Ripples: Social Action – August 2016

Cycling and Social Action by John Good
What does bicycling have to do with social action?  Quite a lot, as it turns out!

From the perspective of fostering a more environmentally responsible attitude toward the interdependent world in which we live, bicycling of course cuts down on your carbon footprint and therefore impacts climate change.  A 1998 public affairs group report in Europe suggested that modest increases in cycling in Great Britain would reduce transport sector carbon emissions by 6%, while cycling at the level in which it is practiced in the Netherlands would reduce transport emissions even further, to 20%.

Closer to home, there is a Bike to Work Day challenge each year in the capital region.  Some figures for the Bike to Work Day this year, which was held in May:

  • More than 500 people registered for the challenge, amounting to about 5,700 bicycle miles pedaled and about 230 gallons of fuel for this one day.
  • In Albany County, the most riders for Bike to Work Day came from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation; in Schenectady, the honor went to the students and faculty at Union College.

Many groups which track bicycling in the United States also tout the advantages to business that increased bicycling and expanded bicycle trails create.  While bicycling might conceivably benefit large businesses, it is more likely that smaller businesses — local businesses which are closely connected to their communities — benefit the most from increased bicycle usage.

Finally, all those bicycle trails require nominal amounts of maintenance, such as clean-up efforts.  In New York State, for example, volunteers from many organizations gather every year to build community for a day in the Canal Clean Sweep event; and this year, nearly 7,500 volunteers gathered for the Annual I Love My Park Day to help clean parks — including bicycle-friendly parks — around the state.