This week's topic was biking in Copenhagen. They are trying to make Copenhagen the most bike friendly city in the world (with 50% of the population biking to work, along with other similar initiatives, like fixing up the bike lanes and improving bikers' safety) by 2015 and are already well on their way. Apparently, 35% of people already bike to work and on errands, and it's definitely noticeable that there are more bikes on the street than cars (at least in my area). One of the speakers was a young woman originally from Poland (Sophie, I'm pretty sure) who moved to Denmark when she was young and now works on the advertisement and PR side of the bike campaign, working to promote biking in a positive manner and to "reward" people who are already biking. The other was a man (named Troles, that I pronounced as "Troll," but I'm not actually sure if that's right haha) working in a smaller city (about 1/10 of the size of Copenhagen), trying to increase the amount of bikes. He is mostly in charge of projects in schools, where they introduce kids to biking and the benefits at a young age (such as health and a lower environmental impact). Both of them joined us for dinner and I got to sit next to Troles, which was neat.
Interestingly, most people who ride bikes in Copenhagen do it primarily because of it's speed, rather than any sort of environmental aspect, and also don't consider themselves "bikers." It's just something they do in their everyday lives. It's a different outlook and very interesting. One of the things Troles did was a project called Around the World in 80 days. Each class was given 2 gps devices and they would rotate among the children (or preteens, 12ish), counting how many miles each kid rode in the day. Then, there would be different stories matching up with different amounts, so they could sort of see how far the biking could take them? (that's not well explained, but I thought it was a very cute idea). One reason all of these biking initiatives (and the socialist economy) work so well, as Troles explained, is because of how small Denmark is, both in area and population. There are suburbs, but the urban sprawl is nothing compared to that of LA and Houston. So, while the commute by bike could be as many as 12 km to the inner-city, that's doable, versus the distance from my home outside of Houston to downtown. Also, because the population is so small, many can justify their incredibly high taxes because it is helping their families, friends, neighbors. Troles and Sophie both said when they meet someone new, that it is not unusual to find some odd connection, such as they know your sister, or once lived in the same neighborhood. They described it as impossible to escape because eventually you will meet someone who knows you or your family. So, because everyone is so tight-knit (which matches up with the declaration of Danes being the happiest in the world, as much of that has to do with the importance placed on very close circles of friends and families, rather than on work or their professional lives), they do not mind paying high taxes, because everyone knows someone who needs it. Troles couldn't really understand why most Americans are against universal health care simply because of the well-being of others.
But, America being so large, and with so many different opinions, it makes it easier to sort of ignore how different things effect other people. So, I definitely got quite a bit out of just one wonderful dinner! Also interesting, I mentioned that I was a vegetarian and Troles asked if it was because of low quality. I tried to explain the environmental impact of the meat industry and the waste and unethical practices of hugh livestock production, and it just didn't make sense to him. His point was that if I was worried about my carbon footprint, then why not do something about the high number of cars on the road in America. While I do maintain that a vegetarian diet does decrease my CO2 output, he does have a point. I love being able to walk everywhere here, or, if I'm going further, just get on public transportation (which I'm currently too intimidated to try, but it will happen soon!). I love my CRV, but it uses a ridiculous amount of gas, and is very wasteful. But, it's hard to think about living in Texas without a car. I mean, people definitely do it and it's fine, but everything is so far apart, it's not feasible to just bike everywhere, like I can here. So, while I won't be able to walk everywhere, I definitely want to work on getting places other than just driving, such as to HEB, which is possible. Harder, sure, but doable. So, if nothing else, just this dinner is certainly making me think about different ways to live.
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| Here's a picture of the house at dinner! I didn't take any pictures this night, and this is the only one anyone has posted to facebook so far haha. |
Also, it should be mentioned, it is freezing here. I tried to do this walking tour of the city with one of my housemates today (we went and saw the founding fortress of what eventually became Copenhagen, from 1126, very cool and more about that later), but it was too cold. We gave up after an hour. Seriously, right now the forecast says feels like 5 degrees. Really!? But, this cold front is really bad. It's hit as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit in places like the Ukraine and Bulgaria (I think that low was -10, but still). And that's not Celsius. FAHRENHEIT. Yikes. So, it could be much worse here haha. Tomorrow I am going on a tour of a castle, so that'll be exciting! I'm just going to layer up and make the best of it haha...
By the way, Kynan, the Corpse Flower is called that because of it's smell. Apparently, it's to attract beetle larvae, but I can't pretend I actually understand the biology of it all haha... (here's more info if you're interested )And, as far as I can tell, it's similar to Gaelic soccer, but not the same. They're indoors on a basketball like court and aren't kicking the ball. Also, I don't think it's nearly as violent ahah. There was some shoving in handball, but not nearly as many injuries as it seems like Gaelic soccer leads to haha...
Happy Saturday! Hej hej!
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