A car's basic architecture is designed to cut us off from the world, allowing only visual interaction, but nothing more. Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Network One particularly fascinating interview is with Dave Cohen, a therapist who studies the neuropsychology of transportation and believes humans have a fundamental need to feel connected to their natural environment.

The film… is the result of 8 years work, and I love it dearly. Liz Canning has just produced a remarkable film called MOTHERLOAD, one of the most beautiful ‘What If’ films I have ever seen, one that offers a visceral taste of what a zero carbon world could be like. When characters encounter cultural resistance-particularly bikelash focused on women and mothers- MOTHERLOAD draws connections to the cyclist Suffragettes and women's seemingly endless fight for bodily autonomy.

As she meets cargo bike inventors, riders and advocates all over the world, Liz discovers the history, and potential future, of the bicycle as the “ultimate social revolutionizer,” and contemplates the increasing tension between modern life and our hunter-gatherer DNA. Liz set out to learn more about these “cargo bikes,” and MOTHERLOAD was born. A desperate google search for “family bike” revealed a global movement to replace cars with long-frame bicycles designed to carry heavy loads. Filmmaker Liz Canning cycled everywhere until she had twins in 2008. She found modern motherhood challenging, but hauling babies via car was stifling. MOTHERLOAD is an award-winning crowdsourced documentary about our cultural shift toward isolation and disconnection, what this means for the planet’s future, and how life on a cargo bike could be an antidote.

Motherload documentary canning