Utility cycling, or cycling as a means of transportation rather than for recreation or leisure, has long been a cheap and convenient way to get around for some. However since the 1950s, the proportion of people making journeys by bicycle in the UK has been steadily decreasing. Reasons for this include the dominance of the car, increases in wealth and living standards and longer commutes. This is the opposite of the situation in most European countries where cycling remains a popular form of urban transportation.
The transport sector is responsible for 25% of the United Kingdom’s total CO2 emissions as well as producing localised environmental damage through road building, emissions, congestion and noise pollution. Cycling is seen as one of the ways of replacing some of these journeys especially given the fact that 23% of car journeys are less than 2 miles; a distance that could be cycled in around 15 minutes. So why do people not make these journeys? Have they abandoned the bike for a more comfortable and perceived safer way of travelling?
In this essay I am going to examine why the UK performs so poorly compared to other countries for journeys by bicycle. I will look at cycling and government policy, some of the attitudes and issues that may be stopping people from cycling and possible solutions for the future.
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Allotments have been a part of the landscape of British cities since the dawn of the industrial revolution. They allowed rural communities migrating to the city to continue growing some of their own food. Despite many decades of decline since their heyday during World War Two, this tradition continues today and allotments are currently enjoying a renaissance as a new generation is introduced to the benefits of home produce.
Humanity has evolved into living in urban environments in a short period of time which some studies suggest is a factor in increasing levels of mental illness. The ecopsychology lecture given during the A5 module talked about the concept of “biophilia” and how we may possess an innate affinity with nature. As such, some hospitals have used this idea through the use of healing gardens. Therapy through gardening and horticulture is recognised by the medical profession as being beneficial to patient rehabilitation. Furthermore it has been shown that simply having “green spaces” in cities may have an impact on well-being.
Luckily most towns and cities already contain these “green spaces” within their boundaries, namely the allotment. In this essay I am going to investigate the allotment garden to examine the benefits they may have on urban dwellers. I will first look at a brief history of allotments within the context of the urban built environment, look at the concept of biophilia before examining some case studies and papers on the benefits of green areas and allotments.
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Today’s advert comes from Lexus, with their Hydrid Drive RX 400h.
If you look closely enough after the “Higher Performance” and before the “Improved Fuel Economy and 192g/km CO2 emissions” you will see a little cross and asterisk.
At the bottom it then says “Compared against 6-cylinder premium SUV’s”.
Great. So lets compare these emissions against a gas guzzler. GREENWASH ALERT!
This is the start of a new series of posts looking at the newfound environmentalism of car manufacturers. I am going to be scanning in any adverts I find which I find slightly “greenwash-esque”.
Here’s the first from today’s Guardian.
The theme of adverts I’ve seen recently is “green”. Lots of countryside, flowers, plants, open spaces. Let’s see what happens!
On the theme of cars, I’ve realised I’m not anti-car per se. Cars/Vans are needed to fulfill certain jobs. How would an electrician or a builder ply their trade without a vehicle. We just need to get rid of the majority of car journeys that aren’t actually necessary. I think as the price of petrol increases people will cut back on journeys such as walking the kids to school and moving nearer to their place of work. It will take several years to happen but luckily in the UK we don’t have really sprawling suburbia.
There are over 26 million cars on the roads of the UK and the vast majority of these are fuelled by fossil fuel derived oil. As well as the price of fuel steadily increasing, climate change and geopolitical issues have also hastened the search for more sustainable sources of oil. Biodiesel has the potential to be an alternative as it is derived from pure vegetable oil and can generally be run in conventional diesel engines without modification or as a blend with standard diesel. However there are several environmental and ecological issues such as competing land use especially concerning food crops.
Algae are similar to plants in that they produce lipids through photosynthesis which can be recovered to produce oil. They have the potential for higher yields as they require less surface area to grow and more of the oil is recoverable. They could potentially be grown, harvested and converted into biodiesel on marginal land without displacing food crops. The biofuels lecture given at the A4 module showed that transport energy requirements represent a large proportion of total energy use in the UK which is growing yearly. Alternatives such as algae have the potential of reducing dependence on fossil fuels which may be extremely beneficial both politically and environmentally.
I am going to begin this essay with an introduction to biodiesel and some associated environmental issues. I will then discuss algae, looking at the history over the course of the 20th century. I will also look at current and future technologies before seeing
whether this micro-organism could be the fuel to keep our transport system running.
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