Carbon footprint

Today is Blog Action Day 2009. I’m no radical environmentalist who chains himself to redwoods. But I want to know how to reduce my carbon footprint. Naturally this relates directly cycling. Terrific. Yet there’s so much more.

If learning the size of your carbon footprint sounds pie-in-the-sky, take heart. This calculator from the Nature Conservancy will help you start to figure out not only the carbon footprint you and/or your family create today. It will help illustrate how behavior change and habits can reduce it — and by how much. Consider: a mid-sized car that travels 12,000 miles a year generates about 9 tons of carbon dioxide. The same car racking up 40,000 miles? That’s 30 tons of carbon dioxide.

How much carbon dioxide does a bike produce?

According to the Bicycle Coaltion of Greater Philadelphia, the answer is easy. Zero. Well, I doubt that. We have to eat. We breathe. Bicycle and rubber manufacturing processes are hardly benign. But a bike still surely beats a car. I hope you take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with ways to help contribute to positive climate change — and continue to ride your bike as much as possible. When you do, you help protect this. A tip of the hat to @thaloporter. Beautiful photostream.

If you like coming to BikeCrave regularly, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or think about how to make a difference with just a Penny per mile. Thanks for visiting!

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