Hi, I'm working on a collection of resources to make writing solarpunk easier and I'm currently putting together a page about exurbs, basically how they came to be, why they're unsustainable, how they might reshape in the future if supply chains break down.

Solarpunk has a lot of 'fuck cars' elements and I've picked up a lot of that over the years, but as I research this one, I'm realizing I don't have specific examples as close to hand as I did for the other topics. I haven't spent much time in communities dedicated just to these discussions and I'd like to make sure I don't miss any community-favorite articles/essays on stuff like how cars reshaped rural places, the complexities of automobile manufacturing supply chains, and the car-size arms race.

If there's anything you think should be included in that discussion I'd be very happy to add it!

cross-posted from: https://kbin.melroy.org/m/upliftingnews@lemmy.world/t/1372827

We find that nearly one fifth of urban and suburban US car owners express a definite interest in living car-free (18 %), and an additional 40 % are open to the idea. This is in addition to the small share (10 %) of urban and suburban US residents currently living without a car.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10230353

Okay, so the job is still sometimes a... real doozy. It's still a demanding retail job, which is fine, but sometimes, it seems that "something" is happening every other day. Drama, interpersonal relationship issues between my co-workers (not with me, I get along with everyone, it seems), and confusion about the task at hand have all happened at some point or another.

That said, I love my job and am transferring to a location that's much closer to me. As I may have said before, it's a church nonprofit thrift store classified as "retail." It's like Goodwill and another Catholic service I know in Florida (this one isn't Catholic, though). I also met another transfem, who seems to be transitioning or just started (relatively recently). She's high up in the business too and well-respected.

Anyway

Thank you all for cheering me up in the lead-up to my new job (which took about 8 to 10 months for me to get after much searching). I want to be an assistant manager or switch to Goodwill BUT, in the meantime, I have this job that gives me a bigger paycheck than the ones I had before, at least.

Thanks to @EmDash and @zeca@lemmy.ml

Also, thank you to @PoY and @davel.

Oh, and @Onno as well as @Maeve and @Nondiegetic.

Anyway, that seems to be everyone that encouraged me in the previous thread and gave me advice.

I'm referring to this thread, by the way:

https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9782130

Not sure what else to say; I've had this job for almost two months so far and I'm halfway through my seventh week. Any other advice is much appreciated, of course. I think my first order of business is basically to just keep saving money, but budgeting is surprisingly difficult, at least so far. I don't know what else I can do when it comes to budgeting and saving money beyond just having more in the bank every two weeks (biweekly payment through Direct Deposit).

Another thing I'm nervous about, however:

I'll have to drive myself to the location that I'm transferring to from now on. I may use Uber or Lyft sometimes, but I need to drive myself there by myself. I can't have someone take me 30 minutes in the direction of the current location I work at. Now that I'm transferring to a location that's nearer by, I will likely drive myself, but it will take 15 minutes to get there, or around that much.

The reason I'm nervous is that, even though I have my driver's license, I heard about an Autistic person from a friend of mine at work that said that one of his Autistic cousins got into a car crash (but had their driver's license) and he couldn't understand that and said that he "can't take care of himself and shouldn't."

Maybe he's not a good friend lol

The point is that it made me nervous; I've driven before. I've driven for about 30 minutes, tops.

I think since we share a car, I forego driving myself and just rely on others, but I have driven here and there.

I transfer to the new location early next week.

What do I do?

Anyway, again, thanks, everyone, this job went better than I thought it would.

If there's anything we should take from Japan, it's treating cars like second class citizens behind transit instead of the other way around. The cute tiny cars are more a side effect of that.

reposting a classic, a little late for the anniversary tho

Its a little funny but sad that people keep wanting to commute on a bike but their government blocks them with stupid rules.

Why stand in the way of progress when you can be part of it?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/53805791

If only we had invented and built some sort of alternative mode of collective transportation. Maybe it could be in tunnels and ride on metallic rails. It would serve many people and make periodic stops to the same locations instead of the highway clusterf- we have today. Sad that we don't, but a man can dream though. A man can dream though. A man can dream.

Dystopian

My lad's bike was stolen from a train station a few months back. He'd left it there while he was at work. He works for longer than an hour a day, like many others.

This was the BTP's response, so it's kind of mad to see that it's actual policy now.

Really makes you glad to pay the old national insurance and council tax, y'know?

It looks like Macau's public transit system is seeing incredible increases in ridership. A 71% increase over 2020 is huge and that's wonderful, but the busses are hitting physical limits on how many people they can carry.

The city's been building out a LRT system that opened last year. Hopefully that will take some of the strain, but given the bus limitations, they'll need to keep adding rail as fast as possible.

Macau LRT Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_Light_Rapid_Transit

Every bike in the bike lane should make drivers happy. That's a few seconds they might be saving on their drive. Every bit of research shows adding lanes doesn't seriously make commutes faster, but removing competing traffic surely does.

This channel normally posts board meetings and short progress updates on specific sections of the project in a pretty dry way. This is the first time I've seen them lean into a more engaging method of getting the word out.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/26007191

I saw this bike made by an independent bike shop for himself.

It's an electric longtail and can carry a 300kg europallet, plus the toolbox on the front, plus an extra person or material on the bike rack!

Here is the link to the shop website: https://www.cycles-penet.fr/

Text of the article:

Ford floats use of notwithstanding clause in Toronto bike lanes case

‘Let’s see what happens at the Court of Appeal,’ Premier Doug Ford told reporters

Aidan Chamandy

Aug 6, 2025 1:41 PM

Premier Doug Ford is gearing up for a fight after a judge pumped the brakes on his government’s plan to remove some Toronto bike lanes. 

On Wednesday, Ford left open the possibility of invoking the notwithstanding clause to ensure his government retains the authority to remove bike lanes it disapproves of. 

“Let's see what happens at the Court of Appeal, and then we'll go from there,” he said at an unrelated announcement in Thornhill. 

Ford criticized Justice Paul Schabas’ decision as the “most ridiculous” he’s ever seen. 

“You talk about the Charter? It’s trampling on the democratic rights of Ontarians that elected a government, just a few months before … that said they’re going to move, not eliminate … bike lanes from the main arterial roads,” Ford said. 

Ford, however, struck a confident tone and said he has confidence the Court of Appeal will rule in his government’s favour. 

Using the notwithstanding clause would allow the government to push through the removals, regardless of what the three-judge panel at the Court of Appeals says. 

In his July 30 ruling, Justice Schabas wrote “the evidence is clear” that “restoring a lane of motor vehicle traffic … will create greater risk to cyclists and to other users of the road.” 

Schabas’ decision didn’t hinge on whether he thought citizens had a right to bike lanes. Instead, it revolved around whether the government’s arguments for removing the lanes — and causing harm to non-driving road users — was based in fact. 

The government’s central point was that removing the bike lanes on Yonge Street, University Avenue and Bloor Street would reduce congestion. That, according to Schabas, was predicated on “weak anecdotal evidence and expert opinion,” which was “unsupported, unpersuasive and contrary to the consensus view of experts.”

He wrote that “there is no evidence that the government based its decision on data, manuals or expert ‘highway engineering’, or that its decision would ‘contribute to highway safety.’”

“Rather, the evidence is to the contrary,” he wrote.

Ford is no stranger to using — or threatening to use — the notwithstanding clause, a constitutional provision that was previously taboo in Ontario politics. 

He was the first premier in the province’s history to invoke the clause, which has been in place since 1982. 

In 2018, he threatened to invoke the clause to reduce the number of Toronto city council members from 47 to 25. Doing so was ultimately unnecessary because the Court of Appeal upheld Queen’s Park’s authority to make the council change.

In 2021, the Superior Court struck down Ford’s attempt to [extend third-party election spending limits](https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/supreme-court-strikes-down-ford-governments-third-party-political-ads-law-10339531: outbound&utm_medium=referral) to 12 months, up from six months. Ford recalled the legislature and passed the bill with the notwithstanding clause — marking the first time in provincial history the clause was actually used. 

Then, in 2022, Ford [used the clause](https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-28: outbound&utm_medium=referral) to ban education workers from striking after contract negotiations broke down. That sparked intense public backlash and Ford repealed the bill days later.

—

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said Ford in 2022 used the notwithstanding clause to ban teachers from striking. It was in fact used to stop education workers, like librarians, custodians and early childhood educators, from striking.