One Less Car

The power of the bicycle to impact mobility, technology, urban space and everyday life.

You don't need to own a car to live well in America. In fact, you'd probably be better off without one. In this groundbreaking guide, award-winning journalist Chris Balish exposes the true costs of car ownership and shows how car-free living can put anyone on the path to financial freedom. Using the book's car cost worksheet, first figure out how much owning a car really costs-you'll be surprised. Then, see how easy it is to transition to a car-free or car-lite lifestyle using Chris's strategies for commuting, running errands, taking trips, dating, socializing, and more. You'll also find hundreds of tips and success stories from car-free people in cities and suburbs across America. Without car payments, rising gas prices, and traffic jams to worry about, you'll have more money and leisure time to spend as you choose. Discover why getting rid of your car may be the soundest and sanest lifestyle change you can make. Reviews View a video clip from NBC's Today Show: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25609661/ "Chris Balish offers a mix of the practical-a worksheet to figure out a car's total cost and impact-as well as the horrifying: The average American walks just 300 yards a day." —Sierra Magazine "If ever there was a practical inducement to get out of the car trap, this is it. For the multitude of Americans stuck in traffic and spending thousands of dollars a year on their cars, Chris's lively and pragmatic step-by-step solutions provide a way out." —Jane Holtz Kay, author of Asphalt Nation "Chris Balish's book can help environmentally conscious Americans live their values. If you're concerned about pollution and global warming, follow the program in these pages. There can be life without a car. And a good life at that!" —Ed Begley, Jr., actor and environmental activist "[Chris Balish's] prescriptions are feasible and most important, reasonable." —San Antonio Express News "Even if living car-free or car-lite isn't for you, you'll still learn a lot from this book. I did." —Michelle Singletary, Washington Post Listen to Chris Balish talk about living car-free in Los Angeles on NPR's Morning Edition.

"The number of bicyclists are increasing in the United States, especially among the working class and people of color. In contrast to the demographics of bicyclists in the United States, advocacy for bicycling has focused mainly on the interests of white, upwardly mobile bicyclists, leading to neighborhood conflicts and accusations of racist planning. In Bike Lanes Are White Lanes, scholar Melody L. Hoffmann argues that the bicycle has varied cultural meaning as a "rolling signifier." That is, the bicycle's meaning changes in different spaces, with different people, and in different cultures. The rolling signification of the bicycle contributes to building community, influences gentrifying urban planning, and upholds systemic race and class barriers. In this study of three prominent U.S. cities--Milwaukee, Portland, and Minneapolis--Hoffmann examines how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling is trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. From a pro-cycling perspective, Bike Lanes Are White Lanes highlights many problematic aspects of urban bicycling culture and its advocacy as well as positive examples of people trying earnestly to bring their community together through bicycling. "--

This all took place back in my high school years where my writing would go into my dresser draw. Later in my college years to be inspired by others who read some of my work. Also being inspired by the great Langston Hughes reading his poetry gave me the inspiration to write more with thoughts about life and endless images. Throughout my vision of writing ideas exploded into words and then formed into a poem or story. Writing was always my way of expressing my feelings and thoughts. Furthermore I experienced similar episodes of my own which gave me fruit for thought in my own travels.

Ecomobilities examines the American cultural attachment to automobility. By analyzing the role of machines and transportation in apocalyptic films, Michael W. Pesses reveals the ideological connections between automobiles, the environment, and the end of the world.

"Pinker has a lot of ideas and sometimes controversial opinions about writing and in this entertaining and instructive book he rethinks the usage guide for the 21st century. Don't blame the internet, he says, good writing has always been hard. It requires imagination, taking pleasure in reading, overcoming the difficult we all have in imaging what it's like to not know something we do know."--Publisher information.

“Although the live-work concept is now accepted among progressive urban design and planning professionals, the specifics that define the term, and its application, remain sketchy. This encyclopedic work is sure to change that, providing the critical information that is needed by architects, planners and citizens.” -Peter Katz, Author, The New Urbanism, and Planning Director, Arlington County, Virginia Live-Work Planning and Design is the only comprehensive guide to the design and planning of live-work spaces for architects, designers, and urban planners. Readers will learn from built examples of live-work, both new construction and renovation, in a variety of locations. Urban planners, developers, and economic development staff will learn how various municipalities have developed and incorporated live-work within building codes and city plans. The author, whose pioneering website, www.live-work.com, has been guiding practitioners and users of live-work since 1998, is the United States' leading expert on the subject.