Bicycle City was a proud sponsor and exhibitor at the annual Taking Action for Animals Conference, 2008, in Arlington, VA. This is the leading animal advocacy conference in the nation, bringing together hundreds of animal activists and advocates to discuss how to work together for animal protection. Key topics at this year’s conference included combating animal fighting, protecting farm animals from abuse and lobbying for animal rights.

We consider animals in all we do and plan all of our communities to have policies, programs and education to benefit all creatures.

Cities, towns and communities are the largest creation of humankind and their planning and design has a profound impact on wildlife. Bicycle City is a new model for world development - cities and communities that are actually designed with animals in mind. Our influences include: Jane Goodall, John Robbins, Howard Lyman, Will Tuttle, Caroline Earle White, Mary Jane Newborn, Stephanie Nichols-Young and so many more that have dedicated so much of their lives to helping animals.

Perhaps you saw the polar bear struggling to find a solid ice cap in which to rest upon in “An Inconvenient Truth.” In addition to having to swim longer distances to find solid ice to live on, polar bears’ food supply has been diminished. They are thinner and less healthy than they were just 20 years ago.   Polar bears aren’t the only animals affected by the climate crisis. Warming temperatures cause some animals to hibernate up to three weeks less than they did 30 years ago. Breeding is occurring earlier for Canadian red squirrels and later for Fowler toads. Elephant seal pups are thinner; their prey has left in search of cooler waters. Many fish species and tidal organisms are migrating north, also in search of cooler waters. Songbirds have lost some of their food supply – insects they used to consume now are contaminated with carbon dioxide absorbed by the leaves they eat. Changing environments have threatened many species, several to the point of extinction. Environments are changing faster than animals can adapt.

Bicycle City seeks to exist in harmony with the earth. Its elimination of automobiles will help decrease the planet’s overall carbon footprint, helping the world to be more ecologically sound. Animals, unfortunately, are not only affected by climate change. Animals used to roam the earth freely, but as more and more of the world is developed, animals have fewer places to go. Where your local grocery store exists might have once been home to a herd of deer that had to move when their home was destroyed. Animals are forced to coexist in more urban areas than ever before, presenting a danger both to them and to the humans with whom they cohabitate.

The plans for Bicycle City, however, reflect no building at all on a significant portion of the land. We expect that a large percentage of Bicycle City will be dedicated to forests, grasslands, organic farming, organic orchards and other green areas. Animals will be able to remain in their homes, while our residents will be able to observe them in their natural habitat.

For Bicycle City urban redevelopment projects, we plan to reintroduce bio-diversity and help make cities better for animals from the inside out.