Just build some more safe, efficient nuclear power plants, adequately price pollution into the use of carbon fuels like coal and petrol to encourage conservation, provide efficient, clear and convenient transportation alternatives to the private automobile, adequately price externalities of private automobile ownership into the cost of owning and operating one and be done with it.
Oh and I want a tax credit for riding my bike to work every day like folks get for driving their car...
Can it be this hard? Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
BofA Joins Wall Street Banks Pricing CO2 - et tu World Bank?
These guys will be financing hundreds of billions of dollars in energy infrastructure in the next decade. They sure had better get the price right.
Also, I'll second that demand for a bike/walk tax credit -- last week I asked HR whether some of my tax-free metro benefit could be transfered to my regular salary so I could buy a decent bike, and the answer was no, seems the bosses get a tax break too for offering the benefit. I've already ruined one pair of shoes walking every day.
But the tax agency in the US doesn't allow a deduction for that sort of thing. And it'd be a big administrative hassle to get (taxed) money diverted from the (tax-free) public transit benefit. I'm close enough to work that metro (incl. transfers) is only a few minutes faster than walking, but I get the metro benefit no matter what. It's a waste really since I like walking better and could use some new shoes ...
Man, I do have a deal for you. I've two tt bikes, only taking one with me to France (moving in July).
One's an Orbea chrono (road geometry) set-up with Hed integrated bars, easton aero fork, all DA, with a hed real disk and a Spinergy RevX 4-spoke front wheel. I'd sell this for $2,500 (but would probably rather keep, I'm not a tri guy). Center-to-center of 54cm. Euskaltel orange color.
The other is a Cannondale Caad4 (triathlon geometry), Cinelli angel integrated bars, slice aero fork, all DA including the wheelset. I'd sell this for $1,000. This was my old TT bike until two years ago, had maybe 1,500 km race/warm-up miles, wheelset a bit more. I got a 53 minute 40K out of this one, it's a tri bike though so it's more built for a runner in terms of geometry thus the bike above. Center-to-center of 53.5cm. Smoke grey color.
Also have a Cinelli Starlight road frame with all DA except the rims which are Mavic CXP33s. Muscle fork Compact frame, virtual 53cm. White with black. Used as trainer, never raced, lots of constant use. This one $750.
I live in Saint Paul, MN, and am quite used to shipping these things... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Where will you be living in France? I moved to DC just before Velib hit Paris, and had to content myself with terrorizing tourists with my rollerblades ... Washington streets and sidewalks just aren't up to snuff.
I hear you on bikes, though buying off craigslist isn't a bad thing to do. The important thing is to get properly fitted on your bike whichever it is, and a close second of course is the right size bike but this is second after a proper fitting.
Any proper professional bike shop, (I think there's revolution cycles and capitol hill cycles for two in DC) has someone on staff who can do this. But make sure the person doing it knows what they're doing. If they have a USCF coach license or have experience as an elite cyclist/currently licensed cat 1/2, they can do this.
Sorry you had to move to DC... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
By the way, for the record, I like DC! I'd never been before flying in from Paris, and I expected to hate it. Maybe it's just the cool crowd I've fallen in with, my fun neighborhood, or the great organization I work for, but it's really not so bad.
Here's the full transcript of the speech I referenced:
http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/index.php?s=speeches&item=189
It almost makes me optimistic ...
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2008/Update70.htm
In a report compiled in early 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy listed 151 coal-fired power plants in the planning stages and talked about a resurgence in coal-fired electricity. But during 2007, 59 proposed U.S. coal-fired power plants were either refused licenses by state governments or quietly abandoned. In addition to the 59 plants that were dropped, close to 50 more coal plants are being contested in the courts, and the remaining plants will likely be challenged as they reach the permitting stage.
King Coal is getting the full nuclear treatment. I feel its pain :>
Of course, there is no doubt that mining our flagrant energy waste, in the short term, and expanding our reliance on sustainable renewable energy sources, over the long term, can meet North American needs, if we cut our sail to fit our cloth, so the nuclear issue is not as pressing on this side of the Atlantic. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
