Earth Protect Blog

When it comes to saving our environment, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror. There are simple solutions, like bicycling to work, that could save money and lives.

You’ve heard the arguments over and over.

Cycling to work is not only good for you, but good for the environment. One would think the arguments alone would net an improvement in our behavior.

But the numbers don’t lie.

According to the United States Census, a mere 0.41% of working people rode their bikes to work in 1990. Ten years later, the numbers dropped. 0.3% said they rode their bikes to work.

The reasons vary, as they often do. Respondents cited every excuse from living too far away to fearing getting into accidents.

The reality is: vehicles are much more dangerous. Every year motor vehicles kill over forty thousand people. That averages fourteen deaths on an average day (Thunderhead Alliance, 2003).

If you think cyclists are the problem, think again. Research in a number of cities has showwn that by tripling the number of bike riders on the street, motorist-bicyclist crashes are cut in half (Transportation Alternatives, 2004).

Yet, our logic, as the most intelligent species on earth, is clearly counter-intuitive.

The United States alone burns 10,000 gallons of gasoline per second (Publisher’s Weekly,February 2007).

In fact, Americans now use automobiles for more than 90% of their daily trips. An average person travels more than 9,000 miles a year by car, compared with less than 4,000 miles 40 years ago (Christian Science Monitor 10/15/03).

Americans clearly hold the key to improving their lifestylesin their own hands. With obesity and deaths by vehicle rates clearly going up,it’s time to re-think our priorities.

Even if you ride a bicycle one day a week, think of how muchyou could better your health and the environment.  You’d be setting an example for you and therest of the country to follow.