The first time I saw people go to work by bike It was in New York, in the mid-1990s. I remember that a person from the newsroom would arrive at the headquarters of the ‘Financial Times’, at that time 60th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Madison, always on pedals, except when it rained. In winter – where the thermal sensation could reach 20 degrees below zero – he had merit; but he had more merit in the middle of summer for his colleagues at the work table, where the thermal sensation could reach 40 degrees due to the embarrassment. There were no showers in the newsroom.
Everything has its price. More now, in times of energy transition and climate changewith debates on gas and oil, stupefied by the resurrection of inflation that has put the price of fruit through the roof, seeing the increase in housing rent due to interventionist legislation and with the development of new mobility models in the cities. There is nothing like setting yourself the goal of Utopia like this: cities with hardly any private cars, non-polluting public transport, islands of vegetation and playgrounds built with sustainable wood at the intersections of the main streets and avenues, zero tolerance against those who dirty and vandalize public space, buildings that self-generate their own energy through solar panels or windmills, and happy and healthy citizens who go to and return from work – for those days that they voluntarily decide not to telecommute – on scooters, skates, skateboards, bicycles or on foot. If to that, we add the mandatory in these same workplaces to have changing rooms and showers to facilitate the good atmosphere and labor effluvia, utopia would be fully achieved.
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in a hurry, with a over-imagination by flag, the autonomous communities join the demands of the central government in their approaches to save energy and find the perfect excuse to improve our lifestyle. Europe is our guide. If in November 2009, President Zapatero invented the Spanish Plan for the Stimulation of the Economy and Employment to alleviate the financial crisis that was already upon us; President Sánchez already has his plan E, this time for Energy. Zapatero’s plan E failed because it ended up becoming a local and short-term micro-makeup in the hands of the municipalities, many of which offered dubious contracts to client suppliers, according to the Court of Auditors.
That was the past. Hopefully it will serve as an example. That this time the transparency in the adjudication and execution of the ambitious Sánchez plan is total. It will be necessary to build, obviously, more bike lanes now that cycling around the city will already be a strategic policy of our governments; We will have to change the electrical installations in many of our cities – including public lighting bulbs – and start installing solar panels and automatic saving systems. Who knows: perhaps it will also be necessary to subsidize the installation of fireplaces and ask for the return to stoves in kitchens instead of ceramic hobs. Attention therefore to the reborn business of matches and lighters. For many companies, welcome to their green ideas and sustainable projects, the energy transition will be a party. Too bad that, for the moment, there is no government resolution to set up showers at work.