After a bit of waiting and some suspense, the Vermont Electric Bike Report is here. Generated by a nicely crafted online survey that VBike helped with and disseminated in 2017, this report is an exciting snapshot of what we at VBike consider to be an early stage of an e-bike revolution in Vermont. The findings are impressive and we firmly believe that as this phenomenon develops, bringing a fun, socially connected and ecologically sane form of mobility to our state, that it will have a profound impact on how we look at our communities and the infrastructure we build. It's already happening and so we're sticking the plan!!
While the VT E-Bike Report is really important, we hope you'll bare with us here for a bit as we place our work and the report in greater context... You probably already know (namely because we've mentioned this a few times before) that VBike is so much more than about "bikes." Our big question continues to revolve around how we can live and move around on this beautiful, yet radically endangered planet and be far more in tune and aligned with the places and locales we inhabit. And so our work has a lot less to do with paying allegiance to any particular technology, but more towards solutions that can generally help us to be more connected to the world as well as to our own selves.
While the VT E-Bike Report is really important, we hope you'll bare with us here for a bit as we place our work and the report in greater context... You probably already know (namely because we've mentioned this a few times before) that VBike is so much more than about "bikes." Our big question continues to revolve around how we can live and move around on this beautiful, yet radically endangered planet and be far more in tune and aligned with the places and locales we inhabit. And so our work has a lot less to do with paying allegiance to any particular technology, but more towards solutions that can generally help us to be more connected to the world as well as to our own selves.
VBike promotes electric bikes, electric cargo bikes and other hybrid human/electric powered vehicles (and walking and biking in general) not because we are a "bike organization", but because we are an organization that is deeply concerned about how the unbridled and indiscriminate application of the automobile is eroding the world. We certainly believe that the automobile has its place and in no way are we saying that it has to go. That would be foolish (especially in Vermont), but we do completely challenge the unchecked and eccentric use of it and how it is applied. Furthermore, we take a firm stance on how absurdly normal it has become to undermine of our communities, landscapes, soundscapes, biosphere and all the species with whom we share this planet. We also shed our light on how "automobilism" is driving us to disengage from our own bodies, senses and emotional attachment to the human and more-than-human world.
And now, with the coming invasion of the "self-driving carbots", we feel that it is imperative that there is an organization that can demonstrate ways we can transport and organize ourselves on this terrain we inhabit that makes sense and that has a vision of what a human-scale community looks like. We're completely cognizant that we are up against a profoundly deep colonization and ideological trance perpetuated on us by car companies and fossil fuel execs and now purveyors of artificial intelligence and so many others. They feed off of us.
Look around you and witness it nearly everywhere on our land, in the air, when you step out the door, what you hear. Notice it in the media and advertising, what our infrastructure tells (our perhaps screams at) us what to do and how it's shaping us all physically and mentally. These corporate and technological entities are tirelessly at work enlisting us to violate our own world and communities, while we desecrate our atmosphere and throw our climate into chaos. And all this while we abandon our bodies, deny much of our relationship to the Earth, and cloud our potential for a deeper inner and outer sense of who we actually are. What's the endgame?
We are sold the promise of great freedom, comfort, speed and all that jazz at a profoundly horrendous cost for us & our children. Chances are that most of us know that at some level. Perhaps that awareness sits at the far end of the threshold of our own minds, bodies and understandings. And that's precisely how colonization works - it exiles our imagination and our potential to reclaim our dignity. Colonization sucks the life meaning out of the world and out of us.
Look around you and witness it nearly everywhere on our land, in the air, when you step out the door, what you hear. Notice it in the media and advertising, what our infrastructure tells (our perhaps screams at) us what to do and how it's shaping us all physically and mentally. These corporate and technological entities are tirelessly at work enlisting us to violate our own world and communities, while we desecrate our atmosphere and throw our climate into chaos. And all this while we abandon our bodies, deny much of our relationship to the Earth, and cloud our potential for a deeper inner and outer sense of who we actually are. What's the endgame?
We are sold the promise of great freedom, comfort, speed and all that jazz at a profoundly horrendous cost for us & our children. Chances are that most of us know that at some level. Perhaps that awareness sits at the far end of the threshold of our own minds, bodies and understandings. And that's precisely how colonization works - it exiles our imagination and our potential to reclaim our dignity. Colonization sucks the life meaning out of the world and out of us.
So, now that we got that straight, you know that VBike's work centers on helping Vermonters to authentically show up, reengage our bodies, celebrate our interdependence and dignity and start moving towards creating human-scale communities and local living. The more of this the better!! But perhaps you already knew that, so now let's talk more about the report...
One of the coolest things the Vermont E-Bike Report points to the fast growth of electric bikes in Vermont. First, if you look at the image to the right you should notice the large red splotch on the lower part of the Vermont map. That's not actually the decommissioned VT Yankee leaking, but a representation and indicator of the high number of folks riding e-bikes and e-cargo bikes in the Brattleboro area, right where VBike has been most active. You'll notice Brattleboro rivals that "big city" to the north. VBike has also done many consultations with Burlington area residents and we're about to do a lot more as the innovative e-bike subsidy program and E-Bike Lending Library gets officially rolled out in May. More on that real soon...
Crack open the report and you'll see for yourself that folks are predominantly using their bikes for commuting and errands. That means a lot of automobile miles being displaced by bikes which also translates into people using their bodies and actually functioning in the real social and ecological world. And among other things of interest in the report, it's great to see e-cargo bikes getting named and understood for what they can do for families and households.
For those of you interested in how the project got started, here's the story...Back in late 2016 VBike was contacted by Nicole Carpenter of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation about the idea of conducting an electric bike survey in Vermont. We thought it was a great idea and encouraged them to move on it. VBike provided assistance with the development of the survey and then reached out to our greater community in the state to as many folks as possible to participate.
Towards the middle of last year Nicole got a great gig to go off to South America and left the project in the hands of Tom McCarrran. We think that Tom did a great job and he has made a point that we should all recognize that this project would not have been possible without the generous support of Efficiency Vermont and Burlington Electric Department. Thanks y'all.
Tell us what you think about the Report and anything else you read here. Let's get thinking & feeling, doing, decolonizing our bodies and common sense and get more connected to this great world and state we share together.
For those of you interested in how the project got started, here's the story...Back in late 2016 VBike was contacted by Nicole Carpenter of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation about the idea of conducting an electric bike survey in Vermont. We thought it was a great idea and encouraged them to move on it. VBike provided assistance with the development of the survey and then reached out to our greater community in the state to as many folks as possible to participate.
Towards the middle of last year Nicole got a great gig to go off to South America and left the project in the hands of Tom McCarrran. We think that Tom did a great job and he has made a point that we should all recognize that this project would not have been possible without the generous support of Efficiency Vermont and Burlington Electric Department. Thanks y'all.
Tell us what you think about the Report and anything else you read here. Let's get thinking & feeling, doing, decolonizing our bodies and common sense and get more connected to this great world and state we share together.
Now that's so much better.
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