New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity

As long-time readers of this blog know, along with Dr Sherilyn Lennon, I co-convene Griffith University’s New Materialism  Special Interest Group (SIG). New Materialisms (NM) is an emerging post-qualitative research approach that has a significant take-up in education, queer and gender studies, environmental science and arts-based disciplines in particular, but is gaining traction more widely as well.

In our last session, we discussed 3 papers and one of the most essential questions plaguing NM: What is ‘new’ about New Materialisms? and then had an awesome presentation by Dr Natalie Lazaroo (Griffith Uni, Theatre Studies).

This month, we had a mix of three stimuli for the discussion. This was followed by a very moving presentation about a project exploring school workplace sexual harassment and the impact on teacher identity.

New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st
Image by Franz Marc: Fighting Forms

Presentation: Workplace harassment and teacher identity

Our presenter had just submitted her Griffith EPS Master’s thesis two days before this meeting, so we were very grateful for her time.

In this session, she shared some insights, ‘data’ and narrative moments from her latest research project which was an exploration of sexual harassment on teacher identity.

Now that her Masters had been submitted, the researcher was interested in feedback from the group on what resonates and how she might be able to build the project into a PhD using a New Materialisms lens.

As a starting point, X was keen to explore how the sexual harassment complaint has its own agency.

As always, it was a very generative and thought-provoking session.

The presentation blew up away and gave us much to think about.

We applauded the bravery, resilience and strength that underpinned this work.

This presentation focused on the impact of sexual harassment on teacher identity and, in so doing, opened up conversations around gendered harassment in institutional settings. The aim is to lift the curtain on the unacknowledged, misunderstood and often overlooked. These discussions offer insights into the ways that identity, power and culture interrelate and operate in institutional settings and how to shed light on the gendered nature of workplace harassment from a position that is often silenced.  Here, feelings of powerlessness, critical reflexivity, and scholarly reflection were used to interrogate construction of institutionalised norms and examine how language, subjectivity, and power-relations impact on gender.

This session resonated very strongly with SIG members as it honours the insider’s perspective of the social complexities and challenges many women face in institutional workplaces.

It was certainly very moving – and left us all with much to consider – individually and collectively.

New Materialisms Reading/Discussion

For this meeting we had a mix of 3 stimuli.

First was a Taylor & Ivinson’s (2013) editorial for a journal special which was quoted from in the May meeting and flagged for the SIG to follow up. We also had a reading by Gamble, Hanan & Nail (2019) from the last meeting that helps trace the NM origins, epistemological developments and contested space. Lastly, we used a 30 min YouTube video of Iris van de Turin in which she discusses diffractive reading and asks questions about the spatiotemporality of diffractive reading: where and when does diffraction happen in reading processes?

We used the readings and our own knowledge and experiences to explore our central question of:  ‘What lines of flight emerge for you?’

We used this key question to pick at the seams of NM and how we can engage with, and apply, New Materialist methodologies. Here is a sneak peak at some of our machinations.

New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st
Taylor & Ivinson Reading Notes
New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st
Gamble, Hanan & Niall Reading Notes
New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st
van der Tuin Reading Notes

Session resources

Editorial: Taylor, C. A., & Ivinson, G. (2013). Material feminisms: New directions for education. Gender and education 25(6), 995-670.

Reading:  Gamble, C. N., Hanan, J. S., & Nail, T. (2019). What Is New Materialism?. Angelaki, 24(6), 111-134.

Youtube Video: Iris van der Tuin – Reading diffractive reading: were and when does diffraction happen?

Pedalling from Courage

As part of my bike PhD, I get to read lots of great bicycle inspired literature. Some of this awesome research includes Mike Lloyd’s bike research on the non-looks of the mobile world, new developments in no-nose saddle research and international projects like Paulus Maringka’s Greencycle Project in NZ.

Some academic publications are a bore to read, but there are the rare few that are accessible and engaging.

Today, I am sharing one that fits that bill. It is a reflection piece in the most recent issue of the Journal of Narrative Politics. It is by Manu Samnotra.

This article includes 7 vignettes, each of which shows various insights into Manu’s Florida bike-university-international lifeworld. I have chosen one particular vignette, to share here, which is the fourth in the paper (pg 62-63) which is the shortest vignette. It was originally presented as a one-paragraph moment. I chose this piece as it is concise, familiar and accessible (clearly written and articulated and not overly theoretical – thank goodness!).

Although it is an academic publication, it is a personal piece that bike riders can relate too. Elsewhere in the article, Manu explores themes or family, mobility, education, immigration/citizenship, friendship, community and more.

Manu’s writing is not at all cumbersome or heavily referenced (which is a unique feature of the Journal of Narrative Politics). I’d recommend checking out the whole article (see below). I have changed the layout of this section to better suit the blog format. Enjoy! NG.

Samnotra, M. (2020). Pedaling from Courage. Journal of Narrative Politics, 6(2).

Pedalling from Courage. Bicycles Create Change.com 27th June 2020.

We were on our bicycles on our way to the university, rolling on a path unmarred by borders and hierarchies. We saw two figures in the distance.

Pedaling.

Perhaps we registered its novelty; in this neighborhood where we rarely saw any children, and where there were no cars parked during the day, it was strange to see pedestrians walking in the middle of the street. Whirring. We were discussing what we might cook that night for dinner.

Pedaling.

We hear voices now, distant voices, and there is shouting. The road is much smoother in this part of the ride. Whirring. We exchange glances. As we get closer, we notice that the figures in the distance, getting nearer to us every moment, are not white. The color of their skin became apparent before anything else.

Pedaling.

We see now that one of them is gesticulating. Sticking arms out sideways, questioning.

Pedaling.

We notice now that one of them is a man. We hear his words clearly. He is angry. He is insulting her. Whirring. He is demanding that she stop what she is doing and acknowledge him. A few feet away, and we realize that the woman is walking ahead of the man. Whirring. Her body is stiffened, but not in the way that suggests that they are strangers. Whirring. She is trying to maintain a distance between them. As we are about to cross them, the man stretches forward and punches her. It grazes the back of her head. She stumbles but quickly regains her footing and keeps walking.

Pedaling.

We two cyclists look at each other.

Pedaling.

We are already a block down the path before we realize what we have seen. Whirring. No, that is not right. We know what we saw. Whirring. It just takes us that long to acknowledge what we have seen. She wants to stop pedaling. Our bikes come to skidding halt. She was always braver than me. I tell her not to stop.

Pedaling.

We cover the rest of the distance until we reach the university where we finally consider what we have seen.


Manu Samnotra teaches political theory at the University of South Florida. He can be reached at msamnotra@usf.edu

Cycling for a better brain and happiness

Scientists are confirming what most cyclists instinctively know – that riding a bike has extraordinary effects on our brain chemistry. This article is by Simon Usborne (@usborne) and was first published in The Independent. In this article, Simon summaries some key scientific studies from different contexts to explore the multifarious and significant impacts cycling has on our brains – just another reason to love getting on your bike! Enjoy! NG.

Cycling for a better brain and happiness.  Bicycles Create Change.com 23rd June 2020.
Image: Casquette

You need only look at the physique of Bradley Wiggins to appreciate the potential effects of cycling on the body. But what about the mind? For as long as man has pushed a pedal, it’s a question that has challenged psychologists, neurologists and anyone who has wondered how, sometimes, riding a bike can induce what feels close to a state of meditation.

I’m incapable of emptying my mind but there have been occasions on my bike when I realise I have no recollection of the preceding miles. Whether during solo pursuits along country lanes in spring, or noisy, dirty commutes, time can pass unnoticed in a blissful blur of rhythm and rolling.

It’s not a new sensation.

In 1896 at the height of the first cycling boom, a feature in the The New York Times said this about the activity: “It has the unique virtue of yielding a rate of speed as great as that of the horse, nearly as great as that attained by steam power, and yet it imposes upon the consciousness the fact that it is entirely self-propulsion.”

The writer, credited only as “ANJ”, continues: “In the nature of the motion is another unique combination. With the great speed there are the subtle glide and sway of skating, something of the yacht’s rocking, a touch of the equestrian bounce, and a suggestion of flying. The effect of all this upon the mind is as wholesomely stimulating as is the exercise to the body.”

Almost 120 years after these observations, and in the middle of a new cycling boom, what have we learnt about the nature and effects of this stimulation? Cycling can of course be miserable, but beyond its ability to more often make me feel emotionally as well as physically enriched, what could be happening inside my head?

Several studies have shown that exercises including cycling make us smarter. Danish scientists who set out to measure the benefits of breakfast and lunch among children found diet helped but that the way pupils travelled to school was far more significant. Those who cycled or walked performed better in tests than those who had travelled by car or public transport, the scientists reported last month. Another study by the University of California in Los Angeles showed that old people who were most active had 5 per cent more grey matter than those who were least active, reducing their risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

But what is about cycling that leads me to believe it has a peculiar effect? John Ratey is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. He can’t point to a specific reason but says he has seen patients whose severe depression has all but disappeared after they started to cycle.

Cycling for a better brain and happiness. Bicycles Create Change.com 23rd June 2020.

Rhythm may explain some of the effects.

“Think about it evolutionarily for a minute,” he says. “When we had to perform physically, those who could find an altered state and not experience the pain or a drag on endurance would have been at an advantage. Cycling is also increasing a lot of the chemistry in your brain that make you feel peaceful and calm.”

At the same time, the focus required to operate a bicycle, and for example, to negotiate a junction or jostle for space in a race, can be a powerful medicine. Dr Ratey cites a study his department is currently conducting. More than 20 pupils with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are expected to show improved symptoms after a course of cycling.

The link between cycling and ADHD is well established. It’s “like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin,” Dr Ratey says. Ritalin is a stimulant commonly used to treat ADHD in children by boosting levels of neural transmitters. Exercise can achieve the same effect, but not all exercise is equal

In a German study involving 115 students at a sports academy, half the group did activities such as cycling that involved complex co-ordinated movements. The rest performed simpler exercises with the same aerobic demands. Both groups did better than they had in concentration tests, but the “complex” group did a lot better.

Cycling has even been shown to change the structure of the brain.

In 2003, Dr Jay Alberts, a neuroscientist at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute in Ohio, rode a tandem bicycle across the state with a friend who has Parkinson’s to raise awareness of the disease. To the surprise of both riders, the patient showed significant improvements.

Dr Alberts conducted an experiment, the results of which were reported last month. He scanned the brains of 26 Parkinson’s patients during and a month after an eight-week exercise programme using stationary bikes.

Half the patients were allowed to ride at their own pace, while the others were pushed incrementally harder, just as the scientist’s tandem companion had been. All patients improved and the “tandem” group showed significant increases in connectivity between areas of grey matter responsible for motor ability. Cycling, and cycling harder, was helping to heal their brains.

We don’t know how, exactly, this happens, but there is more startling evidence of the link between Parkinson’s and cycling. A clip posted on YouTube by the New England Journal of Medicine features a 58-year-old Dutchman with severe Parkinson’s. In the first half of the video, we watch the unnamed patient trying to walk along a hospital ward. He can barely stand. Helped by a physiotherapist, he manages a slow shuffle, before almost falling. His hands shake uncontrollably.

Cut to the car park, where we find the man on a bicycle being supported by staff. With a push, he’s off, cycling past cars with perfect balance and co-ordination. After a loop, he comes to a stop and hops to the ground, where he is immediately immobile again. Doctors don’t fully understand this discrepancy, or kinesia paradoxica, either, but said the bicycles rotating pedals may act as some sort of visual cue that aided the patient’s brain.

The science of cycling is evidently incomplete, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about it for the everyday rider, its effects on hyperactive children notwithstanding, is that it can require no conscious focus at all.

The apparent mindlessness of pedalling can not only make us happier (“Melancholy,” the writer James E Starrs has said, “is incompatible with bicycling”) but also leave room for other thoughts, from the banal to the profound.

On the seat of my bike, I’ve made life decisions, “written” passages of articles, and reflected usefully on emotional troubles. Of his theory of relativity, meanwhile, Albert Einstein is supposed to have said: “I thought of it while riding my bicycle.”

Two 90-year-old WWII veterans cycle 167kms to commemorate D-Day

Another epic cycling story! If you were impressed fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari’s 1, 200kms bike ride to get her disabled father home, here is another inspirational epic ride. This story is about two 90-year-old WWII friends who are undertaking a commemorative stationary cycle challenge. After seeing this story, I will never accept “I’m too old” as an excuse not to cycle again. Wow!! Most people don’t ride 167kms, left alone in their mid-90s. There is hope for us all. What a way to commemorate a significant part of your life – AND raise money to help others in need. Enjoy. NG.

Two 90-year-old WWII veterans cycle 167kms to commemorate D-Day. Bicycles Create Change.com 18th June 2020.
Image: CGTN

Two 90-year old WWII veterans are undertaking a 167 km (104 mile) charity cycle to commemorate the 76th anniversary of D-Day.

The two friends, Len Gibbon (96) and Peter Hawkins (95) are both Normandy veterans.

The distance was chosen because it is the same distance that Len Gibbon’s took as a solider to get from his home in Portsmouth to the front in Normandy in 1944.

Using stationary bike they aimed to cover the distance from Portsmouth to Gold Beach by D-Day on June 6th.

Both men are in wheelchairs, but this has not stopped them. To do the cycle challenge, they are using stationary bikes so they can still be comfortably seated while cycling.

Len Gibbon (96) started his cycle on VE day and has been riding every day since.

Already, they have raised over US$8, 500 for the charity Just Giving.

Two 90-year-old WWII veterans cycle 167kms to commemorate D-Day. Bicycles Create Change.com 18th June 2020.
Second War Two veteran Len Gibbon, 96 (Image:Gareth)

Mr Hawkins landed at Gold Beach a few days after Mr Gibbon in 1944 and was awarded a belated Legion d’Honneur for “recognition of military service for the liberation of France”.

Mr Gibbon said: “Although I’m 96, I still like to be active and take on new challenges. By cycling the same distance as the journey I took 76 years ago, it feels like a fitting tribute to those who were part of the Normandy landings.

The Normandy landings were like nothing else. You had to climb down this rope netting which hung down the side of the boat. Then when we got down to a certain point, someone shouted ‘Jump!’ and you had to fall backwards, someone caught you and pushed you on to the smaller landing craft to take you to shore.”

Originally from Elephant and Castle in London, Mr Gibbon joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a despatch rider when he was 20 years old.

In early June 1944, he got married and four days later he was posted to Normandy.

At Care for Veterans where he lives, physiotherapists have been working with Mr Gibbon on his balance and endurance.

His leg strength and overall fitness have improved with physiotherapy and he can now walk around safely with a mobility frame and supervision.

Taking part in this challenge would not have been possible without the physiotherapy.

Gibbons added: “Raising money for Care for Veterans means we can continue to help others who need support in later life.

I’m a keen dancer and am still able to have a dance with the other residents which keeps me young. I love to do the Cha Cha.”

Mr Gibbon was in Normandy through to the end of the invasion, then went to the Netherlands via Brussels, and was part of Operation Market Garden in September of 1944.

From there, he was posted in Germany, which is where he was when the war ended.

He recalled: “I was on my way to Hamburg, riding my motorbike along the autobahn by myself.

Suddenly a Spitfire was flying above me, came right down as if it was going to land on the road, then flew back up and did a loop. The pilot shouted down to me with thumbs up, shouting ‘victory!’

Then I knew it was over. I stood up on my bike, arms in the air, cheering.”

Two 90-year-old WWII veterans cycle 167kms to commemorate D-Day. Bicycles Create Change.com 18th June 2020.
Len Gibbons during his cycle challenge. Image: The Daily Mail

*Some content and images sourced from News Chain, Belfast Telegraph, CGTN and The Daily Mail.

Indian girl cycles injured father 1, 200kms home

You might have seen this story in the news recently. If not, you need to know about it! It is an inspirational story of fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari who rode a second-hand bicycle 1, 200kms with her disabled father as pillion to get home amidst India’s coronavirus lockdown. Amazing! Enjoy. NG.

Indian girl cycles injured father 1,200kms home. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th June 2020.
Image: Inquirer.net YouTube.

Mohan (father) is an e-rickshaw driver who sustain a fracture knee during a road accident. They had travelled to seek medical attention. Their family lives in Gurugram (a suburb of the Indian capital Delhi) and his young daughter Jyoti went with him to look after him while he recovered when the lockdown started on 25 March.

Far from home, they soon ran out of money to buy food and medicines. There was no transport available because of COVID lockdown.

So Jyoti decided to buy a bicycle and like thousands of other Indian migrant workers have done since March, make her way home.

Using the money they had left (Rs2000) she bought a second-hand hot pink bike with a rack on the back for her injured father to ride pillion. They left home only with a bottle of water and she rode him non-stop from Sikandarpur in Haryana to Darbhanga in Bihar with only brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura.

The trip was 1200km. Keep in mind the blistering heat and that they had no money for food along the way and relied on the kindness of strangers.

Jyoti said she was exhausted from the trip and that “It was a difficult journey”.  She also said “The weather was too hot, but we had no choice. I had only one aim in my mind, and that was to reach home. It was a decision taken in desperation”.

Her efforts have made global headlines and won hearts on social media.

Their trip highlights the plight of migrant workers caught in the lockdown. Activists say her story highlights desperate measures migrants are taking under the Covid-19 lockdown in India

The Indian  Express reports Mohan (father) says they survived with the help of “several well-wishers” on the road. “We were lucky. Jyoti pedalled for eight days, making brief stops at Palwal, Agra and Mathura. At some places, we would get a proper meal, sometimes just biscuits, but we managed”.

Jyoti’s bike ride story viral internationally (just look it up on the internet or on a news service) and their journey internationally highlighted ongoing issues such as the precarious situation of migrant workers, inequity and access to healthcare and how the most disadvantaged are being impacted by COVID-19.

Jyoti gained popularity due to her kindness and effort- and has had offers of financial help.

Indian girl cycles injured father 1,200kms home. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th June 2020.

Jyoti’s riding also caught the attention of the Indian cycling Federation.

Impressed by her fortitude and stamina, Cycling Federation of India Chairman Onkar Singh said he was “extremely impressed” and that “it’s no mean feat for a 15-year-old to pedal with her father for eight days at a stretch over more than 1,200 km. It shows her endurance levels”.

She has been invited to try out for the national cycling team having proven her stamina.

“Once she is out of quarantine, we will bring her to Delhi to conduct trials, where we will ascertain if she can be groomed into a serious cyclist. And then, it’s up to her if she wants to pursue a career in cycling. We can even transfer her to Patna or any other centre that’s closer to her village. Ultimately, she has to make the choice” Singh said.

What an incredible story!

Indian girl cycles injured father 1,200kms home. Bicycles Create Change.com 13th June 2020.
Image: Inquirer.net YouTube.

Content for this post was sourced from news sources: The Indian Express, the ABC and Inquirer.net (YouTube) which the images/stills are from.

New Materialisms SIG: Vulcana Circus – Stronghold

New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020.
Image: Vulcana Circus

Along with Dr Sherilyn Lennon, I co-convene Griffith University’s New Materialism  Special Interest Group (SIG). New Materialisms (NM) is an emerging post-qualitative research approach that has a significant take up in education, queer and gender studies, environmental science and arts-based disciplines in particular, but is gaining traction more widely as well.

The aim of this SIG is to provide a supportive space for GIER students, ECRs, mid-career and more senior Academics to explore, discuss, experiment and share complex and emerging post-qualitative ideas, methods and approaches.

Our SIG meets once a month and we have over 30 members Australia-wide. For the first 2020 session, I presented some of my African bicycle fieldwork. But then COVID-19 lockdown happened, so we had a month break. This is our first session back – and we were all delighted to be back in action again!

For this session, we discussed 3 papers and one of the most essential questions plaguing NM What is ‘new’ about New Materialisms? and then had a presentation by Dr Natalie Lazaroo (Griffith Uni, Theatre Studies).

New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020.
Vulcana: As if No One is watching. Image: Nothing to do in Brisbane

The Readings

The first two papers (Monforte, 2018; Banerjee & Blaise, 2013) are advocating for NM as a new way of thinking about research and the other one is pushing back saying it’s all been done before and there is nothing new to see here (Petersen, 2018).

For this SIG we had 3 readings

  • Monforte, J. (2018). What is new in new materialism for a newcomer? Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(3), 378-390.
  • Banerjee, B., & Blaise, M. (2013). There’s something in the air: Becoming-with research practices. Cultural Studies – Critical Methodologies, 13(4), 240-245. doi:10.1177/1532708613487867
  • Petersen, E. B. (2018). ‘Data found us’: A critique of some new materialist tropes in educational research. Research in Education, 101(1), 5-16. doi:10.1177/0034523718792161

In the session, we provide a spectrum: on one end ‘nothing new’ and on the other end ‘everything is new’

We invited participants to take a position on this spectrum and be ready to justify your answer/position. People could positions themselves into a any camp. And once people had contributed their ideas to the spectrum, we talked about the positions and the reasons why we had taken that stance. We used the readings to inform our opinions, ideas from elsewhere/other scholars, experience and other ideas to help explain why we chose that point and to better understand where other people were currently positioned.

The aim of this discussion was to plumb what’s new about NM and see what makes sense to the group.

Following this discussion, we had a presentation from Dr Natalie Lazaroo.

New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020.
NM SIG discussion Continuum: ‘Whats ‘new’ in NM?

Dr Natalie Lazaroo – Vulcana Circus: Stronghold

In this session, Dr Lazaroo returned to her PhD work (two years ago) to untangle the mess to make new discoveries. She reflected on her early methodology and locates a poem titles ‘Expressions of longing’ which she wrote in response to NM SIG provocations.

This return poem captures the essence of articulations that emerged during her artistic collaboration over a 4-month period of fieldwork with Vulcana Women’s Circus to create a community performance called Stronghold, which involved people with disabilities.

Natalie’s presentation was a real highlight  – hearing about her work and research highlighted many NM tensions and opportunities. The group was blown away when she shared her poem which was evocative, agential and very moving. The conversation that followed was interesting, insightful and unexpected.

We all left this session deep in thought about these NM approaches might relate to our own work and in awe of the amazing work Natalie and Vulcana does.

I can’t wait to see more from both!

New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020.
Dr Natalie Lazaroo Image Griffith EPS
New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020.
Image: Natalie’s PhD

Stronghold

Stonghold was a project run in conjunction with Horizons Respite and Vulcana Women’s Circus. This partnership 16-week workshop program culminated with a final performance called Stronghold which engaged 10 Access Arts members. During this project, participants had the opportunity to learn skills puppetry, performance, circus and theatre. Stronghold was performed as part of Access Arts 30th Anniversary celebration at Brisbane Powerhouse.

Vulcana

Vulcana is a Brisbane-based circus that was established in 1995 to counter a major discrepancy between women’ and men’s experience of circus, both in training and in the expectation of how and what they perform. Vulcana now welcomes women, trans and non-binary gendered adults, kids and teens of all genders, to its inclusive circus training, performance making projects, and community engagement programs. It is an incubator for new, emerging and professional artists who have developed their passion as practitioners, performers and teachers in this art form that offers everybody a place to explore their uniqueness and their creativity.  Vulcana respects diversity and the feminist principles of equity and inclusion which are central to all our work and the starting point for engagement with students, participants, communities and artists.

New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020.
Image: Vulcana Circus

World Bicycle Day 2020

For the last 5 years, this blog has celebrated the positive impacts bicycles have on people, places, communities and the environment.

Last year, I celebrated World Bicycle Day by going for a ride, attending the Mabo Oration and meeting Assoc. Prof. Chelsea Bond. The year before that, 2018, was the inaugural World Bicycle Day – it’s first time ever so I had an extra post looking at how it all came about. For 2020, we’ll look at the UN’s perspective of how WBD 2020 contributes to improving global health.

World Bicycle Day 2020. Bicycles Create Change.com 3rd June 2020.
Happy World Bicycle Day 2020! Image: Tantaran.com

Happy World Bicycle Day 2020!

I hope you had a great time out and about on two wheels!

To see photos and stories from how others spent World Bicycle Day 2020 – check out #WorldBicycleDay and #JustRide

People celebrate World Bicycle Day in many ways. Some people do it on bikes, others do it for bikes. It was a delight to see the myriad ways people honoured the humble bike – riding with friends, making art, sharing music, having critical conversations, holding events and all kinds of advocating for more positive bike change.

One example was MP Jim McMahon (Oldham, UK) who wrote a letter to Oldham Council encouraging them to look towards off-road routes for future cycling and walking infrastructure projects in his local area.

World Bicycle Day 2020. Bicycles Create Change.com 3rd June 2020.
Letter from MP Jim McMahon (UK) advocating for better cycling in his local area.

The UN Perspective of World Bicycle Day

For the UN, World Bicycle Day is:

To acknowledge the uniqueness, longevity and versatility of the bicycle, which has been in use for two centuries, and that it is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation, fostering environmental stewardship and health

In large part, this is in response to the fact that, internationally, the mobility needs of people who walk and cycle – often the majority of citizens in a city – continue to be overlooked. The UN Share the Road Programme Annual Report 2018, shows that the benefits of investing in pedestrians and cyclists can save lives, help protect the environment and support poverty reduction.

Walking and cycling continues to be a critical part of the mobility solution for helping cities de-couple population growth from increased emissions, and to improve air quality and road safety.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), safe infrastructure for walking and cycling is also a pathway for achieving greater health equity.

For the poorest urban sector, who often cannot afford private vehicles, walking and cycling can provide a form of transport while reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, and even death.

That means bikes are not only healthy, they are also equitable and cost-effective. There are many reasons to love bikes, for example…

  • Bikes are a simple, reliable, clean and environmentally sustainable means of transportation
  • Bikes can serve as a tool for development and as a means not just of transportation but also of access to education, health care and sport
  • The synergy between the bicycle and the user fosters creativity and social engagement and gives the user an immediate awareness of the local environment
  • The bicycle is a symbol of sustainable transportation and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate
World Bicycle Day 2020. Bicycles Create Change.com 3rd June 2020.
Cy­clists in Tel Aviv, Isra­el. Pho­to by Yoav Azi

Internationally, the aim of World Bicycle Day is to:

  • Encourage specific bicycle development strategies at the international, regional, national and subnational level via policies and programmes
  • Improve road safety, sustainable mobility, and transport infrastructure planning and design
  • Improve cycling mobility for broader health outcomes (ie preventing injuries and non-communicable diseases)
  • Progress use of the bicycle as a means of fostering sustainable development
  • Strengthening bike and physical education,  social inclusion and a culture of peace
  • Adopt best practices and means to promote the bicycle among all members of society

Regardless of the reason you ride bikes – you are in very good company!

Keep riding, be healthy and have a awesome World Bicycle Day today!

World Bicycle Day 2020. Bicycles Create Change.com 3rd June 2020.
Happy World Bicycle Day 2020 Image: Boldsky

Parts of this content is taken/edited from the UN World Bicycle Day official website.

Katrin Hollendung: Bike-packing adventurer

As I sit at my work desk forcing myself (at time unconvincingly) to focus on my bike PhD research, I feel Kissime (my bike packing bike) glaring at me through the walls.

The indignant heat of her inattention radiates out, burning my skin 12 feet away.

Okay, Okay!

On a longer break, I maneuver closer to her for reassurance and flick on YouTube.

Together we sit, hand in grip, enjoying the latest offering from Katrin Hollendung. We have an unspoken agreement to go on a similar epic adventure (just as soon as the PhD is accepted).

We watch on.

Katrin Hollendung: Bike-packing adventurer. icycles Create Change.com 20th May 2020.
Images from Katrin’s Instagram account @draussendrang

Katrin Hollendung is a German adventure bike-packer who started posting her international rides on YouTube only in the last 12 months.

Her page is my new favorite reprieve.

So what do I like about it? You mean aside from the fact that she travels to awesome locations, riding her bike for love, not ego and takes the time to enjoy the uniqueness of it all? ……Well, it’s not in English. She usually travels with one, select intrepid buddy. Oh, and she gets super, extra, EXTRA kudos points for having ridden the Cairngorms (Scotland), where I lived for 2 years.

In Katrin’s videos, there is a good mixture of riding ups and downs, local culture, odd encounters, breathtaking vistas, necessary language and personality readjustments and a bit of local history and storytelling mixed in with Katrin’s reflections of life, two wheels and the world at large.

I like that the videos are no super polished or over produced – they are personable, interesting, approachable and at times daggy….. you know….normal!

Her videos range from 15 mins to 37 mins and are purposefully narrated with English subtitles. Here are a few of her trips:

Katrin’s Instagram account @draussendrang is super inspiring too!

I appreciate not only the trip itself, but the amount of video editing and work Katrin puts into sharing her bike packing adventures.

As I look lovingly over at Kissime, (who, for now at least, is consoled), I relish Katrin’s adventurous spirit and patiently await the time when I’ll be out there exploring trails with Kissime and mate, just like Katrin.

Now the break is over, it is back to research!

Bike-Pack Rubbish Out! Epic US bike trip to pick up trash.

Bike-Pack Rubbish Out! Leave it Better: Epic US bike trip to pick up trash. Bicycles Create Change.com 15th May 2020.

2 Friends, 4,700 miles, 1 mission: Pick up trash!

On U.S. roads there are 6,000 pieces of litter per mile, on average.

Seth Orme and Abby Taylor set out on their bikes for an epic five-month, 4,700 mile trip across the US – during which they cleaned up 2,130 pounds of trash.

Their journey has been documented in the REI film Leave it Better.

(Below is the trailer. Link to the full 20-minute film for free at end of this post).

Background

One of the main seven tenets of Leave No Trace outdoor ethics is to leave it as you found it. Generally, this is a common-sense approach to preserve the natural or historical beauty of private or public land; it should look untouched when you leave it.

But why not leave it better? In 2015 Seth Orme started a project he calls, Packing It Out, a continuous mission to leave the places he and his companions visit not just as they found them, but better.

For the first-ever Packing It Out trip in 2015, Seth thru–hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) alongside his friends Joe Dehnert and Paul Twedt. Over 2,200 miles, they packed out 1,100 pounds of trash that was found along the trail.

The following year, Seth and Paul continued the project by hiking a grand total of 2,650 miles from the border of Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. On this trip they cleaned up 720 pounds of trash en route.

This year, Seth traded his hiking boots for a bike and recruited his friend Abby Taylor. On April 26, 2017, Seth and Abby set out on a cross-country bike tour to pick up trash along the way.

Epic US bike trip to pick up trash.

Their route took them from Georgia to Washington State, including a circuit of stops at National Forests, scenic areas, campgrounds, etc., hosting trash cleanups and conservation-theme clinics as they rode.

For 5 months, their goal was to explore the country, meet people, spread the word on ‘Packing It Out,’ and continue their message of environmental stewardship.

At each destination, whether alone or with a group, Orme and Taylor cleaned up trash, totaling more than 2,100 pounds over the course of the trip.

What a fantastic trip and a timely challenge to all riders (and people).

I know I have been stopping more often to pick up rubbish on my bike rides. I hope people, both ON and OFF continue picking rubbish and progressing conversations about sustainability, plastic pollution and conversation.

Happy clean bike rides all!

Images, video and content sourced from Wild Confluence YouTube and an article by Logan Watts for Bike Packing.com

Health Hack 2020 announced

Health Hack is an annual Brisbane-based hackathon that solves problems for medical research and healthcare professionals with technology and design.

Regular readers of this blog know that last year I submitted a problem (Problem Owner) called Bio Map for Heath Hack 2019 – and we had a blast!

Health Hack 2020 has been released and here are the details so far. Expect a few more posts about Heath Hack as we get closer to kick-off.

And yes, that is me on the YouTube promo video cover shot below. And yes, I am wearing a  ‘WOW – women on wheels’ T-shirt – spreading the biking love!

HealthHack is a product-building event.

Teams work on problems that have been submitted by Problem Owners – typically medical
researchers, medical organisations, hospitals or government— but they could come from anyone who has a health-related problem they want to solve.

Find more at the HealthHack website.

Everything made at HealthHack is open source and made available for anyone else to use. You can find every project from every HealthHack at our GitHub.

Normally the event is run in person but due to COVID-19 it is running entirely remote this year. The exact plans for this year will be confirmed, but here are the basic so far:

  • Run out of (sponsor) IBM’s Cloudtheater virtual event space
  • Run across two weekends (but not during the week in between)
  • Organisers will still be assisting problem owners and teams to form so there’s no need to have formed a team prior to HealthHack
  • Same basic format as previous HealthHacks will be kept, but there will be tweaks to allow for the changed circumstances
  • Organisers will still be available to help teams work together just like every other HealthHack to date

Now more than ever it’s important to support the work of healthcare professionals both in front line services and in medical research and the event is committed to supporting problem owners and hackers solve important problems.

Health Hack 2020 schedule (so far)

July 24th, Friday

  • 5:30pm Registration &Network
  • 6:00pm Problem Owner Pitch Presentations
  • 7:00pm Networking and Team Formation
  • 8:00pm to 9:00pm Hacking

July 25th, Saturday

  • 8:00am to 9:00pm Hackathon (check-ins, fun & games TBA)

July 26th, Sunday

  • 8:00am to 9:00pm Hackathon (check-ins, fun & games TBA)

August 1st, Saturday

  • 8:00am to 9:00pm Hackathon (check ins, fun & games TBA)

August 2nd, Sunday

  • 8:00am to 2:00pm Hackathon (check-ins, fun & games TBA)
  • 2:00pm Hack ends. Prepare for final presentations
  • 4:00pm Final Presentations & Judging
  • 6:00pm to 9:00pm Networking
  • 9:00pm Venue Closes

Health Hack 2020 announced. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th May 2020.

Images, video and content courtesy of Health Hack 2020