“We know what the problems are,” said Dr. Mark Hayden. “We know what the solutions are; what’s missing is the will.”
Dr. Hayden, like many others, is hoping that the political leaders now arriving at COP26 in Glasgow will finally take meaningful steps to fix the climate crisis.
He was speaking from the saddle of his electric bike on day six of a group cycle ride from London to Glasgow. Riders—mostly children’s healthcare professionals—were strung out along the muddy country lanes of the Tyne Valley in Northumberland following a route plotted some months earlier by Dr. Hayden and other organizers of the Ride for Their Lives rolling demo.

“We want to commemorate and commiserate the homes and lives lost to the climate crisis,”

one Extinction Rebellion member said on Friday.

Nearly £7bn will be allocated to urban transport around England in next week’s Autumn Budget and Spending Review.
England’s city regions will receive a total of about £5.7bn in sustainable transport funding, with a further £1.2bn being invested in bus services.
However, only about £1.5bn of the transport funding appears to be new money. Some £4.2bn was previously announced in 2019 for cities, while the bus grants will be coming from a £3bn fund promised by prime minister Boris Johnson last year.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Great cities need great transport and that is why we’re investing billions to improve connections in our city regions as we level up opportunities across the country.

But a persistent theme is that voters have time and again reelected the mayors responsible for ambitious road reclamations, often with overwhelming majorities. Although many presume these policies are toxic, projects that make cities more liveable have been shown to be good urban policy and good politics.

With the clocks going back this weekend, Cycling UK is urging motorists to slow down when they are driving towards the sun.
The national cycling charity says that “dazzling sun” was cited as a contributory factor in the deaths of 17 cyclists in 2020, compared to four the previous year.
Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns said: “A four-fold increase in deaths with a contributory factor of ‘dazzling sun’ is alarming and could be avoided by driving more carefully. 
“Cycling UK would encourage anyone dazzled by the sun to drop your speed, and where appropriate and safe to do so, stop until they have clear visibility of the road again.

Transport for West Midlands TfWM has been running the scheme as a pilot since March and said it is working with 147 of those applicants.

Each can claim credits worth up to £3,000, to spend on public transport, taxis, bike share or a car club.
TfWM has also crushed 70 of the cars given up so far.
It has made £1m of Mobility Credits available, after getting £22m from the government to work on a number of pollution-tackling schemes such as on-demand buses, cycle hire and driverless cars.
It started the car-surrender scheme in March 2021 and said 71 people had been accepted by October.
The trial is due to run for two years and TfWM said it is looking for 280 participants in total.
It said the aim of the trial was “to see if mobility credits are an effective way of changing travel behaviour”.

Tackling climate change will require world leaders to take action on a global level.

But as individuals we also contribute to damaging emissions. Here are some things you can do to reduce your personal impact.
3. Drive less, fly less
Transport is responsible for almost a quarter of carbon dioxide global emissions.
Living car-free might be “the most impactful thing we can do to reduce our transport emissions”, according to Dr Jennings.
However, ditching the car is not possible for everyone, particularly if you live in an area without good public transport, or work night shifts when it isn’t running.
Small steps still have an impact, like walking and cycling to the local shops or sharing car journeys with friends or neighbours.

Electric cars are becoming more widespread, but they are still expensive. And it is only truly green travel if the electricity used to power the car comes from green energy sources, such as wind or solar. Low-carbon sources made up 58% of the UK’s electricity in 2020, including nuclear.

Unfortunately for keen travellers, flying is one of the most carbon-intensive things we can do as individuals.

Domestic flights have the largest emissions per person per kilometre.

Train journeys can have less than a fifth of the impact of a domestic flight, although they might be more expensive. Booking in advance can help reduce the cost.

“For those who fly a lot, reducing the number of flights you take will make a considerable difference to your personal footprint,” says Dr Jennings.

On Thursday Facebook announced a groundbreaking and innovative new distraction from their PR disaster. As journalists continue to pore over thousands of leaked documents that show the company is fully aware that it is degrading democratic societies, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is changing its name to Meta, has a new logo that looks like a Na’vi bending over, and is going to pivot from spreading vaccine disinformation to creating a super-lame version of Second Life.

New guidance published by the European Commission under the Energy Efficiency First Principle has given warm words for cycling provision as part of adapted recommendations on buildings construction.

Though the guidelines are not compulsory, they are used as an up to date reference in construction, prompting builders to consider working towards maximum energy efficiency. The European Cyclists Federation, which spotted the Commission’s publication, says that the goal to shoot for next is to set the inclusion of cycling as a primary transport form for residents into stone by building active travel provision into the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.