boy, 16, builds bicycle entirely out of wood

http://www.leevalley.com/newsletters/Woodworking/2/3/article1.htm

I came across this while I was looking for examples of "pimped" bicycle trailers. I guess it is the ultimate in sustainable transport!

This 16 year old built an entire bicycle out of wood - including a wooden chain, and a ratchet system so he can go downhill without having to pedal. It is very cool, and the workmanship alone deserves kudos.



And I refuse to mention the old joke about a wooden bicycle, with wooden wheels, a wooden saddle and wooden chain - it wooden go.

Richmond charge parents for driving 4x4s

I haven't posted for a while as I have been off sick, and then have had LOADS of conference type things to go to. Sorry.

I just wanted to comment briefly on Richmond councils plans to charge parents for parking outside the school.

It strikes me as a brilliant idea, and is something I would like to see more councils doing, particularly when they introduce controlled parking zones (CPZ's).

In Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, my sister in law used to "Park & Stride" to school - parking at her brothers house, then walking her kids the final fifteen minutes to the school (along with her brothers children). The system worked very well until the council introduced a CPZ at her brothers house.

She could no longer park outside his house for 30 minutes each morning and each evening without him paying for a visitor pass (which was around £2 a day I think). She now (disappointingly to me) drives her kids the whole way.

I am broadly in favour of CPZ's. When used delicately they can reduce congestion on roads, encourage people to walk further and make streets safer and nicer for walking. All too often, however, the introduction of a CPZ is a blunt instrument - banning all parking from the street, no matter how long they want to park there. I think most people would agree that there is a world of difference between someone parking outside your house for 30 minutes while they walk their children to school, and someone parking outside for the whole day while they go to work, or go shopping.

The blunter CPZ's tend to move the problem on, rather than solving it, and the CPZ has to grow and grow to accommodate the movement.

While I can't find whether the Richmond experiment is within a wider CPZ, it sounds to me like an excellent example of a "delicate tool".

I have met the leader of Richmond council, and he was explaining to me the thinking behind their previous headline grabbing initiative (which was to charge 4x4s more for resident parking). While the increased pollution (CO2) was a major part of the reasoning, larger (more polluting) cars take up more parking space, and cause more road damage (being heavier), so they are asked to pay proportionately more - seems fair to me!

In the Richmond example the charge works out, even for the most expensive cars, at less than 40p per school day. Despite the protestations of the militant AA, I hope most people would agree that this charge is actually very reasonable (remember it is only the biggest most polluting cars that will pay this).

Social Networking for Charities: MyActionAid.com

Last week I went to a peer sharing event organised by oneworld about social networking. The session started with a chat about MyActionaid.org.uk.

Myactionaid is a social network for people raising money for the charity ActionAid.
It allows each fund raiser to blog about their exploits, and add photos etc onto their profile. Supporters can comment, and can donate money (it is mainly about the fundraising at the moment, but there is a plan to become more campaigning too).

The question posed was "is it better to fish in someone else's pond, or create your own?". I.e, are we better trying to get support and campaign on facebook, bebo and myspace (et al) or are we better to create our own network.

I am strongly in favour of the latter (at least for Walk to School 2.0), because I know how tight the firewalls in schools are, but there were some other very good reasons that MyActionAid had found too:

• Beating the FadCycle
  There is a "social network churn" as people move from friends reunited (remember that!) to myspace, to facebook and on to the next thing. Having your own space means you aren't so reliant on the "current big thing", and your campaign continues as the fads change.
  
  Oxfam have found this with "OxJam". Two years ago it was all over Myspace, now they are having to move it all into Facebook.
  
  That said, it is still important to maintain a presence on all the social networks, so you don't get cybersquatted, and people can find you! The "fadcycle" will also become less of a problem as opensocial becomes a standard.
  
  
  
• Encouraging "FadFogies"
  FadFogies are those people who think "social networking is too hard" or "it's not for me". The most prolific blogger on MyActionAid is a 60 something marathon runner. He has never used social networking before, but has become a prolific brand champion.
  
  One of my concerns with Walk to School secondary is that, while all the teens are tech literate, the teachers aren't. MyActionAid's experience suggested to me that perhaps there is hope if we can persuade teachers to take it up.
  
  
• Better engagement
  Myactionaid has measured better (number of visits, level of donations, time spent on site etc) in some months than the "corporate" ActionAid website. This is despite it being less than a year old, and not being promoted through advertising until early January.
  
  It is developing a core of committed supporters that can be called upon to act on their behalf.
  
  
• The competitive element
  Myactionaid encourages (though not overtly) competition about "how much money have I raised". Likewise, oneworld's oneclimate.net asks "how much carbon dioxide can you save" and allows you to compete with your friends to reduce your carbon emissions.

I have to say this is one of the most useful breakfast meetings I have been to - lots of food for thought!