And about bicycling!
Bicycles.
You know, those slim looking things having two wheels and pedals!
I know, I know…the last time you had used them were when you were 12 years old. And since then, you have always felt that these were for the world’s unprivileged or unintelligent.
How dare someone even suggest that you use the bicycle everyday!
No, I am not asking you to travel to your office in a bicycle, and end up at a meeting sweating and stinking to hell. Being a jerk, you might be stinking even without the sweat.
I am suggesting that you use a bicycle to run local errands.
As someone who has been using bicycles extensively for over 20 years now, I can tell you that travelling by bicycle is quite easy for distances less than 5 Kms.
If you count the number of times you travel less than 5 Kms in a week for local stuff, it could add up to a sizable number for many of us. Let’s say five times a week you run local errands, each on average 3 Kms. That is 15 Kms, which could consume about 2 liters of petrol or diesel. Multiply that by 52 (for 52 weeks) and multiply that by 100 million people who (let’s say) decide to follow this simple rule. What do you get? 10 billion liters of oil saved per year. A liter of oil gives out about 0.6 Kg of CO2, so this simple process would have prevented 6 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.
That sounds like a big deal. Actually, and sadly, it isn’t!
This 6 million tons of CO2 saved will not save the world – because we irreparable humans give out through out industrial and other related activities about 35,000 million tons of CO2 emissions per annum.
35 freaking billion tons – I am sure your head is spinning!
6 million doesn’t even seem to qualify as an apology against such a humongous number. (And some people even go the extra mile to prove that bicycling could be more harmful to the environment than motoring, at least for select cases!)
So in this case, screw the number. What’s more important in this case is that bicycling ensures better health.
You have been taught the health benefits of bicycling right from your primary school – I’m assuming you are educated at least until primary grade. So put your education into practice at least once in your life.
If you are so stupendously lazy that you want to do stationary bicycling within the house to gain this health, well, do it – it is at least a start.
While talking about health and bicycles, I must say I have been amused to watch a rather silly thing many idiots do.
They wish to go to a gym which is in some cases just 2-3 Kms from their homes, and they take their cars for this short distance.
By replacing your car with a bicycle for a 3 Km travel makes you more fit, which is the whole point of going to the gym! I will not be surprised if these jerks continue to have those irreducible paunches even after years of gym-ming.
Duffers!
Here are some examples where you can use bicycles and gain some health, without making your lives miserable:
- Going on local errands
- Going on an early morning bicycle ride for about 20 minutes with your family members or children – I do this regularly and I can promise this is great fun!
- Going on a local tour now and then with neighbours
- Going on a community tour
- Going to the gym if it is fewer than 5 Km distance.
Going on a bicycle gives you perspective, it allows you to see your neighbourhood and locality at more length and hence you could see and know more of what is good and what is not.
Buy a bicycle if you don’t have one. Start bicycling, even if it is just one mile a day – or even if you bicycle just inside your house! Soon, you will see interesting things happen to you!
Interesting web resources
- C2V – CO2 to Value – a comprehensive web resource providing insights on opportunities in converting CO2 into a range of useful products – fuels, chemicals, food & materials
- All about CO2 – CO2 Q&A – a unique resource providing answers to 100+ questions on the most talked about gas today.
