Love & Bikes
Bike Kisses in the Snow
Love Cab
And one more time (this is on the Barcelona bicycle photo tour as well), don’t forget why this bicycle photo tour is on Ecolocalizer:
Bicycling is super green and clean. It is perhaps the most efficient mode of transportion. On the energy contained in one piece of pizza, a car could travel 100 feet, a person could walk 3.5 miles, and a bicyclist could bicycle 10 miles! Depending on a person’s diet (vegetarian, average US citizen, or something in between), a bicyclist gets between 196 and 104 miles per gallon (concerning fossil fuel input).
The greenhouse gas emissions of bicycling are very low — oh, wait, essentially nothing! And the space (or concrete infrastructure) needed is quite minimal compared to other larger vehicles. A car needs 10-15 times more space and money for parking than a bicycle, and the space needed on the roadway is even greater. Several water quality and air pollution problems could be solved, and millions, billions, or even trillions of dollars could be saved, by investing in bicycle transportation more than other modes of transportation.
In the US, 40% of trips in metropolitan areas are 2 miles or less and 89% of those are made by car. These are ideal distances for bicycling. With just the personal decision to switch modes, many people in the US could do it today.
Beyond the environment, bicycling is one of the best ways to ensure you remain fit, healthy, and don’t fall into the larger and larger percentage of the population that is obese or overweight. It is also psychologically beneficial and can help prevent against depression.
Bicycling is also a great community networking activity and a way to feel closer to the environment and the people who live around you.
So, remember, bicycling isn’t just for fun (although, it is a lot of fun) but it’s a great way to help the environment, build community, help your local economy (by saving money on infrastructure), and help yourself to be healthy!
If you missed any of the bicycle photo tours, all ten (with links) are here:
#1 Amsterdam, (the Netherlands)
#2 Beijing (China)
#3 Portland, Oregon (USA)
#4 Copenhagen (Denmark)
#5 Paris (France)
#6 Groningen (the Netherlands)
#7 Berlin (Germany)
#8 Barcelona (Spain)
#9 Bogota (Columbia)
#10 Basel (Switzerland)
Image Credit 1: trix0r via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: cleverchimp via flickr under a Creative Commons license
About Zachary Shahan
yes, bikes must come back – if they were ever “here”. British cities were never crowded with them, and there is just Me with veliko Tarnovo all to myself most times I look for another. I see no effort- serious or otherwise – on the part of government of either uk or Bulgaria to right this wrong. Try getting a bike on a bus !. I managed it on only one lucky occasion, when the bus was nearly empty and I was far from home. Meanwhile they continue to “invest” in the completely un-self-sustaining “technology” known as Windfarms.
The world needs
“Bike-busses”
Electric propusion units fittable to bikes, like there were petrol ones in the 1950′s. I could design the prototype if they could pay .0001% ? of what they are on their window-dressing “Windfarms”.
But I saw on Fox News that the Netherlands in general, and Amsterdam in particular, is a hell hole of socialized medicine, drugs, prostitution, and the depravity that we all must resist. How can you depict this Gomorrah in such a favorable light?
Well, the Netherlands has one of the highest standards of living in the world (’3rd most pleasant country to live in’ out of 193 according to a 2007 Quality of Life Index — http://www.nfia.com/qualitylife.html — and 5th according to the UN — http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/local_news/netherlands-placed-5th-in-un-quality-of-life-report-9597.html). I lived there for 5 months and can say it is much nicer than living in the US, and much more civil in my mind. Not sure what Fox News showed, but I was surprised at the great quality of life there, so maybe it is the actually Fox News’ agenda or coverage.
Fox news is owned by Murdoch. He has an agenda to be sure. If this were the 40′s in Germany he would be a hitler youth. He owns alot of media and if he had his way there would be only one network and one world view (His). He has been caught using using old election tapes of palin and using them in the background to show crowds at her book signing for only one instance. John Stewart is his most hated enemy because his team catches stuff nobody else seem to.
These are wonderful pictures of a great place. I have it on my places to visit. Great article. By the way, wind generation has a whole new twist. Check out the future starting in 2010 by windtronics. I will be installing these and do what they say. As of December 2009 they are producing product!
Hey Don, do you really believe that? To me (Dutch) it is avery weird that anyone could believe that. Come and visit our country (at a moment we’re not too high on bikes) !
This reminds me of my first trip to Europe, which was to the Netherlands and the three northern Scandinavian countries. I was so impressed by the bicycle traffic in Copenhagen and Amsterdam! It seemed to me even then, at age 15, that they knew something that we had forgotten in the United Stated, that using one’s own energy and determination was superior to being carried along. As with many intuitions that we all feel as youths, it was 100% correct.
To Gerard, for your info many large bike manufacturers are producing bikes with electrical motors to assist you. I work in a bike shop here in Amsterdam and we sell quite a few. Perhaps in more hilly parts of the world they would be more use. However, when you have two kids and a week’s worth of grocery’s on your bike it can be helpful even in a place as flat as this. The bridges are pretty steep!
To Don, the utter ignorance of some people amazes me. In a time when the average American is consuming so much of the Earth’s resources I find it startling that you find yourself on such a moral high ground. I have lived here for the past year and consider it to be a very beautiful and happy place to live. I think that just the fact that you can get around by bike helps to large extent. I have only spent a very short time in the US and I didn’t have a car. If there was to be a competition for “hell hole of a place” I would say Houston would have to be much higher up the list, even with its arcane drugs policy and health care for the rich. Give me Amsterdam anyday….
Nice photos by the way….