Today is the last day of the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The world is watching and waiting for our world leaders to do the right thing for a more sustainable future and praying for them not to get bogged down in a stalemate. Can we have prosperity with green energy? Can we prepare a healthier future for our children and grandchildren?

There are countries that depend heavily on the sales of their oil as a main source of their GDP, countries who keep their industries going with coal as the main source of energy, and countries that can’t seem to survive without the heavy use of their automobiles. (You countries know who you are.) Many of these countries refuse to see that we are in a crisis here. Well-founded science is tossed aside and denied. Some say that climate change is merely a natural phenomenon programmed into this planet’s environment.  If you believe that, do you truly think we can afford to keep treating the earth as we have?

Here in the good old USA, the far right love to argue that CO 2, is “a normal component of our atmosphere” and not responsible for global warming. On one hand, you have the academic work of thousands of the world’s leading scientists, and on the other, you have the word of a handful of right-wing radio hosts who get higher ratings when they say controversial things. Hmmm. Perhaps we can look at it another way. If the right-wing radio talk show hosts turn out to be correct in their global-warming-is-a-hoax theory and the thousands of climate scientists are mistaken, what is wrong with cleaning things up in the world? The world would still be a nicer place with cleaner air and greener energy. Take a look at the photo above. Seriously, people, is this the kind of air you really want to be breathing in? In many cities, there are days when the smog is bad enough that outdoor exercisers are cautioned to stay in and schoolchildren are made to stay indoors because of the bad air. Don’t you think our communities, our countries and the world should do better?

Want another argument for those who don’t buy that carbon emissions lead to global warming? Scientists estimate that half of our climate change is being caused by gases and pollutants other than CO 2, such as nitrogen compounds, low-level ozone formed by pollution and black carbon. These are the pollutants that we know are affecting our health, our forests, and our staff of life: our agriculture. Black carbon is a component of soot emissions. It comes from diesel engine emissions and inefficient cooking stoves fueled by burning coal, wood, crop residue and the like. Black carbon, which absorbs the heat from the sun, contributes to glacial melting and global warming.*

Leslie rides her bike to work in casual clothes, a quick change and she is ready for her work day to begin.

The cartoonist Walt Kelly once made an Earth Day poster with the theme, “We have met the enemy…and he is us.” We make choices everyday that can contribute to the dirtying of our air and our water, and can lead to catastrophic worldwide problems. Did our mothers not teach us to take care of our things and clean up after ourselves? Wouldn’t Mother Nature expect the same?

2010 is a brand-new year, the start of a new decade. Make a few New Year’s green resolutions that will lead to cleaner air, a smaller carbon footprint and our own good health.  May I suggest we bike more and drive less? At the very least we can try to bike or walk for most of our trips within a two-mile radius of home? Another idea: work from home if and when you can. The bike-commuting mayor of Salt Lake City, Ralph Becker said, “If every driver along the Wasatch Front** parked their car for one day a week, harmful emissions would decrease by 86 tons. Every trip counts.” Where ever you live, you can make a difference—think green for 2010!

*Why Cutting Carbon Emissions is not Enough, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Program Executive Director.

**FYI–the Wasatch Front is an urban area along the Wasatch mountains in Utah which has a population of over 2 million and includes Salt Lake City, Provo and  Ogden. If you live in Utah, try taking the Clear the Air Challenge. If you live elsewhere, send us a link to something your community is doing to improve the local environment and we will happily post it.

Also–a great advocacy group for cleaner air is the group Utah Moms for Clean Air which we link here.

Kristin is ready to fill her bags with her groceries.

It’s an American cliché that we use a quart of gas to go buy a quart of milk, which makes for rather expensive milk. But wait, there’s more!  In fact, 25% of all trips are made within a mile of our homes and 40% off all trips are made within two miles of our home. It is those short, little trips we make in our car that can be such a problem: lower fuel efficiency, more pollution, and worse for our growing waistlines as well.

3 bags of groceries easily fit into the paniers on Kristin's bike.

Are we really saving time? Try this experiment: bike to the closest local grocery store while your friend drives there and time yourselves. As a cyclist, you can take the easiest and quickest way there and stay off the higher traffic roads, and you just might get there first. My friend and I tried this little experiment and on the uphill mile route to the store, she had me beat by 30 seconds. On the way back, I had her beat by the same 30 seconds, probably because she was held up in some traffic. Even if a car can beat you by a few minutes, the difference can be surprisingly small for a two-mile radius.

Kristin is able to ride her bike full of groceries while wearing her everyday clothes, there is no need to get decked out in Lycra to make a quik trip to the local grocery store.

Perhaps you’d like to commute to work someday—here is a small step forward in reducing the constant use of your car. It can be the start of a car-diet. To start with, use your bike for just half of those short little trips you take from your home. Take the bike to pick up a few bags of groceries from the store. You’ll save money on gas, yes, but you also won’t be tempted to buy a lot of stuff you don’t really need.

On her way home to fill her kids up with Pop Tarts and oatmeal! That was easy and fast.

To increase the likelihood that you will use the bike instead of the car, have it within easy reach and ready to go. Have the items you need organized so they are within easy reach: your helmet, your jacket, a bike lock, and ankle band, if needed. You can gradually give your bike the “make-over” it needs to become an “errand bike.” You might start with just carrying what you need in a backpack, then add a front basket, and finally a rear rack to which you can attach panniers, which are side bags that can carry your groceries with ease.  If you have a bike trailer, you can use that to carry groceries, not just the kids.

Think like a grocery bagger if you are repacking the groceries into your panniers. Place the heavy items like cans of food, squash or potatoes on the bottom. Protectively, place easily bruised fruit or eggs on top. I admit, I am very precise about how I pack the groceries, but when I send my children to the store, they are often more quick than careful and they haven’t cracked an egg…yet. Be careful about what you put in the front basket, a sudden jarring from the road can bounce a loose item right out. If you overload the front basket, your steering may be affected. That said, I often carry a gallon of milk in my wire front basket—sometimes as much as two gallons and I just have to deal with the stiffer steering for a mile or so. Finally, if you just have a small amount of items, you can package it up in a bag and then carefully tie onto the rear rack with bungee cords.

Next time you go to the store, take your bike shopping!

Some Fun Facts:

• Sixty percent (60%) of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before the pollution control devices can work effectively
• Americans could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
• Just three hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
• The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year of commuting by bike.

(Thanks to 1 world 2 wheels for these facts)

We must be the change we wish to see in the world.

Monhandas K. Gandhi

 

Students biking to school

Today is the first Wednesday of October, also known as:  Bike & Walk to School Day! If you have school children, encourage them to walk or bike to their school. If they are young, walk or bike with them. It’s an easy way to push for a more livable, walkable and bike-able neighborhood and community. Schools around the country (and the world) are participating in this event which raises awareness of pedestrian and biking issues that affect the most vulnerable of our communities: our children. Some schools make it an especially fun and appealing event for the children to participate in! And some schools underscore the point by extending it throughout the year.

• Parents and parent associations can do a lot! Make it fun! Put up fun, encouraging signs or balloons along the way. Have a mini-event at the school—whatever you think will help get the students excited!

• Invite local community leaders to walk or bike with the children. There is nothing like underscoring the point of having a walkable community, by having your local politicians literally “walk the walk.”

• Want to keep it going? Encourage your school to do something year round—some have a special walk or bike to school day once a month. Our local school has designated every Wednesday as a “Walk-to-School-Wednesday.” (Catchy, isn’t it?)

• If the school administration gets behind the program, it can really succeed. Several schools in Boulder, Colorado had 90% participation on their “Walk & Roll” days. One elementary school’s principal challenged his students to arrive every day at school without a car. At the beginning of each month, he tried a new form of car-free transportation: a foot-powered scooter, a skateboard, and a unicycle. The students really enjoyed the challenge and made it their own. Last year, for International Walk to School Day 2008, they had zero cars in the parking lot!

• Keep it safe—and fun! Put together a “walking bus” or “biking bus” so the children can go in a larger adult-chaperoned group to school.

• Enlist the neighborhood’s cooperation by handing out information door to door and encouraging them in a positive way to drive especially careful during school hours.

• Safe Routes to School is a national program meant to aid communities to get the necessary sidewalks and bike lanes to make walking and biking to schools safe and appealing.  Their website is very helpful in for getting your community working on making the streets safer for children and more livable for everyone!

An example of what one school is doing for National Walk to School Day.

For more information, see these great websites: www.walktoschool.org and www.saferoutesinfo.org

Share with us! What did the schools in your neighborhood do for International Walk (or Bike) to School Day?