Sunday, April 1, 2018

Social Change through Bicycles and Healthy Organizations


The publication of my memoir, Bike Hunt, gave me the opportunity to present at various venues and through various media about the power of bicycles for improving our world. Even though, or perhaps because Bike Hunt covers my struggle toward that goal, the book offers the perfect backdrop for intense discussions on this topic.

The bicycle is the greatest machine ever invented because it provides so much for so little. With simple pedal strokes it will transport a person six times faster than walking and can carry hundreds of pounds. It is easy to make and available in all parts of the world. When people choose to travel by bike, they not only improve their own physical health, but the health of their communities by reducing emissions and noise. And yet, in most countries, bicycles are only used for fewer than ten percent of trips.

Central to my presentation are the many disturbing barriers to bicycles being used as a tool for social change. Since the 1950s, the U.S. bicycle industry has presented bicycles as toys. On top of that, their push to sell bicycle helmets has stigmatized bicycling as far more dangerous than it actually is. Though car occupants suffer 25 times more head injuries than cyclists, the car industry would never dream of promoting helmets for their customers. Then there is Hollywood with its portrayal of cyclists as dorks. So it’s no wonder bicycles are forgotten by social movements (see my last post on Civil Rights) and even the environmental movement.

The other barrier is one that is faced by all nonprofits – group dysfunction. In Bike Hunt, I delve into many of the causes of this, including power grabs and infighting. Unfortunately, because our bicycle movement is so fragile and undermined by our bike industry and other stigmas, bicycle nonprofits cannot withstand the forces of group dysfunction like nonprofits in other movements.

I show in Bike Hunt and my presentations how to overcome these barriers first by recognizing them then stopping them at the slightest hint. If you have run into these sorts of struggles or more, please read the book and visit www.OneStreet.org to tap into the resources there.

Sue

Monday, January 15, 2018

Human Progress Is Neither Automatic nor Inevitable, MLK

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my favorite holiday because the man it honors would expect us to work for good on his day rather than take an actual holiday. I like to start this day by flipping through a huge volume of his writings, stopping to read random passages. I did that this morning and found some good ones, but there is one simple quote of his that I have fixated on this year: “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable.”

My fixation on this MLK quote actually began months ago. In my job at One Street, I answer calls for assistance from leaders of bicycle advocacy organizations all over the world. Since last fall, I have had the great pleasure of working with several extraordinary nonprofit leaders in some of the most battered areas of our world including Bosnia, Puerto Rico, and DR Congo. In spite of great odds against them, whether a recent war or hurricane, or marauding armed gangs, these nonprofits have become beacons of hope in their communities. But just like them, I have had to recognize the infection of human malice that has crippled and even destroyed other nonprofits that have contacted me for help.

Martin’s quote is imbedded in his book from 1958, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, where he describes the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement up to that point, but shows that much more must be done. I think that he was rightfully afraid that their successes would cause complacency. But even more than that, I believe that Martin had seen both the extraordinary potential of humans to overcome malice as well as the insidiousness of that malice. He knew all too well that backing off even slightly would allow of flood of brutality back in.

Over my more than forty years of working with nonprofits, I, like Martin, have come to realize that our species will not reach a point where we care for each other and halt brutality without a great effort.

I discussed this with a friend of mine recently and, instead of simply agreeing, she described a scene where a child is building a tower with building blocks. He places each block with care choosing his next to ensure his tower will reach the greatest height. Then another child enters the room and kicks the tower over. I tried to butt in here to bemoan the human tendency to destroy things built for good, but she corrected me. The second child did not kick the tower over in order to destroy it or even to harm the first child. He did so simply because he could, because it was easy.

Working to improve our world and help others is difficult. Harming it and others is easy. We must keep Martin’s quote in mind as we commit to this difficult task and always remember that human progress will never be automatic nor inevitable.

Sue