Ray Atkinson started this blog in 2014 when he moved from his childhood home in Kannapolis, NC (Walk Score of 0) to get his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University (Walk Score of 100). He has never owned a car despite living in Memphis, TN. His email is gismap1@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayplans
I have been wanting to blog about happiness for a while. While I did not mention happiness in my new normal posts, I think discussing how to achieve a healthier lifestyle is close enough to discussing happiness. Did you know that today, March 20 is the International Day of Happiness?
International Happiness
The 2024 World Happiness Report was published today. I shared the video below for readers who do not want to read the report. Here is a summary version of the report. Since my blog frequently shows how the US could improve, I am not surprised to see that the US is declining. What do you think about the report’s findings?
Significantly, the United States of America (23rd) has fallen out of the top 20 for the first time since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012, driven by a large drop in the wellbeing of Americans under 30.
World Happiness Report
Happy City
I recommend reading Charles Montgomery’s Happy City. You can get a taste of what Happy City is about through the video below. Since there are many ways to define happiness, do you agree with how Charles Montgomery approaches defining happiness? If not, how would you define a happy city?
I also recommend the below podcast episode about how to plan for happiness in cities. What do you think about Megan Oliver’s perspective?
Future Blog Post
I usually write longer posts during the weekend, but I did not want to wait until the weekend because I wanted to publish this post on the International Day of Happiness. Since I believe discussing happiness is important for Memphis to discuss as we create the Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan, I want to keep discussing happiness as I work on creating this plan. How do you think happiness relates to transportation safety?
Due to May being National Bike Month and National Mental Health Awareness Month, I want to combine my usual “The City at Eye Level” post with advocating for breaking down the silos between National Bike Month and National Mental Health Awareness Month. While I am spotlighting these awareness months that occur in May, I honestly have difficulty supporting the effort to create awareness months because biking and mental health issues should not be focused on only in May. I also question the need for awareness months because is there a National Car Month?
The closest awareness months I could find to a National Car Month are the Car Care Council’s National Car Care Month in April and Fall Car Care Month in October. Since these car care months focus on car care and preventative maintenance, they do not focus on encouraging more people to shift from another mode of transportation to driving. Could National Bike Month and National Mental Health Awareness Month no longer be needed someday because American culture views them as normal aspects of our culture, like driving a car? I will keep dreaming and advocating for an American culture to exist like this someday!
Source: Car Car Council
Breaking down the silos between National Bike Month and National Mental Health Awareness Month
Even before American culture reaches the point where biking and helping people with mental health are normal aspects of our culture, I feel an easier and faster milestone will be breaking down the silos between National Bike Month and National Mental Health Awareness Month. As the below tweet by the League of American Bicyclists shows, National Mental Health Awareness Month is not even mentioned in their tweet. While celebrating bike joy could be interpreted as celebrating how biking improves mental health through bringing people joy, mental health is still not explicitly stated in the tweet. The promotional materials for National Bike Month on the League of American Bicyclists’ website also do not mention National Mental Health Awareness Month.
— League of American Bicyclists (@BikeLeague) May 1, 2023
In addition to understanding the need to break down these silos, I hope by the end of this post you will understand the important connection between slowing down and improved mental health. Before I share my personal experience with this connection, I want to share results from this 2017 research study (the article is from 2019 but the research study is from 2017) that support what I have been writing. As the below infographic shows, a 2017 research study on commutes and happiness in Portland, OR found that happiness goes down with the length of a person’s commute, except for cyclists. Those who bike to work were happy no matter the length of their biking commute. 828 individuals in Portland, OR were surveyed. From these surveys, researchers measured commute well-being using a composite score.
While this 2014 British research study does not have an infographic, I like how it provides longitudinal evidence from eighteen waves of the British Household Panel Survey. Since walking was excluded from the Portland research study, I wanted to share the below quote from the British research study.
Our main observation of a positive association between active commuting and wellbeing was supported by four distinct groups of analyses…Furthermore, the commuting time analyses showed a positive relationship between time spent walking and wellbeing which, together with the observed increased effect sizes as participants with shorter commutes were progressively excluded from the first group of analyses, indicate a dose–response relationship.
I realize the research study results that I shared are focused on commuting. Since the below infographic shows how stress varies depending on the type of bike, which is important for my experience biking to and from Sebastopol, I choose to ride an upright bike to reduce stress and load on my neck and lower back. Many recreational cyclists ride racing bikes, so I would be curious to see how the severe stress and load on their necks and lower back impact how they would respond to a research study on the stress of biking. Do you think recreational cyclists are as happy, relaxed, and comfortable as bike commuters?
Barriers to slowing down when accessing and enjoying Sebastopol
Well, I finally made it to discussing my April 29th Sebastopol daycation. The below map shows where Sebastopol is in relation to the rest of California. A variety of barriers prevented me from slowing down enough to enjoy my daycation.
The biggest barrier was the very limited train schedule. Since my e-bike does not fit on the bus, I had to wait until the first northbound SMART train departed Petaluma at 10:12am. I rushed on my e-bike instead of enjoying the beautiful ride on a trail from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol. I missed most of the Apple Blossom Parade because it started at 10am. While I probably should have paid for a hotel room for the night so I could enjoy dinner and the rest of the evening in Sebastopol, I decided to rush back to Santa Rosa to catch the last southbound SMART train that departed at 6:05pm. The later Saturday service started in May, so the 8:12pm trip was not available in April. Instead of feeling relaxed and enjoying a slow bike ride, I felt the need to rush to and from Sebastopol.
I have to use about 40 hours of PTO before it expires at the end of June. Since the rural areas in the Central Coast do not have connected and reliable transit services, I decided to plan a car-free vacation to Eureka with day trips to Redwood National Park. Due to Redwood National Park not having extensive public transit service, I am researching other ways to access the trailheads. Assuming the battery can last long enough, I may ride an e-bike rental from Eureka to the park, charge the battery, and then ride it back to Eureka. Hopefully, the battery does not take several hours to charge like my personal e-bike battery. I wish e-bike batteries would charge as fast as fueling a gas-powered car. While I have not refueled a car at a gas station recently, I believe cars can be refueled within a few minutes. I look forward to blogging more about this vacation.
While I debated whether to devote an entire post to how this 2012 issue at UNC Charlotte relates to my current accountability and transparency issue at Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma, I decided that sharing a brief update here is enough. This is an ongoing issue at my church, so I am not going to publicly share specifics. I feel the below quote from Stephan Hoche is powerful enough that it needs to be spotlighted in my blog. I am thankful that Stephan and I are still close friends despite no longer living in the same state. He has been supporting me through my current issue.
“It’s interesting why they have overlooked them for so long. Basically it seems like UNC Charlotte has been enabling corrupt politicians,” said Stephan Hoche, a geography major. “What they are doing is undermining the fabric of society. They have sworn to uphold the rule of law. If you don’t uphold it you should be held accountable and at the very least the SGA Executive Cabinet should give a public apology for their error. They should be made an example of.”
Stephan Hoche’s response to my UNC Charlotte issue
0 to 100 