@BrentToderian 18/08/22
The French government will pay citizens $4,073 to help buy an e World News
The generous subsidy is aimed at not only reducing pollution but also to push people to embrace active mobility. The scheme can be used for every family member.
France has come up with an innovative idea to reduce polluting vehicles from the roads. Citizens can now exchange their vehicles in return for an amount as high as €4,000 (approx. $4,073) which they can use to buy an electric bike, The Times reported. The generous subsidy is aimed at not only reducing pollution but also to push people to embrace active mobility. The scheme can be used for every family member.
‘It’s not a political thing’: Jeremy Vine on cycle safety – and that helmet cam | Cycling | The Guardian
Peter Walker
Jeremy Vine discusses dangers of cycling on bike ride with the Guardian’s Peter Walker – video
Cycling along a busy one-way street in central London, followed by a black Mercedes and a line of other cars, Jeremy Vine ponders how best to stay safe: move a bit closer to the side, allowing room for a potentially close overtake, or stick to the centre of the lane?
“It’s a bit of a conundrum,” he admits. “Let’s take the primary position and see if we get any argy-bargy. Think of it as an experiment.”
As we pedal along, the Mercedes driver stays yards behind, making no effort to squeeze past or even edge closer. “This guy behind us is being lovely,” Vine grins. “We shouldn’t always paint cycling as dangerous. The most dangerous thing you can do is to always be on your sofa, eating Pringles.”
U.S. Sea Levels to Rise at a Faster Pace Than in Past 100 Years – bloomberg.com
Brian K Sullivan 15 February 2022,
“Sea levels are continuing to rise at a very alarming rate,” Bill Nelson, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. “And it’s endangering communities around the world.”
Rising waters are threatening coastal cities including New York, Boston and Miami, which already commonly experience flooding during high tides that occur with full and new moons. Homes, businesses, highways and other infrastructure along coastlines are vulnerable to damage from flooding and rising sea levels. Nearly 8 million homes, with a reconstruction cost of $1.9 trillion, are at risk of storm surges, according to a 2021 CoreLogic report.
How Earth’s Climate Changes Naturally (and Why Things Are Different Now) | Quanta Magazine
Faint Young Sun
Magnitude: No net temperature effect
Time frame: Constant
Though the sun’s brightness fluctuates on shorter timescales, it brightens overall by 0.009% per million years, and it has brightened by 48% since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
Scientists reason that the faintness of the young sun should have meant that Earth remained frozen solid for the first half of its existence. But, paradoxically, geologists have found 3.4-billion-year-old rocks that formed in wave-agitated water. Earth’s unexpectedly warm early climate is probably explained by some combination of less land erosion, clearer skies, a shorter day and a peculiar atmospheric composition before Earth had an oxygen-rich atmosphere.
Clement conditions in the second half of Earth’s existence, despite a brightening sun, do not create a paradox: Earth’s weathering thermostat counteracts the effects of the extra sunlight, stabilizing Earth’s temperature (see next section).
Green Party: Government’s “anti-cycling narrative” creates danger for cyclists | road.cc
Spokesperson slams Grant Shapps’ comments on number plates, compulsory insurance and speed limits for cyclists
The Green Party says that the government is promoting an “anti-cycling narrative that is making things far more dangerous for cyclists” in response to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’ call earlier this week for people on bikes to be required to display number plates, carry third party insurance cover and be subject to the same speed limits as motorists.
The cabinet minister’s comments, initially made to the Mail in an article published on Tuesday evening, made for prominent headlines in both print and broadcast media yesterday, and are in direct conflict with repeated assurances from his own ministers and from civil servants at the DfT.
“Demonising cyclists is pointless,” says Chief Scientist at Transport lab – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton 18 August 2022
The Chief Scientist at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory has written that “demonising cyclists is pointless” in response to current headlines related to comments made by the Transport Minister Grant Shapps.
Shapps yesterday was quoted by the Daily Mail as having proposed insurance and licensing for cyclists, only for the comments to later be retracted somewhat in a piece the appeared in The Times.
“I’m a keen cyclist, I’m very proud of the big expansion in the number of miles being cycled. I’m not attracted to the bureaucracy of registration plates. That would go too far,” Shapps said in the Times, clarifying earlier comments.
Grant Shapps’ bike licence plates proposal ‘a strange and pointless idea’ | Grant Shapps | The Guardian
Transport groups and opposition parties have reacted with bafflement to a proposal by Grant Shapps to look at mandatory insurance and registration for cyclists, something previously rejected by the Department for Transport (DfT) as impractical and counter-productive.
In an interview with the Daily Mail that appeared to surprise his own officials, the transport secretary said he “absolutely” wanted to extend speed limits to cyclists, adding: “I see no reason why cyclists should break the road laws and be able to get away with it.”
He added: “That obviously does then lead you into the question of, well, how are you going to recognise the cyclist, do you need registration plates and insurance and that sort of thing? So I’m proposing there should be a review of insurance and how you actually track cyclists who do break the laws.”
Car costs have risen to over $10k annually. Why prices have increased.
The average cost to own and operate a new car this year is $10,728 per year, per AAA.
• Ownership costs are up 11% from last year.• Vehicle prices are also up as manufacturers struggle to keep up with demand.The average cost to own and operate a new car in 2022 has soared about 11% since last year to $10,728 per year (just under $900 per month), according to AAA’s annual “Your Driving Costs” report.
The report factors in costs such as fuel, depreciation, insurance and maintenance to find total annual operating expenses.
“You’re usually focused on the purchase price and that is not the whole story. Not even close,” said Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering for AAA. “I think ($10,000 is) a number that will surprise a lot of people.”
West Wales to Bristol trains in Welsh transport plan transportxtra
All trains from Bristol Temple Meads to Wales terminate in Cardiff, but the Welsh Government plans direct services to West Wales
Direct rail services between West Wales and Bristol, hydrogen-fuelled long-distance buses and possible road charging feature in the Welsh Government’s National Transport Delivery plan for the next five years.
When Transport for Wales was procuring the 15-year Wales and Borders rail franchise in 2017 and 2018, the UK Government forbade it from specifying services to Bristol Temple Meads until a capacity improvement scheme at the east end of the station was completed.
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