Jason Varone
Jason Varone battles the streets everyday during a 9 mile commute on his bicycle from downtown Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. In addition to his efforts on Streetsblog, he is an artist making work related to the environment and technology. Examples of his work can be found at www.varonearts.org.
Recent Posts
Shanghai Is Back on the Bicycle Bandwagon
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The Shanghai Daily reports: SHANGHAI is making efforts to prove that the title of "kingdom of bicycles" still fits the world’s most populous country, even in the car age. The city is renovating a 300-kilometer network of "cycling arteries," covering at least 60 percent of local roads open to cyclists, and plans to separate bicycles […]
“People Act as Though the Hybrid Could Solve All Our Problems”
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In a lengthy interview with Spiegel, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn defends his company’s environmental record: SPIEGEL: Isn’t it embarrassing that German carmakers are not achieving the climate protection goals they have set for themselves? Winterkorn: No, because reaching these goals isn’t entirely up to us. The European auto industry made a commitment to reduce carbon […]
$100 for a Year’s Worth of Parking
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A new report [pdf] from the New York City Independent Budget Office explores the idea of a residential permit parking program: Under the proposal, permit parking zones would be created in selected areas of the city. Within these zones, only permit holders would be eligible for on-street parking for more than a few hours at […]
Ethanol: Feed a Person for a Year or Fill Up an SUV?
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Robert Bryce of Counterpunch comments on what he calls the ethanol scam: Lester Brown, the president of the Earth Policy Institute wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that the amount of grain needed to make enough ethanol to fill a 25-gallon SUV tank "would feed one person for a full year. If the United […]
Swedish Support for Congestion Charge at All Time High
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Reported in The Local (Sweden): Support for the congestion charge in Stockholm is greater than ever before, according to a new poll. In the poll, conducted by Skop for newspaper Stockholm City, 67 percent of those questioned said it was good that the new government had decided to reintroduce the charge. 33 percent of the […]
CO2 from Shipping Twice as Much as Airlines
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The Guardian reports: Carbon dioxide emissions from shipping are double those of aviation and increasing at an alarming rate which will have a serious impact on global warming, according to research by the industry and European academics. Separate studies suggest that maritime carbon dioxide emissions are not only higher than previously thought, but could rise […]
Emergency Rally for Pedestrian Safety: Sunday, March 4, 3pm:
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Demand that Mayor Bloomberg take action (or, at the very least, that he say something) before another New Yorker is unnecessarily run over and killed by a motor vehicle. Emergency Rally for Pedestrian Safety Sunday, March 4th 3 pm City Hall Steps Someone is killed by a vehicle almost every other day in New York […]
City Council Passes New Pedicab Regulations
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Reported in the New York Times: Chad Marlow, who represents the New York City Pedicab Owners Association, said the association agrees with much of the legislation, but plans to file a lawsuit challenging some elements of it. He said it believes that the Council was within its rights to impose a cap as the city […]
City Council Set To Vote on Pedicabs Today
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onNYTurf reports: What started as a very positive process to bring much desired regulation to the growing pedicab industry has been completely turned on its head, and this afternoon city council is scheduled to vote on a bill that has become so twisted that the bill’s sponsor and a co-sponsor have taken their names off […]
Schumer & Clinton Backing Upstate NIMBY’s Against Wind Power
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Newsday reports: A high-voltage transmission line running through Central New York could spur the creation of environmentally friendly wind farms across the state, according to Bill May, project manager for the Albany-based New York Regional Interconnect Inc., who hopes to build the line. However, there is intense opposition coming from many upstate residents. Perhaps that […]
Green Collar Jobs for Urban America
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In Oakland, California, the pathway out of poverty is the new green wave. Yes Magazine reports on a new movement for urban renewal: A "green-collar job" involves environment-friendly products or services. Construction work on a green building, organic farming, solar panel manufacturing, bicycle repair: all are "green jobs." The green-collar economy is big money, and […]
NYC on Alert for Motor Vehicle-Based “Noise Terrorism”
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Speaking of automobile advertiser shamelessness, check out the marketing campaign that, reportedly, rolled through the Lower East Side last night at around 3:00 a.m. courtesy of Microsoft and Toyota: According to reports from residents in Lower Manhattan, a California-tagged, Zune-branded SUV rolled through Ludlow Street during the "wee hours of February 25th," but rather than […]