Save The Environment By Buying Your Motorized Bicycle Locally!

At the top of Thursday's N&R "The Pulse" section, I was shocked to see them hawking a $3,000 (well, ok, $2,999) IZip Express electric bicycle.  Wouldn't it be great if you could get such a vehicle without the nearly $3K pricetag, and one that was made here locally?  N&R, are you listening?  There's a real story here.

My friend and blogging partner, Billy Jones, has a dream.  A dream of making motorized bicycles, much like the one he has made for himself.  A few facts about his motorized bicycle (which you can have for about half the cost....if you have your own bicycle that you want motorized, it would be even LESS than half)...

• Motorized bicycles from StreetPlanes.com has 25-50cc 4 Cycle engines that get up to 200 miles per gallon of regular gasoline with no mixing of gas and oil.  For an electric bicycle such as the IZip Express, you run it 30 miles, it dies and you have to recharge it for several hours.  For a motorized bicycle from StreetPlanes, you run it until you need gasoline again.
• Engine meets Federal EPA and California emissions and low noise requirements.
• Has compression release easy-pull starting.
• StreetPlane engines last as long as 30-50 thousand miles and have cast iron cylinder liners so they are rebuildable.
• StreetPlane motorized bicycles are the only moped that fits in standard bicycles racks.
• Also, the lightest moped on the market today. Easy for urban dwellers to carry up stairs and into apartments.
• Steel frames made in Greensboro and will last a lifetime with care.
• Plastic parts are made in Greensboro primarily from vegetable based plastics.
• Billy's dream is to manufacture these motorized bicycles IN GREENSBORO providing employment for LOCAL PEOPLE.

So before you take the N&R's advice and run right out to get an IZip Express, think global, act local, and contact my friend Billy Jones at www.streetplanes.com or idleblogs (at) yahoo.com. 

Play, learn, give.  I just learned about FreeRice, a site where you can play a vocabulary game, learn new words, and donate grains of rice for hunger elimination.  Here's their info from their "About Us" page:

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide.

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I read about this in a Reuters article which I'm referencing here because it has links to other click-to-give sites, like the ones I wrote about in an earlier post.

Play. Learn. Give. Help.

Merry Christmas!

Mouse Clicks:  Helping to Create Happy Holidays Around the World

In the spirit of Billy's post about supporting BC Children's Hospital, I'd like to direct your attention to a number of websites that, with only the click of a mouse, you can make a difference.  Doesn't cost you a dime.  It's all paid for by advertisers.

The Hunger Site - You click daily, sponsors pay for cups of food.  At the top of the page, there are tabs which link you to The Child Health Site (helps children in poor countries receive preventive medical care); The Rainforest Site (saves rainforest land); The Animal Rescue Site (helps feed animals in shelters); The Literacy Site (helps buy books for children); and The Breast Cancer Site, which pays for mammograms for women in need.  I try to click these every day, at home and at work.  Only one click per computer is counted, but over time, it adds up.  Click at work and click at home.

Also, at EcologyFund.com, you can save up to 107 square feet of land a day, reduce pollution, and save wilderness and animal habitats.  There's about 5 clicks to make, but it takes so little time, so why not expend the minimal effort and make a tiny bit of difference?

These sites also allow you to keep up with how much you have donated, and that makes everyone feel good. 

You know that guy whose birthday we're celebrating around this time of the year?  He said, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  I'm urging you to click your mouse on these web sites, for the least of them, and remember how much you are blessed.

my dark angel protects me from all that goes bump in the night by Joe Scarano

Gimme Shelter - An Art Site Helping the Homeless

I ran across this site a while back and spent many hours marveling at the art and artists who display their work, like the piece at right by Joe Scarano, all done on cardboard boxes in a variety of artistic media.

Here's the gist, from the "About" page of the Gimme Shelter site itself:

My family and I visited the beautiful city of Toronto this winter. Like many trips before, we were absolutely amazed at the development of more and more billion-dollar condo projects. Each one promised more luxury than the next.

Starting in the sky and working down towards the foundation of Donald Trump's newest tower, my amazement turned to dismay when I saw a homeless woman (she could've been my age for God's sake) warming herself on the subway grate directly in front of the picture of this soon-to-be luxury high-rise.

When I got home, I quickly became interested in figuring out how these people have fallen through the cracks. Yeah, sure, there's the obvious connotation that these people have done something to deserve to be where they are. But how do they begin to get out? Do they get out?

I came across a show "This Side Up" which is the brainchild of Steve Tenebrini, Jeremy Boyd and Mike Maher. I thought, "Hey what a great concept - having "street" artists (I can't come up with a better classification) help out people living on the street." I wanted the show to come here to Buffalo, and then, to Toronto. And then, who knows where.

I put out some generic "feelers" to see who might be interested - and to my amazement, this entire group of artists all emailed me back almost begging to help. I'm still hoping to "piggyback" on the original show - so for the time being, we're "Part II".

The concept is simple - transform a piece of cardboard no larger than twelve inches on any side into a piece of art. The cardboard is a fitting medium for the cause since it is currently the primary source of warmth and shelter for our world's homeless. We're looking to change that.

If you're able and willing, we're looking for artists to contribute and for galleries (throughout the US, UK, Canada and Europe) who are willing to donate gallery space for a week. We're trying to find a publisher to print a catalog of the works for sale at the shows and at the end of the "tour" the works will be auctioned via eBay. All proceeds from the shows, the books, and the auction will be distributed to non-denominational charities in each city visited.

Many thanks go out to everyone who has volunteered thus far. Special thanks go to Adam Neate, Bryan Odiamar (Peabe), Daniel Goffin (idle) and Chris Zachary for getting the site up and going.

Spread the word. Cardboard is for boxes.

- Greg

Looks like the last entries on the site were a while back, but I think the cardboard art pieces are for sale, and there are hundreds of links to the artists who contributed.  Like Pbase, this is a site you can get lost on.  The National Coalition for the Homeless is the primary beneficiary of all funds received.  Good works = good works.  Go. Visit. Buy. Help.

Nice editorial, News & Record.  I'm not one to write much about local issues, and I hate to think of turning my little site into a soapbox.  But I think you left some things out. 

I'm in agreement with all you said in the editorial, Healing Greensboro.  But in order to heal Greensboro, some other, just as important, things need to be done.

End homelessness.  Your own writer, Lorraine Ahern, wrote this about efforts to help the homeless.  Good article, Lorraine.  Now what can we do about it?   Where to even begin?  How many agencies in this town alone work to try to eliminate this problem, but yet it still exists.  Sure, some people choose to be homeless, but there's a whole bunch that it seems like we could help if only we really wanted to.  One solution - round up all the folks who live in Irving Park or on Sunset Drive and make them deliver the food/toiletries bags to the West Lee Street area.  It seems like the folks who are one paycheck away from homelessness themselves are always the ones helping.  Hey, rich people! You don't need another blood-stained diamond from DeBeers for Christmas or Hanukkah, or another Hummer to park in your circular driveway.  I hope Santa brings you a conscience for whatever holiday you celebrate.

Fix the mental health system.  People are going in and out through a revolving door of shame and increased pain.  The hospital monopoly in this town needs to wake up and realize that not fixing the mental health system is adding to the problems of crime, poverty, drug use, and domestic violence.  

Make the town safe again.  The MS-13 gang just killed people last night on High Point Road.  Is this not some sort of wake-up call?  My good friend (he knows who he is) lives in a neighborhood controlled by a gang.  I never thought I would hear of this, in Greensboro - MY Greensboro, my hometown, the place where I always felt safe.  It's enough to make you agoraphobic, I tell you, and then you have to deal with MCBH again. 

So, yeah, News & Record, appreciate all your editorializing about reconciliation and let's all make nice-nice.  But fix some real problems too: homelessness, poverty, gangs, mental health.  Then we will have a city we can love and be proud to call home again.

This was a rant, I admit, but hey, everybody has to have one, right?

I'm going to throw some acorns for Scamper now.