Facts on the benefits of biking

by Will Cornwell

Air polution, global climate change, traffic congestion, economic dependance on fossil fuels are all reduced by biking instead of driving. Bicycling as transportation is even recommended by the Union of Concerned Scientists as a personal way to help stop global climate change. Californians avoid producing seven tons of smog-forming gases per day by getting on bikes. Instead, bicyclists produce at least seven tons of nice thoughts and good karma. Another thing to remember: short car trips are the worst for generating air pollutants; short bike trips are easy.

In case you need to convince your Hummer-driving friends, here are some of the polluntants that come out of tailpipes (for more info check out the EPA pollution site):

• Volitle organic compounds: these react with nitrogen oxides to form ground level ozone. Unlike the good ozone high up in the stratosphere, ground level ozone reacts with lung tissue to cause coughing, and shortness of breath; it's especially bad for children or if you already have asthma.
• Nitrogen oxides, which are also known as "NOx": these nasty compounds help form ground-level ozone as well as lead to acid rain.
• Carbon monoxide, which is a colorless and odorless gas, reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen to important places like your brain. Almost all of the carbon monoxide in urban air comes from vehicles.
• Carbon dioxide which is building up in the earth's atmosphere is a greenhouse gas. Each year it traps more heat in the atmosphere warming the planet. Rising carbon dioxide levels will make hurricanes more intense as well as have a whole range of negative effects on California. Prediction vary about how fast warming will occur, but it is already happening: 2005 was one of the two hottest years in recorded history, and 19 of the 20 hottest years in recorded history have occured since 1980.

All these things are bad for human health, for ecosystems, and for future generations, and people are working on technology to make driving more efficient, but despite technological improvements the main problem is that people are driving more than they ever have before.

Politically, the World Environment Day was in San Francisco in 2005 as covered by the Tube Times. At the summit, the mayor commited San Francisco to reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030; let's do it by biking!