Want to improve the planet and better your health? Ride a bike
From Ideastream.com
I have to admit, I’m not a bike rider. But as the environment reporter at Ideastream Public Media, I’ve learned a lot about the benefits of biking, for the riders and for the planet.
It makes me want to get in the saddle.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking to bicyclists, planners and public policy experts about efforts to make communities welcoming to bicycles.
Cleveland and many other cities are taking special interest in bikeway projects and complete street infrastructure that thinks about how roads can safely accommodate more than cars and trucks.
That’s key to me. With my bicycling inexperience, I’m intimidated by the thought of riding a bike down a city street thick with traffic. I marvel at those who do, but it just doesn’t feel comfortable to me. Safe and protected bike lanes would make me more likely to ditch my car once in a while.
And that’s a good thing. Biking serves as a fun way to exercise on the go while also reducing carbon emissions that contribute to the effects of climate change.
Biking instead of driving can save you money on gas while increasing the life span of our cars and trucks. It will also reduce our carbon footprints and overall impact on the environment.
Driving is a major contributor to carbon emissions in the region. The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency reports that personal vehicles and light-duty trucks account for about 74% of all road-based greenhouse gas emissions across its five-county region.
Large amounts of carbon in the atmosphere, spewed out from gas-burning engines, worsens air quality and contributes to the effects of climate change, like severe and frequent storms, flooding and sea-level rise.
In March, the United Nations released its annual Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. It found that the planet will only continue to get warmer unless we significantly reduce emission levels.
So, any effort we make to reduce our use of personal vehicles, and relying instead on public transit or other modes of transportation (like biking!), is a pedal stroke toward reducing Northeast Ohio’s carbon footprint.
Photo by Philip Myrtorp on Unsplash
