Climate Cities

Your bike commute stories: The good, the bad, and the opossum

We asked you for your best and worst commuting stories. One lucky fan who responded got a gift card for $500 to her local bike shop. But why stop there? A lot of the tales were so good, we just had to share. So here are a few choice anecdotes from the world of bike commuting. Read on and ride on!

Cities safer than ever, and the more diverse the better

New data shows that, contrary to popular belief, crime is falling faster in urban areas, and diverse and immigrant populations are a key factor.

But what if NYC bikers were terrorists??

This is not even the first time that someone in New York City has compared cyclists to terrorists, but it might be the dumbest: New York's CBS 2 is concerned that bike lanes will facilitate acts of terror.

A Second Avenue bike lane is next to the Israeli consulate, leaving many wondering what would happen if a man on a bike were a terrorist.

Detroit, reborn as Bike City [VIDEO]

There's a growing bike scene in Detroit, and this film by Alex Gallegos captures it beautifully.

New transportation bill strays offtrack

A transportation bill should make investments in infrastructure repair, not cut funding.

A closer look at Siemens' green cities rankings

Attempts to measure, score, or rank things for greenness aren't perfect or foolproof, but they do get us talking about what's important.

The world’s first ass-powered outdoor concert

Here's an idea for a better way to harness the power of stationary bike workout: use the resultant energy to fuel the electricity-sucking equipment for a banging outdoor concert. Pedal Power NYC recruited 250 volunteers to pedal 16 bikes, which, hooked up to generators, provided the electricity for June's NYC Celebrates Water Festival.

Top 10 greenest cities in North America

It seems like we get a new list of greenest, most climate-change-prepared, most bike-friendly etc. cities every week or so. But we never really get tired of looking at these rankings, and checking them against each other to decide where we should fantasize about moving. Today, it's a list of the top greenest cities in North America from Siemens and the Economist Intelligence Unit. This ranking takes into account carbon emissions, land use, transportation, energy usage, buildings, water and air quality, waste, and environmental governance.

Drumroll please for the top 10:

Why Poughkeepsie is a great place to wait for the end of the world

Towns like Poughkeepsie, New York may appear charmless, but they could be ideal places to live in a post-peak oil world.

When it comes to green, what you buy matters more than where you live

Get off your high horse, New Yorkers! City dwellers might do some environmental good by driving less and living in smaller spaces. But living in a city doesn't affect a person's carbon footprint as much as the amount that he or she buys.