crocodilefundy

I actually like this campaign by the sierra club. The idea is to get normal people to try it. If you make it sound fun and easy they may try it. If you want to get lots of people to shift their lifestyles you need to do it gradually.

Caretaker

Had a look at the videos. Very amusing.

The biggest laugh was that invitation at the end
"Will you join us and the rest of the global community and commit to riding your bike one day per week?"

Global community?

Ok all you Dutch people, on your bikes for one day per week.

Ha, Ha.

If I was to take this pledge I'd have to stop riding my bike 6 days of the week.

AdamDZ

There will be something instead, probably much worse: more deibilitating and more addictive.

Caretaker

3D Radio?

Smallwheels

There actually is 3D radio already. In order to experience it headphones must be used. It came about because of holophonic microphones. They can record sound and place it spatially in a way that makes it possible for the listener to know where the sound is originating within a 360º circle.

Two microphone inputs are placed on opposite sides of a mount that resembles a human head. This mimics the way the sound is perceived by our ears. It duplicates the tiny differences in the arrival times of the sound waves. That is how the 3D effect happens. I wish more artists would use holophonic microphones. They would at least be more useful when listening to talk shows on FM or stereo AM radio stations.

Crocodilefundy is right about such promotions taking a long time to get people accustomed to the message. One needs to start out slowly and gradually build up to becoming car free.

I was one of those people who drove to the grocery store just four blocks away. I did that most of my life. One day I just decided to walk there. Believe me, such a thought was really foreign to me. My friends father walked all the time and to me it just seemed like something a poor person would do. That guy actually walked twelve miles to work at times. Each way!

I don't remember the day or the exact circumstances that got me to walk to the store, but I learned that it didn't kill me and it was in a way enjoyable. It was faster than using the bicycle due to not needing to get the bicycle out of the garage, lock it and unlock it at the store, load it, and then put it away at home.

After that one time I was hooked on walking to the grocery store. I would still ride my motorcycle or drive the car there if I were coming from a different location. If I was starting from home, I was walking.

The encouragement from these celebrities is really a good thing even if they just get people to try it one time. That one time will make many people realize that doing so won't kill them and it just might be enjoyable. There is no real pressure when someone asks a person to just try it and see what it's like. That makes it easy for someone to accept the challenge. If they told people that they must do it or they're being selfish it would cause resistance. This gentle entreaty keeps it pleasant.

Caretaker

Smallwheels,

We come from a different country, a different continent and probably a different generation.

Neither of my parents ever learned to drive and both lived well into their 80's. My wife has never learned to drive and I was in my mid. 30's when I learned to drive. I remember visiting the US as a tourist before I could drive, travelling around by plane, train and Greyhound bus. When I told people "no I can't hire a car as I don't drive" they gave me strange looks. I hadn't a credit card then either and when I paid for hotels etc. in cash this also got a reaction.

For me radio has always been 3D, even 4D, as your mind adds the extra dimensions.

On the subject of the OP, my attititude is that anyone who is influnced to cycle just because a 'celebrity' advocates it probably will give it up as soon as they see another 'celebrity' driving a fancy car.

Robert Foster

Very good point on how fickle people are about celebrity following. I can't beleve how many people went around with one glove because MJ did. I guess it would safe to say people would save on the numbers of gloves they had.

As a society we went overboard on credit cards and in the US it has hurt people badly. But the strangest thing I ever had happen to me was when I took my son to Arizona to go to school. We went to rent an apartment and the wouldn't take cash.

Caretaker

In Ireland it was the banks who went crazy with their credit cards and the tax payers ended up with the bill.

Count yourselves lucky.