TEN Problems that CicLAvia Solves

In honor of our 10-10-10 CicLAvia date (never write it as “XXX”), CicLAvia is running TEN top TEN listings! Monday, we showcased great reasons for CicLAvia, Tuesday was great historic architecture on the ‘via route, and today it’s gloom and doom! Below are TEN problems that CicLAvia solves… well… it may not solve all of these all by itself, but it is an important part of the solution. These are pretty serious, but we tried not to take them tooooo seriously!

TEN PROBLEMS THAT CICLAVIA SOLVES:

Worldwide temperature trends map - red means hotter than ever!!! - click to link to larger version

1. Global Warming

We may have had a mild summer in here in Los Angeles, but maybe you’ve seen the graphics showing how 2010 is the warmest year on record?  Russia’s burning. Record heat waves on the east coast. Al Gore on the cover of the National Enquirer. Snow packs (our city’s water supply) are melting. Well… a lot of that warming is caused by… driving! About 40+% of California greenhouse gas emissions are from cars. CicLAvia helps folks get out of their cars, at least on Ten-Ten-Ten… and hopefully, if our Mayor has his way, on an ongoing basis! 

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Does this Gulf Oil Spill photo need a caption?

2. Massive Oil Slicks

It’s that driving thing again… causing bizzillions of gallons liquid gunk to get into waters it shouldn’t be in. CicLAvia gets folks out of their cars. If enough people trade some of their driving for walking and biking, then maybe we can avoid the next big spill coming to a place near and dear to you.

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Ouch!

 3. Car Crash Deaths and Injuries

Mister statistician says: Car collisions are responsible for more than 35,000 deaths annually in the United States. For the county of Los Angeles, it’s more than 700 deaths per year. Those numbers are way bigger than violent crime and even U.S. war zone deaths. Driving causes staggering numbers of injuries, and even shatters important peoples’ elbows now and then. We repeat: STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR on Ten-Ten-Ten @ Ten for Ten half-hours – and enjoy walking and bicycling in the safety of car-free street!

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At least it's better today then it was in the 50's, right?

4. Air Pollution

I know, we kinda covered this on item#1, but air stuff is both a global problem, and a local problem. Trust us (we’re experts): cars spew gunk (a chemical term) which causes respiratory ailments (a medical term)! See above/below/right-column for that ten-ten-ten unpronounceable thingie that solves all this!

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There appears to be something in the water - left gentleman. Yes, we should've hosted a CicLAvia - right gentleman. Image Wikimedia Commons

5.Water Pollution

It may not seem quite as blatantly obvious as the air pollution stuff (see #1, #4 above), but cars are the major source of negative impacts to our waterways, too. L.A. Creek Freak has the full exposé.

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[embedded sound clip temporarily disabled due to liability concerns]

6. Noise Pollution

WHAT?!?! mande? huh?!? come again? Without car traffic on Ten-Ten-Ten, you’ll be able to hear the sounds of people enjoying themselves.

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Scary childhood obesity image from StrangeCosmos.com

7. Obesity

We’re seeing epidemic levels of obesity across the United States. The worst impacts are in low-income communities of color – places like Boyle Heights and Westlake-MacArthur Park where the TEN-Ten-TEN CicLAvia is taking place. Some of the greatest impacts are on our youth, who are more overweight than ever before. Biking and walking (along with healthier food) can help reverse this disturbing trend.

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8. We interrupt this list for an imporant announcement: Don’t forget about the CicLAvia-sponsored Moving Beyond Cars event tonight from 7pm-10pm at RailLA!

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One of the many car-free activities you might find along the CicLAvia route

9. Stress:

Walking and bicycling, with TEN-thousand of your closest friends, is a whole lot less stressful than driving around Los Angeles. Have a stress-free time at CicLAvia this October, knowing that regular physical activity lets off stress. Did we stress that point sufficiently?

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10. Attacks from Extra-Terrestrial Aliens:

We couldn’t quite think of a really nifty 10th problem (nor 8th, right?) and we were pretty sure that no space aliens have ever attacked the earth during a ciclovía-type event, at least since 1997 or so. Excluding zozos. So, dear long-suffering reader, how about if you round out our incomplete list by commenting with some problems that you think CicLAvia solves? Extra points for not taking yourself tooooo seriously!

More TOP TEN-TEN-TEN lists coming this week. Three down, Seven to go!

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