Gaining his activist influence from his mother, Donald Strauss could be considered a classic environmentalist--he hangs out with weathermen, has worked with Al Gore and hates large corporations. In sum, the majority of his life has been spent "saving the planet." However, the majority of his paycheck hasn't been "green"; this is his third career after filmmaking and building houses.
Today, Strauss is the interim chair and a faculty member of the new Urban Sustainability program at Antioch University, and is currently writing his dissertation on the emerging urban bike movement in Los Angeles. According to Strauss, Los Angeles is a hostile place for bikers, most of whom are forced to ride at night. He's pushing the statistical figures surrounding the positive effects of biking: "I think it's something like 10 bikes take up the same space as one car. So when you add that up, we're talking about miles of cars and carbon emissions."
Click on the pictures to continue reading the second of Patch's new CityType series, designed to get behind the people that make the city go 'round.
