politics, it appears that others are finding inspiration in Beijing’s newly-turned over leaf.

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