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.
Fully agreed. Part of the fixing the systemic problem includes changing individual behaviors, but that can still only be done with altering systemic structures.
“Individual responsibility” is a lie made up by the wealthy to justify their increasing theft.
This argument is like asking people to donate cups of water to fight a raging forest fire … if we could only gather thousands of cups of water, maybe we can stop that fire. Meanwhile, there is a maniac standing at the edge of the forest with a flame thrower burning everything and no one wants to acknowledge them.
Government should do things at the regional, national and international levels to curb the activities of major corporations and companies that produce a large majority of the pollution in our world. The world and planet will be fine with all the damage and destruction we are doing to it … it’s survived far worse than anything we can do. We have to do something in order to save ourselves … it’s not the planet that will die … we will all die off. We have to start prioritizing how to save ourselves as a species rather than in trying to manage the economic portfolios of a handful of billionaires and their corporate shareholders. As soon as we are gone, none of those profits will matter.
I don’t disagree that there’s more that can be done to fight climate change, especially at the corporate/industry level.
But I’m certain that if a few million cyclists suddenly had to switch back to driving, the environmental impacts would be significant in more ways than one. Even just the need to build wider roads or more parking spaces to support this influx in drivers would be a disaster for communities.
From an individual level, every bit counts. Just like recycling, not wasting water, eating a more plant-based diet, reducing our plastic use, and cycling instead of driving, these efforts are multiplied by tens of millions of times over.
A few cars on the road isn’t going to make a significant difference. The problem is the massive factories and industry churning out more greenhouse gases than we ever could with our measly automobiles.
Individually, not a significant difference, but when we’re talking about the potential for millions of cyclists to avoid riding, the impact would be felt.
But yeah, large factories also need to calm the hell down if we are to stand any chance of surviving the next 50 years of climate change.
Take a couple cargo ships of the seas, that would offset a lot of cars.
Did you know its illegal to say that one strong hit with a 20ft speedboat at full throttle into the hull of a cargo ship in the section the two sheets of metal are welded on the broadside of the ship where the rivets are the weakest would take the ship down for repairs for months if not sinking it outright?
Totally, recklessly wildly illegal.
Now, it was okay for me to say it now because I was warning you not to say it. I wasn’t saying it myself.
What IS legal to say is that we have a group that meets under the Brooklyn bridge 23:00 on Sundays and the password is sic semper tyrannis.
Its not a fitting sentence because it has nothing to do with the previous statement, but it is technically legal!
What fucking boat is riveted these days? And what the fuck are you on about?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, trying to survive the recent heat and humidity. Every time I’ve gotten to a destination in the past few weeks, I’ve been drenched in sweat and slightly light-headed. While I still prefer that to driving, bike-crazed as I am, I can’t say it makes for a particularly effective promotion of cycling to the people who see me.
On the flip side, I’ve noticed more and more winter cyclists in my area over the years. Snow/ice doesn’t hang around as long as it used to when it falls, and winter seasons keep feeling shorter and shorter.
I’ve been reading up on heat acclimation and that might be the ticket for regular riders - just ride more often in heat, and you’ll simply adapt. LOL
Last winter was my first, and I thought it was pretty manageable. I just hated having to get a ton of extra gear ready for simple rides, and the added maintenance of getting my bike clean after every ride because of salt.
I’ve been meaning to setup an old bike as a single-speed to use as a low-maintenance winter beater, I should actually finally get to that before next winter…
I bought an ebike a couple of years ago and find that while it may have a somewhat higher carbon footprint, things like heat and air quality have been less of an issue and I commute most days on it now. This is not just because you can switch to an all-electric ride and enjoy the breeze without the workout. In my experience, it also encourages you to seek out parks and trails which may be hillier or add a bit of distance, but are often cooler due to more shade, proximity to water, and less asphalt everywhere.
There are some steps you can take to stay cool on any bike though. There are all sorts of neck and wrist coolers on the market, but even tying a wet towel around your neck can make a huge difference. I am prone to heat exhaustion and this has saved me even when just walking around. But on a bike where you have a breeze to boost the cooling effect of having something wet on your body, it works really well.
Great points! I also ride e-scooters, so I understand how there’s a cooling effect of not having to pedal throughout the entire ride (or with minimal effort).
Yeah there are so many options now, and it’s encouraging to see people even in the car-centric suburbia where I live starting to ride ebikes, escooters, etc.
I prefer this vision of the future over one in which everybody just switches to electric cars. If nothing else, I fear this will trigger a global battery shortage. But I made a calculation based on the specs of my ebike battery. A single Tesla could power around 150 ebikes!
Last summer I went out on my bicycle and suffered heat exhaustion. I spent all day in the hospital. It put me off biking the whole summer. I think you’re right.
I’m sorry to hear that :(
The problem gets even worse if you cycle in a city or even the suburbs, where I’ve noted temperatures at least 5C hotter than riding out in rural areas or through forest paths.
It’s okay, it was scary, one minute I was biking and the next I was on the ground with some people talking to me.
I got back on my bike this summer, albeit I picked up an ebike. That little motor gives me just the right amount of confidence and a bit of an escape valve if I start to wear down.
It’s okay, it was scary, one minute I was biking and the next I was on the ground with some people talking to me.
Were there any symptoms before that happened? Sounds like a scary thing to happen if you’re biking on a roadway :o
Not as much symptomatic warning as you might think. I was getting worn down, stopped to catch my breath and that was it. Luckily I was on a firm trail and not the road.
That’s wild! I hope it never happens again!
Me too, I’m a lot more cautious about humidity and temperature, along with my own capabilities, these days.
It is a little worrying on a global scale, but at least in Canada, it will just change the ideal season for cycling.
There will be more cycling in the spring and fall for what we would lose from exceedingly hot temps in the summer.
Mostly I find that avoiding peak UV is enough to reduce the impact of biking.
Yeah, I’ve been trying to mitigate UV more than heat. I ride with arm sleeves, but I’m looking for some kind of neck and leg protection, too. The problem is that those can also insulate heat if you aren’t moving… so, it’s sunscreen in the meantime.
nope as it’s not too hot to cycle in general, maybe during some hours at some specific days of summer but the overall year is completely nice
yeah, I’m telling you from barcelona and here there’s no snow and ice on the roads/trails I use to cycle it’s true but there’s much more equipment and tires to cycle on winter conditions, so you can adapt your bike to winter, than the 0 equipment and components to cycle on hot, summer, conditions
winter wins, always
Exactly this. I’ll spend more time not driving to avoid traffic than I will not cycling to avoid weather no matter the extreme.
I supply my 70 seat BBQ joint with bike & cart. I only get meats & beer delivered (kegs…ya’know). Summer is hot, winter is cold. I have excellent rain gear I break out 4-5 times a year (former Seattle native caught without one time too many)
It’s entirely possible for a lot of businesses to switch to a better solution.
I’ve been riding a bike, mainly for fitness, for almost 3 decades. Lately, the heat has been forcing me to shorten my rides or not ride at all. Even from 5 years ago, I don’t remember it being so hot that you’re looking to get into the shade by mid-morning.
It’s the same downward spiral as A/C usage. Usage will increase with hot weather or bad air quality, which puts higher demands on power. 😞
At least AC need and solar output generally scale together
They also throw a lot of hot air onto the street. I was recently reading about radiative cooling materials which could be used either passively on their own or together with A/C to improve the latter’s efficiency and remove heat build-up from urban areas.
That vast majority of emissions aren’t from individual commutes to work or the store, but from industrial processes and transportation. Increasing heat will lead people to stay inside in general, which will raise electric demands, leading to more emissions, though.
I could be wrong about the commute spiral, I don’t have any hard numbers, it’s just a guess.
The effect of switching from cars to bike is significant. .
But the best example we have of this is how cities with terrible smog suddenly cleared up during the pandemic, when there were fewer cars on the road and people got out to bike in record numbers.
But, I do agree that being forced to stay indoors would have indirect side effects on the environment.
It’ll be interesting to see how, or even if, humans will solve this problem.
Oh, yeah. I was mainly just thinking about global climate change, but I could see it having a large impact on local air quality.
I’m fairly pessimistic about the long term odds of beating climate change.
global climate change
Yeah, this one takes far more time to solve, but as individuals, we can still have some sway!
A vegan cyclist, for example, who doesn’t fly or spend time on a cruise ship can hit several major contributors to greenhouse gases with little effort. If they use green energy, that’s another major industry down. How they decide to shop can tackle a few more.
Who they vote for can also impact those areas that they have no direct influence over (i.e. certain manufacturing industries of raw materials).
This is all very easy to do on an individual basis, and don’t affect one’s quality of life, but multiply that by a million or a billion people and we WILL see a positive change.
The hard part is convincing someone to make easy changes to their life. 😩
The same thing is actually happening to nuclear power plants: they need a nearby source of water to keep the reactors cool and afair something like 40% of the ones in France (which is one of the main nuclear power generating countries in the world) are operating at far below expected output because the water isn’t cold enough anymore,like.
Granted, nuclear power wasn’t a viable solution anyway, what with the gigantic waste problem, but most governments seem to be allergic to clean energy (or the comparative lack of people in the sector willing to bribe politicians and other officials), so it was the least awful way available in the case of most of the world. Now the climate change it was supposed to mitigate is making it less efficient and more risky to the point that it’ll eventually, maybe soon,stop being viable at all 🤦
Nuclear energy is clean. Waste can be reprocessed and reused, when it’s completely and utterly spent it’s essentially no longer radioactive and can be safely buried. There is also emerging nuclear technology that can continue to generate energy from mostly spent fuel. The amount of waste produced is almost negligible, especially when compared to other fuel-based energy systems. Nuclear is also far more productive and efficient than wind or solar, and requires less space. I firmly believe nuclear energy has a place among the clean green energy sources of the future.
