Bike!
Now that the days are getting longer and the temperature more congenial, why not dust off your bicycle and consider the two-wheel way to get to work or get around?
Not only will biking help get you back in shape for spring and summer, but it’ll help get the environment back in shape, too. You can travel hundreds of miles by bicycle on no more than a thimbleful of oil. And because you don’t burn any kind of fuel but your own, bicycling creates no air pollution. Here are some tips to get you cycling:
Bike to work.
If not every day, try one or two days a week.
Encourage others to bike with you.
Contact a local environmental organization, civic association or bicycling club and volunteer to work with them to organize a special day to encourage people to bike to work. Then recruit several other local groups to help support the event and recruit participants.
Use your bike for shopping, visiting and errands.
Make bicycling the standard, environmentally efficient way you get from one place to another. Add a carrier rack or baskets to your bike to make it easier to transport your briefcase or groceries.
Make a date with your bike this weekend!
Check out TrailLink for free info on national trails.
Believe It or Not!
If you biked to work rather than drove, you could save 407 gallons of gasoline each year – half the amount burned annually by a typical American car. Apart from walking (and distance permitting), there is no more energy efficient way to get to work than by bike. More than half of all commuting trips are 5 miles or less in length, a distance that could easily be covered by bicycle.
Adapted from earthshare.org.
