What’s the hardest part about something new? When I listen to a lot of people talk about biking more often, I hear them say they wished they biked more, or they “should” bike more. But a lot of them don’t. In fact a lot of people don’t make any kind of change in their lives unless they’re forced into it by options running out. This little story about trying a new bike illustrated to me an important point about change

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Are you an every-day hero? Being an aware citizen and taking action can do more for keeping our streets and communities safe than most any other measures we can take. It’s been proven that the more people that are around witnessing a crime, the less likely it is that any one will do anything about it. It’s a psychological thing – we don’t want to be bothered and hope one of those other people will take action instead, so

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When do we learn to hate the rain? After our long dry spell and then recent gusher, I started contemplating our reactions to rain. In today’s video I give you my thoughts and something to contemplate yourself next time it’s raining out. What do you think? Do you hate the rain? or are you able to enjoy it sometimes? -Elise Go By Bike is a daily video series that talks about how to be green by riding more and using

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Why do we go by bike, car, or feet? I’ve been thinking lately about what motivates us to bike versus drive or take other forms of transport. There is certainly a big contingent of people in the US who believe the “car is king” philosophy. I was talking with one of our city planners recently who had just returned from a regional meeting to discuss pedestrian facilities. After a full day of discussion, he said one of the other planners

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What Can Chapel Hill Learn From Durham? In today’s episode of Go By Bike, I talk about what makes a downtown a nice place to hang out – at least in small to mid-size towns? Downtown Chapel Hill has been on a quest to “improve” downtown for as long as I’ve lived here, but I think they’re missing one key element. What is is? Listen and find out. What do you think are the critical elements to making a

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Give your kids a cleaner, brighter future Welcome to Go By Bike! I started this series to talk about how to ride more and use your car less, including electric bikes, electric kits, cargo bikes, bike safety, and getting motivated to bike. Using your car less reduces your carbon footprint, saves energy, helps the environment, keeps you healthy, and makes your community a nicer place to live, so overall most people would agree it’s a good thing. In today’s episode of

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I recently returned from a trip to Hilton Head Island, in South Carolina. Hilton Head is located at the very south part of South Carolina, close to Savannah Georgia, and is a very popular beach vacation location. My parents, who participate in the condo swapping programs that have become popular lately, had a week to spend there and invited us to come down. I’m not usually so big on this kind of vacation, but the beach is really nice on the

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Fear pervades our culture. That’s because fear sells. And marketers figured this out long ago, so we all get a healthy dose of fear, every day. We’ve become a society that fears far too much, and usually the wrong things. That’s because fear sells news. It sells all sorts of products to keep you “safe”. And it makes people crazy. Fear is one of the basest of human emotions. It drives all sorts

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(I wrote this a few months ago, and am finally posting it. It still seems relevant today). Change is scary. No doubt. The world is headed towards major change, or so many people think. I regularly read several websites that talk about these changes, such as The Oil Drum, and iTulip. The mood on those sites has grown dark. The sites come from very different perspectives – iTulip from the macro-economic-political view, and The Oil

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