Coming up in Copenhagen
And the first day in Denmark will be …
Bicycling.
I got my itinerary for the Denmark trip today and there it is, on page two, right after lunch.
“Cycling the Carbon Neutral Transport – Bike around Copenhagen and experience the municipality’s vision to make Copenhagen the leading city for cyclists.”
I have to say I’m a little apprehensive. I haven’t ridden a bicycle with any regularity since I was a kid. People say you never forget, but cognition isn’t what I’m worried about – it’s coordination.
The memory may not fade, but the muscles do when they’re not used. And riding a bike is just not something very many adults do in eastern Kentucky.
It is just impractical. Roads here weren’t made for bicycles. There are no bike lanes, no shoulders. Add blind curves, steep mountains, and coal trucks and it becomes downright dangerous.
But what would it take to make it practical? What would it take to make it safe?
Copenhagen has found a way to do that. According to the Climate Consortium Denmark, nearly 40 percent of Copenhageners ride bicycles to work, and Denmark is now exporting its cycling knowhow to other large cities such as London and New York.
Our challenge in Kentucky is to find a way to bring that knowhow to small towns like Hazard and Whitesburg.
I’ll write more about it Monday, after I recover from my afternoon of pedaling.
Other things you can expect next week include reports on the following:
- A meeting with Climate Consortium Denmark, a public-private partnership designed to spread Denmark’s climate change expertise around the world.
- How the island of Samsø is able to power itself 100 percent with renewable energy.
- How homes can be made more energy efficient.
- A visit to a biogas factory, which turns manure into an energy source.
- How the Danish Center for Green Transport is planning to make Denmark’s transportation system more carbon neutral.
- A meeting with Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for Climate and Energy.
- Exploring an exhibit of electric cars during Kulturnatten, Copenhagen’s annual “Night of Culture.”
