Recumbent News

The Story of Stuff and the Busycle

With almost predictable regularity, I hear that we need a Busycle 2.0 with the latest in HiTech componentry. Besides telling those who suggest such a thing that our Busycle as it is, is just fine, that it is a spoof on our rampant materialism/consumerism, we can now offer the alarming Story of Stuff:

The Story of Stuff

(double click the above image to see the Story of Stuff)

80% of the world's forests are gone. 2000 trees a minute are cut down in the Amazon alone. That is 7 football fields a minute! The US has less than 4% of its forests left. 40% of our waterways are undrinkable. The US has 5% of the world's population and 30% of the waste. 75% of global fisheries have been fished beyond capacity. 100,000 synthetic chemicals are used in production today. Bromated Flame Retardants (BFR) neurotoxins (toxins to brain) are in computers, mattresses, pillows Food with highest level of contaminants is mother's milk. 200,000 people a day are moving to cities from environments that no longer support them. US industry *admits* to 4 billion pounds of toxic pollution released per year (likely far more). Average person consumes twice as much as 50 years ago. We see more ads in one year than people 50 years ago saw in a lifetime. 3,000 ads a day! People in US spend three to four times as much time shopping as Europeans do. Average house size has doubled in the US since the 1970's. Average American creates 4.5 lbs. garbage a day -- an amount doubled from 30 years ago. For every one garbage can you put out at the curb, 70 cans were filled by all the processes needed in order to make it. 99% of all those things we buy are not in use after 6 months. http://www.storyofstuff.com Jan 2008

Or go to: http://www.storyofstuff.com

You see our Busycle is a parody of all that's wrong with our throw away society. As a vehicle that brings joy and community to the non discerning consumers that most all of us have become, it is a happy story story of stuff. Made from discarded items, it expands the possibility consciousness for not only the way we discard items but for how we foresee their usable life even before we endeavor to make them real.

The above piece is so important, I feel it is my moral obligation to spread it around...

THX 4 all of U!!

Move Your House by Bike!!

In Portland, OR, despite all the rain and dark skies they get up there, they still ride bikes. A lot. And they know how to come together as community, even for those of their two wheel brethren who need to make a move. A house move that is!! By bike, no less.

Double click on the image below to see the excellent video that shows all this fun that can be had in doing one of the things most people dread most:

Breakthrough Pedal Car Expands Possibility Consciousness

Even as the pace of innovation quickens so rapidly that we almost take it for granted, every few weeks a real show stopper still manages to capture our imagination. Tom Kabat of woodenbikes.com forwards one such invention that I know is rocking my world. Toward that end, I exhort you to get a look at the short video I present here. Called the Human Car, it has the capacity to catapult the mass consciousness for the healing of our planet to a whole new level.

Double click on the image below and see if you don't agree:

The Human Car Co can be found at: http://humancar.com/indezalpha.html

Tom Kabat's Potty Bike Haiiku

When NBG Scout, Faye Saunders asked Tom Kabat of Woodenbikes.com,, the man who teaches classes for those who want to know how build a bike in the worst possible way, if he could build her a Potty Bike like the one you see pictured below, here was his reply:

Yikes!
It's pottyriffic!
Butt, 
I don't feel moved to make one.
Potty on!