Is cycling anywhere near as green as it could be ?

[Punkawallah]

It’s largely a sop to say ‘cycling is green’, or, for that matter, to say ‘cycling should be greener’.

Eventually humanity will die out, and the planet will go on doing what it has always done - not giving a monkeys.

 

[mudsticks]

My Beagle drives a pedal car, so apart from excessive farting from all the effort he's as green as they come.

Pics or it didn't happen...

 

[Punkawallah]

Pics or it didn't happen...

Silly - how can you get a picture of a Beagle fart :-)

 

[simongt]

The one thing that cyclists can claim is that they're not polluting the atmosphere whilst travelling. But don't even ask about the carbon footprint of the production of the actual cycle and it's component parts, especially as most come from the far East now - !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think for getting about on utility trips locally that are beyond walking distances. It is by far the greenest way of getting around. Could it be better? No doubt but the bike is about the most efficient way of getting about that there is.

If you just use your bike for utility, say 6 miles a day. Your chain and chain oil is likely to last at least 10 years. You’d likely do just fine with one or two sets of tyres. Try that with any other form of transport.

If all cars were replaced with electric velomobiles. The current electricity generating capacity would cope just fine. Not the case with electric cars which would need a massive additional capacity. Electric velomobiles are 80 times more efficient than electric cars.

 

[Gillstay]

That comes back to the user, not the manufacturers. Ease of use before proper maintenance.

If your stuck on using caged bearings, what's wrong with the current cages.

They rusted away !

 

[Dr Bryn]

Humans are in a class of our own in terms of the damage we do to our environment.

We developed clothes and invented fire to stay warm and live in places where we couldn't survive otherwise. We've developed efficient methods of growing food at the expense of other species. We've invented machines to allow us to travel considerably further in a day than we could ever walk (and use them to drive two hundred yards for a newspaper!). We ship all sorts of food around the world rather than just eat whatever we have locally. We've invented artificial lighting to allow us to work when we couldn't otherwise have done. We've invented machines, laid cables, created aerials and sent satellites into space so we can talk to someone on the other side of the globe.

We're happy to harvest the world's natural resources and pollute our own atmosphere just to have a coal fire, a sixty inch telly, a sixty Watt light bulb and a Ford Mondeo. We not only destroy other species but also kill huge amounts of our own just to protect our rights and property.

Some are worse than others but very few humans live a genuinely low impact life. I'd like to say I do but I know I'm little better than anyone else in the great scheme of things.

You hit the environmental nail fairly and squarely on the head. I may add to your argument that nature is a powerful entity, a “supposedly dominant species“ managing nature and living out of sync with it is never going to end well. As you posit transporting food around the globe on a daily basis is not addressing any environmental issues. What ever happened to regionailty? What ever happened to consuming seasonal food? Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution causing, amongst other issues, the steady decline of ruralism towards urbanism possibly signalling the demise of regionality, as the maxim states, “crushed by the wheels of industry.”

 

[newfhouse]

An dog's CO2 footprint is worse than that of a 4x4 car unless you are very careful about what it eats.

https://www.mossy.earth/guides/lifestyle/pet-carbon-footprint

I’m not totally convinced by the methodology that arrives at that figure, but I do agree that there is an impact worth considering. My dogs already eat scraps and food sourced as ethically as I’m able.

 

[newfhouse]

But what sort of driver is your dog,??

 

[Drago]

...nothing could be greener.

Er, have you never heard of walking?

 

[mudsticks]

You hit the environmental nail fairly and squarely on the head. I may add to your argument that nature is a powerful entity, a “supposedly dominant species“ managing nature and living out of sync with it is never going to end well. As you posit transporting food around the globe on a daily basis is not addressing any environmental issues. What ever happened to regionailty? What ever happened to consuming seasonal food? Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution causing, amongst other issues, the steady decline of ruralism towards urbanism possibly signalling the demise of regionality, as the maxim states, “crushed by the wheels of industry.”

People like me, and businesses like mine are also happening to regionality.

We are promoting re-ruralisation, and local food growing, wherever posdible

Localism around food and many other issues.

We're a quiet lot on the whole but our numbers are swelling.

It is down to the consumer to be aware of their purchasing power, and to seek out the alternative where they can, and support it.

But also to vote, and lobby for what they see as a better way..

Er, have you never heard of walking?

In terms of miles travelled for energy / calories expended, cycling is far more efficient.


Even taking into account the embodied energy of the bicycle.

 

[DCBassman]

Er, have you never heard of walking?

In terms of miles travelled for energy / calories expended, cycling is far more efficient.


Even taking into account the embodied energy of the bicycle.

Exactly so. It is simply the best way.

 

[DCBassman]

Er, have you never heard of walking?

In terms of miles travelled for energy / calories expended, cycling is far more efficient.


Even taking into account the embodied energy of the bicycle.

And on top of that, if, like me and @SkipdiverJohn, among many others, you use and recycle old bikes, buy 2nd hand, etc, it becomes even more efficient.

 

[mudsticks]

And on top of that, if, like me and @SkipdiverJohn, among many others, you use and recycle old bikes, buy 2nd hand, etc, it becomes even more efficient.

I buy about half n half new n used

I did buy new last time round cos I really and truly am worth it.

However if previous experience is anything to go by it'll be on the road for some time.

Others in the stable are for lending out , on in case of breakdowns

 

[BoldonLad]

Strange that everyone that bangs on about population reduction has already been born.😀

True, I should have posted from the womb