Active Transportation is Green Transportation
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
To celebrate Earth Day tomorrow I think I will get out my bike. A little exercise, seeing the city and having some fun all sound great. And I have the Active Transportation Alliance to thank! ShoreBank awards an annual Green Neighbor Award to an organization that has had outstanding impact in creating more sustainable practices. We hope that you will be as inspired by this year’s award recipient, Active Transportation Alliance, as I have been.
Two years ago I was talked into participating in Bike the Drive, an annual event run by the Active Transportation Alliance. I didn’t know what the event was – and when I started to get details I was not encouraged. I would have to get up very, very early. And then I would go biking on Lake Shore Drive, which would be closed to cars. I hadn’t been on a bike in years. I didn’t even own one. (I thought that last fact would get me out of the event, but it turns out you can rent bikes…) With no excuses left and a bunch of my friends participating, I was in.
Photo Courtesy of Active Transportation Alliance
The shock was that I had a blast! Hanging out with my friends was fun – but biking was great. I was outside, I was getting exercise and I was actually going places on wheels without a dirty tailpipe. Two weeks later I bought a bike. And I have been member of the Alliance ever since.
Active Transportation Alliance has been a customer for 11 years, but it’s a relationship deeply rooted in our shared commitment to leaving a smaller footprint and to building stronger, healthier communities. Active Transportation Alliance promotes safe bicycling, walking, and public transportation that is also fun and convenient. While I was introduced about the organization from the “Bike the Drive” – since them I have learned that they advocate for a wide array of practices and legislation that supports low impact, transportation “that is good for the environment and good for us.” Their website is full of great bicycling information and ways to get involved in their efforts.
According to the Urban Transportation Report Card, transportation is responsible for 20-60% of carbon emission in major U.S. cities. And many car trips are made within 2 miles of home. However, if you were to bike a 4 mile return trip instead of driving every day for a year, based upon the Urban Transportation Report Card table below, you would reduce your CO2 emissions by approximately 1591 lbs per year.
CO2 Emissions Per Mile (Pounds)
SUV – 1.47
Car – 1.09
Hybrid Car – 0.42
Bus - 0.41
Subway – 0.24
Bicycle – 0
Walking – 0
My favorite story transportation story comes my fellow ShoreBank blogger Sarah Ewing. When Sarah was living in San Francisco she calculated how long it would take to get to the commuter shuttle stop to Silicon Valley – one option was to walk the entire way, the other was to walk to a bus stop, then wait for the bus to take it to the destination. To her huge surprise, it averaged about the same amount of time. “Sounds good, right? But the real impact came in other ways. By walking 4 miles every day for a year, instead of taking the bus, she saved $45 a month on a bus pass and another $110 by going without a gym membership. In addition to the savings, she used the time saved from skipping the work out to sleep-in an hour longer!. But best of all, she lost 10 lbs and had more fun doing it then she could have imagined—P.S. I promised her that I would spare the details of some of the “wild and crazy adventures” she experienced along her daily walk. .
Now that she lives in Chicago I suspect Sarah will join the Alliance too. Wherever you live you ought to be able to find an organization similar to the Alliance just by clicking here. So let’s celebrate Earth Day by resolving to make a positive impact upon the environment and on our own health, and have fun doing it too.
Happy Earth Day!
