About the Firefly Brigade
The Firefly Brigade is a non-stock, non-profit, and SEC-registered citizen’s volunteer action group which works for clean air and a habitable, people-friendly environment in our cities.
Today, the Firefly Brigade is composed of 33 members who undertake the following activities:
- Organizing the Tour of the Fireflies (the Tour), an annual 50-kilometer bicycle ride around seven metropolitan cities to promote cycling as an alternative means of transportation that is cheap, efficient, environmentally sensible, and good for one’s health
- Providing training on Safe Urban Cycling through the Firefly Flight Training (FFT)
- Soliciting bicycles and parts, assembling them, and donating them to cash-strapped students and poor urban communities through the Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB) project
- Providing needy commuter cyclists with safety gear through the Kitang-Kita ang Bisikleta (KKB) project
- Lobbying the government to adopt sustainable transport policies
In the Philippines, the Firefly Brigade is involved as consultants and trainers in the Marikina Bikeways Project, a 66-kilometer bikeways network being constructed through a grant from the Global Environment Facility supervised by the World Bank. It is also working on transforming the University of the Philippines in Diliman into a calmer and safer campus where students, professors, and staff can safely walk and ride bicycles.
The Brigade also partnered with the Philippine Educational Theater Association and produced “Cantata Alitaptap,” a theatrical skit about the urban environment. The Cantata was performed during the opening of the 2003 art exhibition “Densities: Making Sense of Dense Cities,” which was organized by Pananaw ng Sining Bayan and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
nternationally, the Firefly Brigade is a member of the Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific. It presented civil society’s perspective in the World Bank’s Urban Transport Strategy Consultations for the Asian Region in Japan in 2000.
The Brigade’s members have spoken on Philippine efforts in the promotion of the bicycle as transport in international bicycle conferences such as Velo Mondial 2000 in the Netherlands and in Velo City 2001 in Scotland. The Brigade’s Tour of the Fireflies was featured on the cover of the international Cycle and Recycle calendar in 2001.
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What we Do
* Vehicular fumes kill an average of 16 people in Metro Manila daily!!!
* A socially equitable city would promote the safety, mobility and access of cyclists
* Congestion and pollution caused by motorcars are not symbols of progress, but of paralysis. Cyclist friendly traffic planning is the way forward
* Cycling is not just for the poor. Cycling is booming in many European and Japanese cities where both rich and poor cycle.
* Cycling needs no fuel, gives off no fumes, virtually no noise
* unlike motorized vehicles, cycling does not contribute to air pollution, noise pollution and global warming
* does not poison children with atmospheric lead
* bicycles can be cheap to buy and to maintain
* 16 bicycles can be parked in the space of one car
Clean Air
Considering that
* Only a small percentage will ever be able to afford and own a car while majority must take public transport, bike or walk
* 70% of air pollution is caused by motorized transport
* the transport situation in metro manila can only be considered a nightmare
Must we motorize to modernize???
* Cycle paths
* Cycle ways
* Cycle lanes
* Chady roadside, trees & greenery
* Cycle stands, parking facilities in front of shops, public buildings, offices, etc.
* Facilities in work places for cyclists to wash up and change
A socially Equitable City would invest more in providing better public transport infrastructure than in subsidizing private vehicles by building more roads. Public transport is not only for the poor. In cities with successful public transport, such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Zurich or Curitaba in Brazil, buses and trains are regularly used by both rich and poor alike. Efficient affordable and clean public transport is the mark of all world-class cities.
Economic growth and increaswed mobility does not have to mean congestion and pollution. In Japan, majority of the people regularly use public transport, although Japan is a major manufacturer of cars. Japan exports most of the cars it makes.
The healthiest and most sustainable modes of transport are walking and cycling. The expansion of pedestrian and cycle friendly environments greatly improves the quality of urban life.
Trees not only provide us natural beatuy and shade or act as a buffer against noise, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide is a gas responsible for half of the greenhouse effect, trees act as a natural control against global warming.
Through urban tree planting projects, we can bring down city temperatures and save energy by reducing the need for airconditioning. Well-positioned trees can shade buidlings and reduce their energy consumption by up to 50 percent. As less coal, oil and gas are burned to provide the energy used by air conditioners, less carbon dioxide is released into the air where it contributes to the global warming.
Walking is an essentail link in the chain of every green, efficient transport system. Effective public transport depends on people being able to walk comfortably to bus and jeepney stops, tran statins or ferry terminals. Even car drivers become pedestrians to complete a trip.
Waling as a part of our daily routine keeps us fit without our having to allocate time for exercise. Walking around the place where we live and work improves our sense of community, thereby making our neighborhood safer from crime and vandalism.
* Shady paths and greenery
* Wide, clean, flat and level pavements for safe and unhindered walking
* Barrier-free access for people with disabilities, the elderly and pregnant women and young children (no overhead crossways! How do we expect the elderly and disabled people to use overhead pedestrian bridges?)
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The Firefly Spirit
You can identify a Firefly based on the following characteristics:
- Infectious love for cycling
- A spirit of volunteerism
- A strong sense of community
- Positive action for the environment
- Gender-sensitivity and non-discrimination
- Responsible cycling behavior
The Firefly Guiding Priinciple
Section 1. We believe that the bicycle is an efficient, people- and environment-friendly, socially equitable means of transportation that should be promoted for popular use among citizens.
Section 2. We believe that the person who rides a bicycle as transport is contributing to improve her/his environment.
Section 3. We believe that the collective efforts of concerned individuals are the most effective means of promoting the bicycle as transport towards livable cities.
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Become a Firelfy!
If you think you've got the Firefly spirit in you, and you're anxious to save the world: Please get in touch with us thru email for more info.