Spring Break
Suffolk Bikes For The Environment
Gregory Ralich and Graham Ward
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Opinion
The streets of Boston aren't getting any calmer. As the roads that bring us where we need to go become more polluted and hectic on a daily basis, the time has come to re-work the way we think about getting around. Boston is on the leading edge of East Coast sustainable production. It has the potential to mirror some truly progressive cities like San Francisco, Berkeley and perhaps one day Portland.
Bicycling pokes its head out as a guiding light in our city. Walking around the city dodging couriers and hobbyists shows that it is possible. People have been biking around the city for a long time. Bicycling remains the most efficient way of moving through space as published by Scientific American. It's a classic mode of transportation unbeaten in quite some time.
What is needed most in our 'up and coming' program for a sustainable Boston, is a strong community of people dedicated to alternative transportation. Everything that is to be said about general pollution knowledge has already been said. The big things to focus on humbly are the facts that say New England has the worst asthma rates in the country. The fact that all six New England states have child asthma rates above 10%, according to the EPA, isn't a hot-fact or a 'green buzz word'. It's a truth that stands in the way of any plan for a healthy Northeast, Massachusetts, or Boston. Simply put, this is a big problem with more of our school children than it should be.
This needs to be re-directed into an opportunity to create a community that nurtures its health rather than destroys it.
The reasoning is there; all that is needed is the application. The city is ripe for a change like this. This is where bicycling comes into the framework. It just fits for a city like Boston. As Suffolk students we are strewn about the city in spots that provide some of the most blockbuster bike rides in the North East. Turning a 20-minute walk from the North End to Ashburton into a 5-minute bike ride is an offer akin to sightseeing rather than a trudge to class.
Bicycling pokes its head out as a guiding light in our city. Walking around the city dodging couriers and hobbyists shows that it is possible. People have been biking around the city for a long time. Bicycling remains the most efficient way of moving through space as published by Scientific American. It's a classic mode of transportation unbeaten in quite some time.
What is needed most in our 'up and coming' program for a sustainable Boston, is a strong community of people dedicated to alternative transportation. Everything that is to be said about general pollution knowledge has already been said. The big things to focus on humbly are the facts that say New England has the worst asthma rates in the country. The fact that all six New England states have child asthma rates above 10%, according to the EPA, isn't a hot-fact or a 'green buzz word'. It's a truth that stands in the way of any plan for a healthy Northeast, Massachusetts, or Boston. Simply put, this is a big problem with more of our school children than it should be.
This needs to be re-directed into an opportunity to create a community that nurtures its health rather than destroys it.
The reasoning is there; all that is needed is the application. The city is ripe for a change like this. This is where bicycling comes into the framework. It just fits for a city like Boston. As Suffolk students we are strewn about the city in spots that provide some of the most blockbuster bike rides in the North East. Turning a 20-minute walk from the North End to Ashburton into a 5-minute bike ride is an offer akin to sightseeing rather than a trudge to class.
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