Before the advent of fossil fuel-powered transport, travellers crawled across the surface of the planet slowly. The world, back then, was bigger; getting anywhere at all was an adventure in itself. Today, the world is small. I can live my life in London, UK, and still attend family events in Sweden, where I’m from, several times a year. I can have my cake and eat it.
That is, if it weren’t for one thing: the climate. The emissions released by aeroplanes mean flying in them is among the most carbon-intensive things most people are likely to ever do. Trying to avoid these emissions, I have experimented with ferry and train travel between the UK and Sweden for over a decade. But plane is almost always the cheapest option. So what about cycling?
[…]
But not all environmental benefits are measurable in emission units. “The bigger picture takeaway [with a long-distance ride] would be getting the conversation in people’s minds,” Yanocha says. “You would automatically think ‘oh, I’m just going to fly’, [but] actually you could do this on a bike.”
Cycling helps us appreciate nature, says Brandi Horton, vice president of communication at the US non-profit Rails to Trails Conservancy. "When you’re zooming around in your car or you’re on the train or you’re on a plane, you are not going slow enough to notice what lives [around] you. When you’re off the highway… you suddenly see something entirely different
- Avid Amoeba ( @avidamoeba@lemmy.ca ) 11•25 days ago
But plane is almost always the cheapest option.
This is a crime.
- Churbleyimyam ( @Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee ) 3•25 days ago
It’s so true about the world being bigger on a bike. You get to see and experience so much more. It’s partly the slower speed but also because you can stop so much more easily. A car gets you places fast but it’s also a burden and a liability. Also, while cycling you’re not inside a separate and discrete container, you’re actually in the world.
- Annoyed_🦀 🏅 ( @Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc ) 3•25 days ago
I thought about this a lot when i’m driving, like i always see something interesting like a shop or stall and wanting to stop, but i can’t because either i’ll go by it in the next second or there’s car at the back and i might cause an accident or there’s just impossible to park there. With bicycle, i can do some sightseeing and stop quicker if something interested me. Unlike car or motorcycle, no one gonna bark at me for riding 10km/h.
- Churbleyimyam ( @Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee ) 2•24 days ago
Yes! I really don’t like having another car behind me making me feel like I should be hurrying up. On a bike I just stop on the side the road and let them go past :)
- Blackout ( @Blackout@fedia.io ) 1•25 days ago
Bikes can’t swim lady
- Badabinski ( @Badabinski@kbin.earth ) 5•25 days ago
I mean, traveling 40 km on a ferry doesn’t really change much. She relied on mechanized transport for 2% of her 1500 km journey. Just pretend that she started in Dunkirk or something and subtract the 140 km she traveled in the UK if the short ferry ride bothers you.
- we_avoid_temptation ( @we_avoid_temptation@lemmy.zip ) English1•25 days ago
Maybe not 40km, but still, are you absolutely sure about that?