Riding A Bicycle As A Revolutionary Act

Something I have been thinking about lately, frankly something I think about all the time, is the future of the earths climate.

I am not currently “old”, whatever that means. Luck willing I could look forward to 40- 50 more years of life on this planet.

Which means my silver years could be spent in the 2060’s.  Right when I start to really slow down, climate change is expected to really speed up.  By 2050 sea levels in the Boston area will be 2 feet higher (which means a good storm floods most of the city).

If we continue to emit at the level we do, the earths average temp could be 7 degrees higher by 2050…which would make going outside for most of the year unbearable, and staying inside unbearable without AC.

There will be more storms, more droughts, more food disruption, more climate migrants, forest fires, ocean acidification, asthma alerts, wars for water, more floods, tropical illness moving north…the list of horrible outcomes grows daily as we discover just how disruptive our actions have been on the world.

I keep thinking about myself when I reach my grandparents age.  I see how they move, how they breath, how they get around, the challenges they face, and I imagine myself trying to navigate those challenges in a world ravaged by global warming.

I also think about kids I see running around who might live 70 or 80 more years.  How their silver years will be even more grim than mine, how they might deal with an ecosystem that may not be fit for human life.

There is not a nice way to say this, but if you are driving a car around, especially when you don’t absolutely need to, you are part of this problem.  When I turn on my heat at home and the oil in the tank in the basement lights up I am part of the problem.  When we buy airplane tickets to fly half way around the world, when we vote for candidates who deny the reality of climate change, when we buy things we don’t need, when we use single use spoons, when we leave the lights on…the list is very long.  It would seem our entire lifestyle is a part of the problem.

It can be overwhelming to look at the list of things Americans are doing to ruin our future.  It can be hard to know what to do, where to start, and how to do anything about it.

There is a simple thing you can do that will make the future better, and have positive effects for you right now.  Ride your bicycle.  Ride it for fun, ride it to work, ride it to the store.  Leave your car at home and take your bike to the show, to the movies, to the park.

Not only will you be avoiding carbon emissions, which is critical to slowing and eventually reversing global climate change, but you will be changing the culture.  We live in a toxic culture, that is polluting our future and stealing our silver years from us.  Riding a bike helps to repair that toxic culture.  It also shows others that its possible to break free of the toxic cycles that keep us damaging our future.

Years ago when I started riding a bike in this town there were hardly any cyclists.  But slowly over time more and more folks started riding, defying the poor infrastructure, and aggressive road culture.  Soon hundreds, and now thousands of people ride their bikes every day in this city.  The government is building more infrastructure for cyclists, people are healthier, and things are changing.

Once you make the change to cycling, your friends and family see that its possible, and they start.  Their friends see them doing it and so they give it a try.  The positive change spreads through example, and through solidarity.  The toxic culture retreats and a new one is born.

Think about your future, think about your silver years.  Then go out and go for a bike ride.  Its a revolutionary act, and its one you can do right now.

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