Buy Walking VideosIs Riding Your Bike To Work Bad For The Environment?
In what has become a silly extension of the worry about the environment, everyone is asking whether riding your bike to work is better for the environment than driving your car.
The study Nye speaks was written by Karl T. Ulrich of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and it’s titled “The Environment Paradox of Bicycling” (PDF file). In short, the study suggests there is an immediate energy savings by bicycle riding, since a cyclist is up to nine times more energy efficient than a single-occupant car. However, the study suggests cyclists increase their longevity by 10.6 days for every year of cycling. Because of that, they consume more energy over their lifetimes, thus doing more harm to the environment.
Which is more important: human life or the environment? If you really believe that the environment is more important than your own life, then you should commit suicide now. There are none of us with a carbon footprint of zero.
If it’s at all possible for you to ride your bike to work, you should DO it! It will help the environment in the short run and keep you alive in the long run. I’ve written about this in the past:
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April 24th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
The studdy is meaningless. I have heard of it.
It doesn’t take in the fact that if you’re more likely to ride a bike or walk to work your also more likely to eat local unprocessed food and less meat.
It doesn’t take in the fact places with huge populations consume less than countries smaller populations.
The study doesn’t take in the fact most green house gasses are caused by cars.
It just a study that wants people to die sooner and have less population. It’s not an environmental study but a low population tirade.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Yeah, I don’t work outside the home, but I do want to ride my bike to church on Sunday – but I need a mountain bike first.