Tag: environment

The Daily Commute, Copenhagen

The people in this photo are commuting to work first thing in the morning. Copenhagen is definitely a bike-friendly city. There were people biking everywhere I went in the city, almost entirely on public bike paths. Some people were out for exercise and recreation, but it seemed to me that for most, bicycles provided basic transportation – from home to workplace and back, for shopping, going out on the town and more.

In looking around for information about biking in Europe and Copenhagen in particular, I ran across the Copenhagenize Index (https://copenhagenizeindex.eu/) that, according to its website “is an evidence-based benchmark tracking to what extent the world’s cities have progressed in making cycling safe, convenient, and mainstream.” If you are interested, the organization’s 2025 index report is available for download as a pdf.

The report ranks the world’s top 30 cities for bicycling; Copenhagen is number two. Three of the top 30 cities are in Canada, none in the United States. Portland and Minneapolis are ranked 35 and 44, respectively.

Several days ago Sean Duffy, the Trump-licking moron wasting space as Secretary of the US Department of Transportation, complained that bike lanes are some sort of DEI initiative. When the index ranking the stupidest countries ever is published, no question where the United States will place.

Shrimp Pond, Hoi An

Along with tourism, fishing, aquafarming, and rice and vegetable farming are important parts of the Hoi An economy. While tourism has had a very rough several months because of the pandemic, the water-based and agricultural economies in Hoi An seem to be doing just fine.

The waterwheels aerate the water in the enclosed pond to keep it from becoming brackish.

Bear Rescue Center, Laos

At the entrance to the Kuang Si Falls park area, there is a small wildlife preserve run by an organization called Save the Bears. The refuge is for Asian Black Bears. Poachers hunt these animals for their bile, which is an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine recipes. The bears are also threatened by deforestation, one of those environmentally unfriendly, unsustainable by-products of economic development.

The bears are playing. As best as I could tell, the bear on the left was laughing in the face of the one on the right. I was standing in a building somewhat above my subjects; the fence separating me from the bears is not visible in the picture.