Greenservations 7: Radfahren

I think I may have mentioned earlier that I bike to work everyday.  Well... practically everyday.  Sometimes I'm just too darn lazy.  Or sometimes it's raining so hard that I am literally soaked through to my underwear if I don't cower under an umbrella.  Oh, Wuppertal.  Back to the Greenservation at hand: Radfahren.  The sustainable observations about cycling versus driving are plentiful and apparent.  Since I've been rather scatterbrained lately, I searched for a list of 'the benefits of biking' online so I could organize my thoughts.  Here are a few of my favorites from the list:

1. On-going use of a bicycle has virtually NO carbon footprint.
2. Bicycling can be faster than walking, transit or motor vehicles.
3. Save travel money by biking. If the switch is from a car this includes purchase price, gas, tires, fluids, insurance, maintenance, washing, parking, etc.
4. Regular bicycling helps with personal weight management - new full-time bicycle commuters can expect to lose an average 13 pounds their first year of bicycle commuting if they maintain the same eating habits.
5. Bicyclists can ignore the highway traffic jam reports.
6. Reduces road kill and saves animals.
7. Biking is fun.

You should really check out the whole list for more great and environmentally friendly reasons to bike instead of drive!  Now, I'm going to continue to overwhelm you with statistics and reasons why you should get off your lazy bum (I'm lookin at you Mom and Dad) and get pedaling! According to a study from  Environmental Health Perspectives, if 30 million urban and suburban midwesterners replaced JUST HALF of their short car trips with cycling during JUST THE WARMEST six months of the year, they "could save approximately four trillion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 1,100 lives and $7 billion in mortality and health care costs for the region every year."  Boom.  Sustainable, healthy, and fiscally responsible.  What more could you want?  Oh, an awesome infographic about the benefits of biking? Here you go: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/13/bike-to-work-infographic-benefits-health_n_1145815.html

I really hope that the USA adopts a more bike-friendly mentality in the immediate future.  I've observed and experienced firsthand all the benefits of biking to work, and I have been lucky to do so since I live in such a bike-friendly country.  Everywhere I go I see racks of bikes on bikes on bikes!  Just look at what I get to be a part of! (Below left: Amsterdam, below right: Munich, bottom: Heidelberg)

I plan on seeing even more sweet bike action in a few weekends when Michelle and I head to Copenhagen, the city of bikerly love!  I hope this post has inspired you to green up your life by embracing the wonder that is biking.  If it hasn't inspired you to do that, maybe I've inspired you to work on your hyperlinking skills.  Bis später!