MyWHaT

In a related post to the behavioral wedge, the site M-Bike out of South East Michigan, dissected a recent State of Michigan action plan on how to reduce the state’s emissions. M-Bike pulls out the relevant recommendations for the state to encourage pedestrian and bike commuting, investment in bus transit and denser development.

One item that Traverse City should encourage & utilize might be the recommendation for the state to “Provide technical assistance to communities on best practices in zoning, parking, and street design to increase walking, bicycling, and transit use.” Regional governments and the Grand Vision could use the help if the expertise is available.

You can read M-Bike’s recap at Biking and the Michigan Climate Action Plan

Or, go to the source Michigan Climate Action Plan

The combined potential for simple household behavioral shifts could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%

A new study out of Michigan State University found that behavioral changes could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 20%. The study, titled Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce U.S. carbon emissions focuses  on the “achievable potential for near-term reductions” of greenhouse gases. The research showed that the U.S. could reduce emissions by 20%, or the equivalent of France’s output, by changing behavior.

Several of the suggestions with the biggest payback involve automobiles. In particular, how people maintain and drive them. Obviously, purchasing more fuel-efficient vehicles has a large impact, but the study also points to some basics:

• Routine maintenance
• Keep tires properly inflated
• Drive smoother, breaking less/softer
• Reduce idling (anything over 20 seconds, turn the engine off)
• Trip-chaining (combining several errands into one trip)

What about the emission savings when we choose to walk or bike instead of driving?

What role does the government have in changing behavior?

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Thomas Dietz, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Science and Policy, was one of the researchers on the The behavioral Wedge project. He replied via email to the above question concerning walking and biking as viable alternatives:

We decided to limit the study to things where we could find literature that provide reasonably credible evaluations of efforts to bring about the changes or where we felt we had strong analogies.  We also had to be able to make credible estimates of current prevalence.  So some things that are certainly important and should be the subject of serious programs and policies didn’t get included.  We hope our paper is only the first of many doing this kind of analysis so that as our understanding progresses we can show that the potential for savings is even greater than we estimated.

We will be following the ongoing research at their website: www.behavioralwedge.msu.edu

DIY projects don't always involve paint. A statement can be done with signage as well. (photo by Sean Bonner)

In December, we posted the video of a DIY department in New York City painting 14 blocks of bike lane. As expected, guerrilla street work is not not confined to NY.

LA StreetsBLOG highlighted some recent DIY sharrows in Los Angeles. Toronto has it’s active Urban Repair Squad. And, a mystery crosswalk was covered by Bike Portland before the New Year. Of course, all large cities with active pedestrian and bicycle advocates.

The actions are certainly illegal and the anonymity of large urban centers certainly helps. How effective could they be in smaller towns like Traverse City?

There’s an argument to be made that DIY projects are potentially counter-productive. That may be true if its the first attempt to address an issue, but what if its been the same question for 20 to 30 years?  “Paint Your Lane” by Dan Koeppel explored these questions in Bicycling magazine last year. The author explains one rationale for a DIY project:

“The renegade bike-lane crew knows that their project will be more symbolic than practical—and definitely temporary. They expect the lane to be noticed and erased within days. But they hope that within that time it will create a controversy that lives on well after the stripe is removed.”

Once problems have been located & expressed to city and county governments, how much time is reasonable to expect results?

Is there room for a DIY Street Department in your neighborhood?