How Walking Can Help End the Climate Crisis (Bill McKibben)

Sustainable transportation advocates know all the stats about how many people die in car crashes on global roads every year. But what about all the deaths and injuries that car culture causes — not to mention all the other ways it diminishes and destroys our communities? 

On this episode of The Brake, we're bringing you an extended interview with the lead author of a new literature review that took on the impossible task of answering that question, and offered an astonishing glimpse into the many "car harms" that researchers around the world have tried to quantify. And then, we talk a little bit about how the costs of automobility measure up against its supposed benefits — and what it will take to shift the balance sheet towards human-scaled places. 

Listen in, and read a shareable digest of Miner's paper here. 

A 'walkability study' can be a powerful tool to help cities and towns identify transformative strategies to welcome and protect pedestrians on their streets — and craft a plan to put those approaches into action. But  what would it take to do this critical analysis in every American community that needs it? 

On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Jeff Speck and Chris Dempsey of the new firm Speck/Demspey, which is trying to do just that. And along the way, we talk about some of the low-cost ways that any community can get a little more walkable, whether or not they bring in the pros. (Hint: it might be time to trade some traffic lights for stop signs.) 

Black North Americans face massive and disproportionate barriers to the safe and free enjoyment of public spaces — particularly on North American streets and roads. But despite mountains of research on racial disparities in jaywalking stops, police brutality, traffic violence, and so much more, we still don’t have a complete picture of what it’s really like to be Black in the public realm, especially as that identity intersects with everything else North Americans might be. 

Today, we sit down with placemaker and mobility justice icon Jay Pitter to talk about why she's launching the 'Being Black in Public' survey, which hopes to bring that conversation back to the center of the discourse — and inspire policymakers to adopt new strategies and approaches to "transform Black public space precarity into equitable and joyful public space through policy reform." And along the way, we also chat about her path to this work, how urbanism has (and hasn't) changed since the murder of George Floyd, why we need to talk more about "the cost of advocacy." 

For years, experts have been perfecting sophisticated technologies that could virtually end impaired driving on U.S. roads — and thanks to a new bill, regulators are already exploring making it a requirement on all new cars. But will Washington take that historic step in the next two years, as advocates hope, or will the legislation get tied up in the misinformation campaigns that have plagued these life-saving ideas so far?

Today on The Brake, we’re talking to someone for whom passing the fight to stop drunk driving before it starts is uniquely personal: Rana Abbas Taylor, who endured the unimaginable in 2019 when her sister, brother in law, and the couple’s three children were all killed by a heavily intoxicated driver in a single horrific car crash. Now, the Honoring the Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate Drunk Driving (HALT) Act could prevent tragedies like theirs— but it needs your help to pass.  

Listen in, and learn more about how to support the mandate here.

Whether they were in political office, in the board room, or simply behind the wheel of an SUV, Baby Boomers have been behind some of the worst climate decisions in recent memory.  But they may also a unique opportunity — and a unique responsibility — to repair the planet they helped wreck, especially when it comes to the transportation sector. 

At least that's the argument behind the new book "Am I Too Old to Save the Planet?: A Boomer's Guide to Climate Action" by Lawrence MacDonald, a card-carrying member of that generation and an activist with climate organization Third Act. In this epsiode of The Brake, we sit down with MacDonald to talk about how Boomer helped perpetuate and expand the transportaiton system their parents created, how advocacy changes with age, and how to talk about how car dependency and climate are intertwined, no matter our stage of life. 

As co-founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus Rep. Earl Blumaneuer (D - Ore.) has long been one of Washington's most staunch advocates for sustainable transportation — not least during the writing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which he fought to make better for vulnerable road users through the inclusion of programs like Safe Streets for All and Reconnecting Communities.

Now, on the two-year anniversary of that law's passage, we sit down with Earl himself to reflect on the BIL's bright spots — as well as his own 27-year career in Congress, which he recently announced is about to come to an end. And along the way, we also chat about how bikes can help unify a polarized political landscape, how a federal parking cash-out law could create a more just society, and why he considers a little site called Streetsblog the 'secret weapon' of advocates everywhere. 

This Halloween, we're giving you a treat instead of a trick, in the form of an extended (but still bite-sized) interview with legendary author and climate activist Bill McKibben.

On today's episode of The Brake, we're revisiting our conversation from earlier this month about  why the 350.org founder thinks the Week Without Driving campaign was so critical to the movement to curb the worst effects of man made climate change. We also talk about why advocates need to promote the joys of active transportation as much as its challenges, as well as what American advocats can learn from one small town in Brazil. 

If you'd prefer to read rather than listen, check out an edited version here, and don't forget to check out McKibben's excellent essay at the New York Review of Books, "Toward a Land of Buses and Bikes." 

Artificial intelligence is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the U.S. transportation landscape. Beyond headline-grabbing crashes with driverless cars, though, some advocates may not realize how else this rapidly-emerging technology is shaping their streets right now — and how it might be used in the future. 

On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Renee Autumn Ray of Hayden AI to talk about her recent Eno Center report, "Understanding AI & Transportation," which unpacks the concept of machine learning and its many applications for cities, transit agencies, and more. And along the way, we explore some of the pitfalls of over-relying on AI, as well as how transportation leaders can best use it "as a tool to help humans do their jobs" — whether that's analyzing crash data to identify interventions to save lives, spotting and ticketing bus lane blockers, or just helping advocates illustrate what a human-centered street might look like. 

Many sustainable transportation advocates fear that the era of autonomous vehicles will spur us to even further optimize our streets for the efficient operation of machines rather than the cultivation of experiences that make us fully human. By adopting a framework that radically centers 'livability' on our roads, though, could we make the robo-cars work for us — and maybe, undo the damage of the first wave of automobobility? 

On this episode of "The Brake," Kea Wilson sits down with author Dr. Bruce Appleyard to talk about his new paper, "Designing for street livability in the era of driverless cars", as well as his book, Liveable Streets 2.0, and the the legacy of his father, Dr. Donald Appleyard, who wrote the original edition. And along the way, we talk about why "livability" is about so much more than safety and the difference between "desigining" and "programming" our places to prioritize our humanity.  

A lot of ink has been spilled on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on American transportation. But less has been spilled on the impcact of long COVID on individual people who walk and bike — and what happens when the disease makes active transportation impossible. 

On today's episode of "The Brake," Kea Wilson sits down with John Bolecek, who built his career in bicycle and pedestrian planning for the state of Virginia before a COVID-19 infection picked up from his son's daycare changed his life, despite the fact that he was "fit, vaccinated, and boosted. That initial infection eventually led to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome that forces him to get around mostly by car — but it didn't lead to him questioning his commitment to building great places to bike and walk. 

Listen in, and check out the article that inspired this story at the Virginia Mercury.