Brad Lancaster literally wrote the book on rain water harvesting, but he is also an avid cyclist.

He says he sold his car in 1996 and immediately got a $7,000 raise because he no longer had to pay for gas, maintenance and insurance. He says going car free allowed him to be part of the solution rather than the problem.

The majority of the riding Lancaster does is on neighborhood streets. He says he sees more interesting stuff that he can recycle and runs into more people he knows on neighborhood streets. He says his Xtracycle helps with both finding material to recycle and running into people he knows, because he can load both up on his bike and ride away.

He says he’s thrilled with the city’s push for bike boulevards throughout the city.

If he could improve anything for cycling in the city, he says he would go much further with the bike boulevard concept and make neighborhood streets a “sustainable shade belt.”

He’d like to see shade and fruit trees lining neighborhood streets and irrigated by harvested rainwater. He imagines a street that was shady and cool and had fruit trees along the way allowing people to stop and eat on their way.

“With a scenario like that, why would anyone drive?” Lancaster said.

 

5 thoughts on “Rider of the week: Rain harvester rides a bike”
  1. He’d like to see shade and fruit trees lining neighborhood streets and irrigated by harvested rainwater. He imagines a street that was shady and cool and had fruit trees along the way allowing people to stop and eat on their way.
    Woot! I vote for that! 😀

  2. Tucson Clean and Beautiful has a “Trees for Tucson” program which can help neighborhoods plant trees along their streets.

    http://www.tucsonaz.gov/tcb/tft/index.html

    I think a lot of the trees on Treat (between Elm & Grant) were planted using this program. They made curb cuts and a basin for each tree to help collect rainwater runoff.

  3. You’re right about the Treat experiment of 2008. Unfortunately, the basins collect more garbage than runoff, and the “trees” look like crap.

  4. I’m going to make this a two-fer and respond to both Collin and Psibley. Here goes:

    I speak from personal experience on the Trees for Tucson trees. Those things grow like weeds. I have one in my front yard that I planted two months after I moved into this house. It’s about 20 feet high now.

    And Psibley, you sound a lot like I do when I look at the gar-bazh that’s accumulating in the basins along the 4th Avenue Bike Boulevard. You know what I’m gonna do? Well, I’m gonna go out there, pick up that gar-bazh and dispose of it properly, that’s what.

    Nothing like getting all hot and bothered about litter. It motivates me to get out there and clean up the neighborhood. Anyone care to join me in the Fellowship of Those Who Clean Up After Others?

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