54 comments on Ciclovia
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54 comments on Ciclovia
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I've seen a wide variety of calculations on this so no one has convinced me yet that walking or biking relatively short distances is better than using an automobile, especially for an individual.
The main impact is that we live more locally and travel much shorter distances when we are limited to walk or bike as our main transportation on an everyday basis.
Relocalization is not about efficiency as we understand it today - it's about long term sustainability, self-sufficiency and durability of local systems supplying "needs" instead of trying to cater to every "want".
Just because the milk is slightly cheaper to buy in the store than the cost of caring for your own cow, does not mean you should necessarily sell/kill the cow. What if the price goes up tomorrow? - you are stuck with buying the milk. What if milk stops arriving in a store nearby?
Having local communities that are resilient and self sufficient on the basics makes sense. It also helps make sure that the goods we buy are produced within our democratically agreed system of environmental, health, labor, safety and other regulations.
"Having local communities that are resilient and self sufficient on the basics makes sense."
agreed. but how self-sufficient? if my food being transported 1,000 miles is not sustaiable, why? what is self-sufficient? what is sustainable? 50 miles? 150 miles? 500 miles?
john15,
You ask some very very fundamental questions.
Stick around if you are sincere. One can learn a lot here if one wishes.
If you are not sincere, it will
show quite readily.
I don't post often for various
reasons - but I read daily.
Does sustainable mean no importation ?
Any links to an example of sustainability ?
I wrote this article about relocalization and sustainability earlier this year:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2598
Addressing some of your other points...It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to say biking not sustainable because takes more food and since food is not sustainable....
Well, we are talking about whole system change. Buy your food from local, organic farmers and it will likely be better than the 7 calories in, 1 calorie out.
In the long run, sustainability for the food system means that the nutrients exported from the land will need to be put back on it. Has interesting implications for human feces, urine and corpses. Also means that a sustainable food system is VERY local indeed.
How self sufficient?
As self sufficient in providing for the needs of local residents as much as possible. And I'm not just talking about food - having shops owned by local residents instead of national chains is also important. Much of what small town America lost over the last 2 decades is its professional class of business owners, entrepreneurs, accountants, lawyers that were involved in local civic affairs. A Walmart manager is not the same as the local hardware store owner.
Miles is probably the wrong metric for food since trains and boats can carry huge quantities of freight much more efficiently than trucks.
I would try to either be:
1. Close to diversified agriculture - not just one or two crops - where all the necessities can be grown within 50-200 miles. Remember that many farms are industrialized mono-crops
OR
2. Near a major transportation center, like a rail hub or confluence of rivers or major port (although with global warming...) that also has a good portion of food grown locally
I hope that helps you think about this in greater detail John