It was a shower thought for me this morning, after having seen all these record temperatures being broken around the world.
But, if it gets too hot to cycle, then people won’t. And if they aren’t cycling, they may start driving again, which compounds climate change even further.
Does this worry anyone else?
You probably won’t get most people to switch to bikes by selling them on fighting climate change anyway. You get them to switch to bikes by making it more convenient to bike than to car. This requires a ratchet of policy that deemphasizes car infrastructure and invests in bike infra instead. That investment can include climate change accomodations like adding trees or artificial shading to bike paths/lanes or more aid stations with water/misters/cooling.
Yep, plus the whole “socioeconomic system that requires ever-increasing profits and nonstop production for the sake of production” means industries are going to continue to put out enough pollution (since it’s more profitable than sustainable production) to render individual decisions to switch from cars to bikes effectively meaningless.
And to be clear this isn’t meant to be a doomer-post. Just saying we’ve gotta fix this shit from root cause, not rely on individualistic measures.
In my Danish city, taking the bike into town is pretty comparable time wise to taking the car.
Oftentimes it’s even faster - especially during rush hour.
And depending on your destination, it’s literally the fastest option as you have to find a parking spot to get onto the “walk/bike street” where all the shops are.
I take the bike every day. It’s preferable to the car for certain.
