tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2194055897691199164.post1821298227044206016..comments2024-03-23T08:42:01.705+00:00Comments on People's Cycling Front of South Gloucestershire: Selling Cycling as "green" is a mistakeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2194055897691199164.post-21033293976049578042012-07-10T16:19:26.356+01:002012-07-10T16:19:26.356+01:00Excellent post - needs republishing everywhere. I ...Excellent post - needs republishing everywhere. I started cycling to be green but now the daily benefits far outweigh that original motivator. <br /><br />To shamelessly quote the Bristol Cycle Festival. "It is our chains that set us free"Rhode Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14915552340092347797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2194055897691199164.post-575516452580133012012-06-25T12:25:55.019+01:002012-06-25T12:25:55.019+01:00INteresting perspective in yesterday's Observe...INteresting perspective in yesterday's Observer (or was it Sunday Times?) about electric cars. Apparently, they all currently rely heavily on a handful or rare-earth metals to build the magnets used in their engines, to deliver the kind of bhp needed to drive a car.<br /><br />Rare earth metals are not actualy all that rare, the trouble is that they are all around us but in very small concerntrations which makes them expensive to extract. More interesting is the fact that China has cornered the market in Neodymium and two other rare-earth metals, controlling literally 90% of world supplies.<br /><br /><br />That, of course, is also a factor in the raw material used to power conventional cars. China and other hyper-sized emerging economies such as India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, are now competing with us for a finite supply of oil and minerals, and that inevitably drives up the prices. It is not that we have reached "peak oil" - I very much doubt that we have, we just have to dig deeper, or go into deepr oceans, to find it, withthe cost and risk that entails. also, those nefarious chinks have followed the example of the British Empire, and effectively colonised most of Africa and other continents to gain access to minerals and agricultural land. The difference of course is that instead of sending troops to steal the resources off the unfortunate natives, they have bought them, perhaps at too low a price.<br /><br />Either way, car ownership costs are escalating to the point that, with other inflation factors like housing costs, young people are beginning to be turned off motoring entirely.<br /><br />Or so I hope. I love my car, I just don't see the need to have it govern my entire life.Paul Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07929808238663838155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2194055897691199164.post-55217347231436899132012-06-22T09:04:43.580+01:002012-06-22T09:04:43.580+01:00Yes indeed. Sell the benefits. However, don't ...Yes indeed. Sell the benefits. However, don't give the S Gloucs cycle team too easy a time because if conditions aren't good enough, many people who are convinced to try because of the benefits will give up when they find out what it's really like to cycle. When driving is the least bad option, even if it takes a long time and costs a lot, people will keep driving.David Hembrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14543024940730663645noreply@blogger.com