I’m at my fave cafe again, reading SPUR’s report on the future of the Bay Area’s water supply, and I remember…

Freshman year at ucsd, holy shit I was so surprised and disgusted with the girls on my floor’s water usage.

most girls were from socal, LA area. and they’d be brushing their teeth or washing their face with both hands, and THEY’D LEAVE THE TAP RUNNING. while they aren’t even touching the running water.

so if I were there I’d turn it off for them.

one girl from LA said it’s totally okay because we’re not going to run out of water—in the future there would be desalination so we can use ocean water.

holy f—- you serious
that shit is gonna be hella expensive. It’s way cheaper and easier to conserve water now so it wouldn’t be as difficult and costly to meet demand in the future, esp. with the effects of climate change.

it only takes a quick flick of the wrist to turn the water off!!

and then especially in socal, where water is supplied from faraway norcal and the colorado river.

I’d never want to live in dorms again and be daily pissed off by the unawarely and unashamedly bad behavior of others.

wish there was more environmental education in early schooling to prevent behavior like this. I know I’m kinda privileged in that I attended an elementary school named after John Muir, with a creek in the back, learning about composting, etc.. Other schools all over need to teach more about nature—where our food comes from, where our water comes from.. then we wouldn’t have these college kids with bad, wasteful habits that they continue to bring along into adulthood.

thegreenurbanist:

The Michigan Department of Transportation has installed a 12-foot wide buffered bike lane on a one mile stretch of Northwestern Highway (Hwy 10). The new bikeway includes a five-foot bike travel lane and a seven-foot buffer from other traffic.

NICE. only a painted buffer, but good step forward.

from the pic it’s only a two-lane road? well i guess that’s a difference from “highways” and freeways”.

back in september during my first long bike from Long Beach down, i had to ride on the freeway (like 6-8 lanes one way) shoulder for like 5-7 miles (last stretch to Oceanside). freeway shoulders are actually quite wide and i felt fairly safe no car was gonna hit me unless there would be some crash behind me that leads a car reeling into the shoulder. but there was road debris (pebbles, parts of worn tires, etc.) and cars are so freaking loud! esp. in socal speeds of 70mph+.

“I can’t keep up with all the group rides out there these days,” said Damien Newton, the founding editor of Los Angeles Streetsblog, which champions bikers and pedestrians. “This isn’t a side thing anymore. It’s definitely out of the shadows and out of the subculture.”

Mayor Villaraigosa said he wanted the city to establish 40 miles of bike lanes and paths a year, a policy inspired by his own “nasty spill” dodging a taxicab and a part of his effort to cut back on automobile use here. “No question about it: bike ridership is up dramatically in L.A.,” he said. “You see it all over the city.”

nytimes, 19.05.12.

the bike pics I happen to be posting recently are making me wanna steal a pup just so i can put him/her in my bag on a bike ride.

anyway, LA is beating SD—no doubt. nytimes even picked up on it. hella official.