Mt Shasta Herald: A two-wheeled wonder that benefits the planet

“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.” -John F. Kennedy

How often can a simple, routine, daily activity be transformed into something that benefits the planet, the health of both the individual and others, and the economy- and be fun at the same time? Tomorrow, ride your bicycle to work, shop, or school and achieve all that and more! Bicycling ranks as the most energy-efficient form of travel, makes you healthier, and conserves energy. The most widely used transport vehicle in the world, the bicycle is too often reduced in America to a recreational or children’s plaything.

The bicycle-the most energy-efficient form of travel ever devised-deserves a bit of respect. Pound for pound, a person on a bicycle expends less energy than any creature or machine covering the same distance. (A person walking expends about three times as much energy per pound; a salmon swimming expends about twice as much.) As Bill Strickland calculates in The Quotable Cyclist, “the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon.”

While using a bicycle for longer-distance trips can present significant challenges, our use of cars most often allow us to inhabit a small daily realm: home, work, school, store. Such daily errands for most of us involve short trips, trips which are easily bikable (or walkable). A bicyclist can easily cover a mile in four or five minutes (a pedestrian in 15).

A remarkable side effect of the slightly longer trip duration? A few minutes to enjoy our incredible fresh air, magnificent scenery, and the wind in your face. What may appear to be a hassle at first often turns out to be a true reward. I often find the weight of a long workday lifted by the 15 minute bike ride home, and my morning ride to work fills me with energy and clarity.

Such short car trips are naturally the easiest to replace with one aboard a bicycle-and prove to be the most significant, as well. Mile for mile, short car trips are by far the most polluting.

Replacing car trips with bike trips has unmistakable environmental benefits: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, impact from noise and pollution, and resource consumption. Commuting by bike produces absolutely no pollution! We burn millions of barrels of oil daily driving our cars, and have poor health and pollution to show for it.

Consider as well the manufacturing process: one hundred bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build one medium-sized automobile. Little wonder there are almost twice as many bicycles as cars worldwide.

Increased use of bicycles as transportation could also help reduce the frightening consequences of sedentary lifestyles facing Americans. In the US, more people are at risk of heart disease, cancer, and stroke-the three leading killers-due to physical inactivity than any other factor, including tobacco and diet. Considering that physical inactivity is the #1 preventable cause of death, isn’t a longer, healthier life worth pedaling for?

While energy conservation, pollution reduction, resource conservation, and physical health are all compelling reasons to ride your bicycle on that next errand, why not take advantage of the ride simply for the pleasure? With pleasant autumn weather arriving, there is truly no better time to use a bicycle for transportation. See you on the road!

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” -H.G. Wells

(This is the sixth in a series of articles on community sustainability. Anyone interested in contributing to this series may contact Molly Brown at 926-0986 or mollyybrown@gmail.com.) Sphere: Related Content