Whether or not you agree global warming is happening, there are a bunch of us concerned about the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. On NPR tonight, I heard Bill McKibben talk about his new book EAARTH and about 350.org. There is a simple, but cool You Tube video there. You might like it, but you might not.
By the way, global warming is real, get over arguing about it and do something about it. Ride a bike. Turn off your lights. Live simply. I know you can do it. Good Luck!
7 comments:
Hmm, regardless of one's position on the causes and prognosis of Global Warming, I think the evidence is that bike riding probably results in added CO2 emissions because of added food consumption and more lifetime use of carbon due to longer life. Riding a bike to be green is a bit like riding one to save money - not as simple and obvious as at first glance. OTOH, I'll concede that the opinion of any Tricross owner carries considerable weight.
Steve, you are too gracious. Seriously though, I have wondered about how much carbon a person emits while riding. I understand fully that billions of people living simply still adversely impacts the earth. My point is that as individuals we can make choices that are healthier than others.
The CO2 we exhale is the least of it. Ponder the two following articles:
http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~ulrich/documents/ulrich-cycling-enviro-jul06.pdf
http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/energy.html
Following their logic, the most environmentally responsible thing is to play Russian Roulette with 5 of the 6 cylinders loaded!
well said bill. global warming is real.
keep on ridin'
peace :)
Steve - excellent points made by those two articles. I knew my CO2 assertion was not as simple as I would like to believe. I am going to ramble on for a few minutes to help myself digest some of these ideas.
I sometimes let my emotional responses interfere with my logical responses. It seems logical that substituting riding my bike for driving my truck should be a benefit to the environment. But if I bike a lot, I am likelier to live longer, and use more energy than if I lived a sedentary life.
If I lived a sedentary life, I wouldn't live as long. And I'd eat more grain-fed beef (grain-fed beef uses much more fuel than pastured beef raised in well-managed, rotational grazing systems). And watch more tv (but that uses energy). Or I could blog more (but that uses energy too).
This is getting too complicated for my simple operating system to understand, so I'll simply stick with riding my bike as much as I can, and try to watch what foods I eat a little more closely. Biking makes me feel better about things, and gives my brain time to think about stuff like excess atmospheric carbon.
I am aware that simply being alive, no matter what I am doing, has an impact on the earth. I choose to believe that as a cyclist, I think I am making wiser energy decisions than if I were not a cyclist.
As for excess CO2, I plan to educate myself as much as I can on ways to reduce my own CO2 production.
Thanks for the fodder.
I am concerned about the impact that people have on the planet, including the probably impacts to climate. As a side note, it's encouraging to run across a civilized discussion on the topic. There's a lot to learn about the issue, a lot we don't know yet, and the best way to improve knowledge is to challenge each other, discover what is true and what is not, and move on.
Well said, John. I have a lot to learn about it.
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