Overview
Biking is something I have done my entire life and intend to continue well into the future. This persistence is not just personal; many others share a similar attachment to traveling on two wheels. In this project, I expand on the idea of “Biking Through the Anthropocene,” emphasizing the grounded perspective that biking provides.
Unlike the “view from above” that dominates the Grand Narrative, biking takes place at ground level and depends on human energy. It engages the body directly with the world: you feel the wind and sun on your skin, the terrain beneath you, and the changing conditions of the environment. This creates a more immediate, sensory, and embodied experience than traveling by car or plane.
Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.
-Lani Lynn Vale
As a user’s guide to navigating the Anthropocene through biking, this project is organized as follows:
- "Training Wheels" introduces how the Anthropocene has set up/installed a car-centric world.
- "Some Flat Tires" acknowledges the gaps that still exist as we interpret the function biking serves in the Anthropocene.
- "Feel the Breeze" explores the importance of sensory and emotional experience, contrasting it with the economically driven logic of the Grand Narrative. I use phenomenology and the "view from below" to hack/undo.
- "Repair" looks at how biking has functioned during moments of crisis in the Anthropocene and how it can continue to serve as a form of hope and resistance. I argue that imagining a future with equitable bike infrastructure is both realistic and necessary, while avoiding extreme or exclusionary visions of fully bike-centered societies.
All of the pictures in this project have been taken or drawn by me to challenge the universalizing aspect that the grand narrative lays out over all of humanity. Rather than trying to present a singular global experience, I hope this project demonstrates my personal experience in the Anthropocene by situating my own life and city (Montreal) in connection to broader global practices and future possibilities.
Ultimately, this project positions biking as both a practical necessity and a symbolic form of hope within the Anthropocene.
To make a bikeable city, and to 'Bike Through the Apocalypse' involves urban design and cultural aspects. One of the barriers to making more bike lanes is the cultural view of cyclists as a nuisance to drivers. This involves a cultural shift where communities can adopt biking rather than keep reinforcing the car-centric views of society.This page has paths:
- Home page Tess Ertel
- Feeling the Breeze Tess Ertel
- Some Flat Tires Tess Ertel
- Training Wheels Tess Ertel
- Overview Tess Ertel
- Overview Tess Ertel
- Overview Tess Ertel