AlternativesMagazine

Many factors contribute to the booming bike culture in Detroit. Among them: a revived interest in the city. Living green and healthy is trending. Detroit’s sparsely-driven roadways make great ground for bikers.   “Biking has totally exploded,” said cycling advocate Tom Page. “I don’t think any of us could have imagined it. Every day there’s a riding event going on and at the same time we’re starting to get the infrastructure — bike lanes, parking racks — that support it.” READ

You can tell election time is coming up. You begin to itch and squirm and become a little testy and you can't quite figure out why. Then it hit's. You've been listening to all these knuckle dragging Presidential hopefuls spouting off telling us how much better off we're going to be if you vote for them.  When you really start to get a little cranky and look around for something to throw through your TV, click on the photo above and let George get you straight with his bit of wisdom - The American Dream .  You probably should play it everyday especially the closer we get to election day when the bullshit and lies really begin to fly.

“Multi-modal” and “interconnectivity” are now the words on every urban planner’s lips. In Munich, city dwellers of the future would no longer need cars.  Bikes and more efficient public transport would be the norm. The statistic they are most proudest of is that more than 15% of its residents commute to work by bike.  “It’s about creating an environment where it’s easier for people to cycle or take the bus. READ >>

Los Angeles has been the poster child for traffic insanity and air pollution for decades -- and it still is. However, lately they are saying, enough.   It's not exactly a war on cars, but an L.A. policy shift could be a big one, and it's been said that the way California goes, so goes the rest of the country. And many cities, big and small are looking at this, as they try to deal with their own 'drive everywhere' problems.   A 20-year Mobility Plan OK'd by the L.A. City Council emphasizes bike lanes, bus lanes and streets redesigned to slow down cars and raise survival odds for people on foot and bikes. They endorsed a sweeping policy that would rework some of the city’s mightiest boulevards, adding more lanes for buses and bikes and, in some places, leaving fewer for cars. The goal is to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians while also luring more people out of their cars. MORE >>

Health for profit is big business. The big money is made somewhere in the middle, in patients who are alive, but just barely. The reason why they will never find a cure is because they are not looking for one.  Curing would eliminate the cash flow, and this industry is so profitable that it is the 5th leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Any researcher who found a cure would quickly find himself looking for another job, and at some level, all of them know it.  Cancer is the most profitable condition in medical history, and the establishment intends to keep it that way. READ >>

We live in the world's wealthiest nation, yet we rank dead last in health care, we have the highest rate of cancer, heart disease, obesity and abuse more alcohol, prescription and illegal drugs. Nearly 49 million Americans live in poverty and struggle to put food on the table, but yet we throw away 165 billion dollars worth of food every year! http://www.alternatives-magazine.com/advertise.html

When there's sunlight, and you don't want to run out to get charcoal and lighter fluid, you don't need anything extra to cook with one of these. The design of the fold out anodized aluminum envelope attracts the sun at any angle, honing its power and transferring it to the evacuated glass tube, where sunlight is absorbed and amplified. The interior of the GoSun can heat up to 550°F in mere minutes. MORE >>

Last year, 47 percent of all the new electricity-generating capacity installed  in the United States was powered by the wind and sun.  Coal provided just  0.7 percent — seven tenths of 1 percent. Over the past three years — 2012,  2013, and 2014 — we’ve gotten 42 percent of all our new electricity-generating capacity from wind turbines and solar panels. MORE >>

We throw away 165 billion dollars worth of food every year! Most of it because  of expiration dates, but still very good.  Doug Rauch, the former president of Trader Joe's, came up with this concept. He was frustrated by the amount of  nutritious food that went into dumpsters, just because it was nearing its sell-by  date. M ORE >>

http://www.gofundme.com/walterbike   Stolen bikes are unfortunately a common occurence. As they say, It comes with the territory.  But when it happens to someone who relies on it as their only means of transportation, like Walter, who is 76 and on a fixed income, is also a Type II diabetic, and rides daily to keep his blood sugar in-check, then it becomes tragic.  This is why we're starting a gofundme campaign on behalf of Walter to replace his bike and the attached accessories (helmet, pump odometer etc) and get him back in the saddle. We hope you can help! Any amount is appreciated. CLICK HERE >>

By Donald H. Peterson   Although you may never have thought about it, living on Earth as it soars through empty space shares a very critical characteristic with an astronaut traveling through space on a spaceship. Namely, you are totally dependent on the life support resources that are already on theEarth, because with the exception of radiant energy from the sun, the surrounding space environment provides absolutely nothing to support life. MORE >>

By Madeleine Thomas Last year the popular British grocery chain Tesco threw away more than 60,000 tons of food. Think about it: That’s just one chain in a sea of grocery stores discarding perfectly edible leftover ingredients. Unsurprisingly, some enterprising food entrepreneurs see opportunity here. With increasing popularity, cafes are starting to pop up all over the U.K. that source tossed foodstuffs from various grocery stores, wholesalers, and restaurants before it all heads to a landfill. Think of it as highbrow dumpster diving. Leading the cause is Skipchen , a popular Bristol cafe that serves everything from dressed lobsters with red peppers to ratatouille, all entirely sourced from food waste. Quartz has the story: There are now 14 cafés with the same idea in cities like Leeds and London, and up to 80 at various stages of the development process. The umbrella that ties them together is The Real Junk Food Project , a grassroots organization that started in Leeds. The caf

Maintaining our back country trail systems and waterways is everybody's business! We hope you support the "Be Part of the Solution," GoFundMe campaign just launched today. http://www.gofundme.com/solutions