1.Bicycling for an hour at a moderate pace burns approximately 500 calories.
2.A four mile round trip bike ride prevents approximately 15 pounds of pollutants from entering the atmosphere.
3.High gas prices, dependence on foreign oil, the depletion of a non-renewing natural resource.
4. No car payments, auto insurance, parking permits or tickets.
5.The average yearly cost of car ownership is over $7000, the average yearly bike cost is under $300 and can be less depending on how much of your own maintenance and repair you perform.
6.Bicycling is aerobioc/cardiovascular exercise which has been proven to reduce a person’s risk of heart disease, some cancers, and their chance of becoming obese.
7.Bicycling reduces stress and symptoms of depression.
8.Economic vitality is increased in urban areas that promote bicycle and pedestrian traffic over car traffic.
9.Bicycling is a great way to spend time with family and to meet your neighbors.
10.Bicyclists don’t have to sit in traffic.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Environmental Challenge
What Do You Do for the Environment?
Published November 19, 2007 by The Huffington Post
By Abrahm Lustgarten
Al Gore finally made climate change "real" - god forbid, even trendy. So have you changed the way you live yet? And no, I don't mean buying guilt passes to add on to your airline tickets and offset your carbon footprint. I don't mean driving the oh-so-highly touted Chevrolet Tahoe or Cadillac Escalade, both of which were announced in hybrid models in Los Angeles last week. (Those vehicles now harness all the technology the 21st Century can offer to deliver around 20 miles per gallon - a fraction of what a Honda Civic got in the mid 1980s.) I'm talking about the kind of adjustments to your personal lifestyle and changes of long-engrained habit that Webster might define as "sacrifice"; The kind of changes that will actually make a difference. The kind of changes that acknowledge that the world is shared among a population that dwarfs that of the United States and Europe and has its own emerging needs, which will be hard to deny. It's past time.
The latest United Nations report this week characterized our planet as hurtling itself off the deep end unless something is done - and fast. That might make it easy to vote urgently on environmental issue next November, or even to demand our representatives start quickly making legislation and broad-stroke sacrifices to cut the toes off our national carbon footprint now. But those measures - which could result in things like a $5 gallon of gas or $4 Costa Rican bananas at the supermarket -- are not likely to be taken until we prove we are committed to them with more than our votes.
So what are YOU going to do? As we wade into Thanksgiving and the holiday season, does one less cross-country airline flight sound like too much to ask? How about a weekend around the house in place of a drive into the mountains? Perhaps its time that bicycle of yours gets more than a novel spin around town. (Lots of people bike to work, why can't you?) It's time to consider what we, as four percent of the earth's population yet citizens of the most polluting country on the planet, are actually entitled to as our fair share of the limited resources available. Calculated mathematically, it's not much. And so maybe a bit of real change at home is not too much to ask.
Bio: Abrahm Lustgarten is a contributing writer for Fortune magazine and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant for international reporting. His articles, including many on globalization and energy issues and the environment, have appeared in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Outside, and Salon. His book China's Great Train, a non-fiction narrative about that country's economic expansion to its wild west and Tibet, is due out in May.
Published November 19, 2007 by The Huffington Post
By Abrahm Lustgarten
Al Gore finally made climate change "real" - god forbid, even trendy. So have you changed the way you live yet? And no, I don't mean buying guilt passes to add on to your airline tickets and offset your carbon footprint. I don't mean driving the oh-so-highly touted Chevrolet Tahoe or Cadillac Escalade, both of which were announced in hybrid models in Los Angeles last week. (Those vehicles now harness all the technology the 21st Century can offer to deliver around 20 miles per gallon - a fraction of what a Honda Civic got in the mid 1980s.) I'm talking about the kind of adjustments to your personal lifestyle and changes of long-engrained habit that Webster might define as "sacrifice"; The kind of changes that will actually make a difference. The kind of changes that acknowledge that the world is shared among a population that dwarfs that of the United States and Europe and has its own emerging needs, which will be hard to deny. It's past time.
The latest United Nations report this week characterized our planet as hurtling itself off the deep end unless something is done - and fast. That might make it easy to vote urgently on environmental issue next November, or even to demand our representatives start quickly making legislation and broad-stroke sacrifices to cut the toes off our national carbon footprint now. But those measures - which could result in things like a $5 gallon of gas or $4 Costa Rican bananas at the supermarket -- are not likely to be taken until we prove we are committed to them with more than our votes.
So what are YOU going to do? As we wade into Thanksgiving and the holiday season, does one less cross-country airline flight sound like too much to ask? How about a weekend around the house in place of a drive into the mountains? Perhaps its time that bicycle of yours gets more than a novel spin around town. (Lots of people bike to work, why can't you?) It's time to consider what we, as four percent of the earth's population yet citizens of the most polluting country on the planet, are actually entitled to as our fair share of the limited resources available. Calculated mathematically, it's not much. And so maybe a bit of real change at home is not too much to ask.
Bio: Abrahm Lustgarten is a contributing writer for Fortune magazine and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant for international reporting. His articles, including many on globalization and energy issues and the environment, have appeared in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Outside, and Salon. His book China's Great Train, a non-fiction narrative about that country's economic expansion to its wild west and Tibet, is due out in May.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
If obesity doesn't kill you gas prices will
"High Gas Prices Could Mean A Slimmer You"
As rising gasoline prices are forcing many Americans to tighten their financial belts, it may lead to them tightening the belts around their waist.
"An additional $1 in real gasoline prices would reduce obesity in the U.S. by 15 percent after three years," said Charles Courtemanche, an economics researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. "In fact, about 13 percent of the rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to falling real gas prices during the period."
...
According to Courtemanche's analysis, the reduction in obesity caused by a $1 increase in gasoline prices would save 16,000 lives and $17 billion a year.
...
Read more at:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/automotive/14096244/detail.html?rss=bos&psp=news
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
recognizing our impact
I was riding my daily commute the other day and witnessed a man put his dog in his car, drive 2 or 3 blocks to a green open
field, and then let his dog out of the car to "walk" him. All I could do was laugh at the oxymoronic action. But our lives are filled
with moments like this every day. We drive our cars to the gym to walk on the treadmill or ride a stationary bike, when we could be outside doing the same actions and actually be moving towards our destinations, as well as burning calories. Is it a matter of time and convenience that puts us into our cars or is it just the blind acceptance of routine? How much do those actions impact
the world. It may not seem like much to drive a few blocks for dog "walking" or to get to the next store on your list, but the distance builds exponentially and what's more, the disassociative pattern is established in your brain. I challenge everyone to find alternate ways to get around, to explore ways that benefit you in more ways than "it gets me there quickly."
field, and then let his dog out of the car to "walk" him. All I could do was laugh at the oxymoronic action. But our lives are filled
with moments like this every day. We drive our cars to the gym to walk on the treadmill or ride a stationary bike, when we could be outside doing the same actions and actually be moving towards our destinations, as well as burning calories. Is it a matter of time and convenience that puts us into our cars or is it just the blind acceptance of routine? How much do those actions impact
the world. It may not seem like much to drive a few blocks for dog "walking" or to get to the next store on your list, but the distance builds exponentially and what's more, the disassociative pattern is established in your brain. I challenge everyone to find alternate ways to get around, to explore ways that benefit you in more ways than "it gets me there quickly."
Monday, September 24, 2007
bike to the future
Hey folks, in case you hadn't noticed, we are living in an age where we can't just keep accepting everything the way it has been. It's time to step up and be accountable to yourself and to the rest of the world you inhabit. The two-car garage, one individual per car mentality is bad programming and we need to retrain ourselves for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the sustainability of our environment.This blog focuses on bikes as one possible solution, but there are a lot of other steps that one person can take in their own lives. Bikes just happen to be the most fun!
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