U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called the August 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report “code red for humanity.” CNN said, “There’s now a 50-50 chance that the world will surpass a critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming in the next five years. The report says that surpassing the limit is likely to be temporary — temperatures could come back down again — but science shows that even a temporary overshoot could bring irreversible changes to the planet.”
Remember the heat waves, drought and wildfires of 2021 that drove away the tourists our economy depends on? Those will become more common.
According to the state of Minnesota, “Farmers are seeing the effects of warmer weather with pests, plant diseases and heat-stressed livestock.”
There’s no time for long-term solutions. We have to cut carbon now.
The city of Minneapolis is planting trees, but once the trees are planted, “it will take them about a century to reach maturity,” writes NASA.
The White House said “President Biden … set an ambitious target of 50% of electric vehicle (EV) sale shares in the U.S. by 2030.” An EV has no tailpipe emissions, but ultimately it’s only as carbon-free as the power plant that charges it. The grid in Minnesota won’t reach 100% renewables for decades, if ever. And most people can’t afford an electric vehicle.
But lots of people already own a bicycle, and could start riding it today. It’s simple, reliable, affordable and a true zero-emissions vehicle. You don’t have to pay for gas, oil changes, insurance or parking. Not only that, it improves your personal health as well as the health of the climate.
Some claim that bike lanes contribute to ableism. But senior citizens who can’t walk find that they can ride a bike because it puts less stress on their joints.
Some claim that bike lanes are elitist. But I often see homeless people on bikes, not to mention ordinary commuters. Every year I see more parents drop off their kids at day care in a cargo bike, then continue on to work.
[image_caption]Keith Heiberg[/image_caption]
But Public Works routinely blocks bike lanes with signs and trucks. On May 13, I contacted 311 about a huge sign blocking the very popular bike trail beside West River Parkway, and was told, “We have submitted a service request to our Traffic Department to look into this … your case should be addressed by June 12.”
A month to move a sign. Maybe longer. In the meantime, two-way bike traffic swerving around it might cause accidents — not just on the bike lanes, but on the pedestrian path next to them.
This is peak time for cycling. It’s time to take bikes seriously as everyday transportation for everyday folks.
Keith Heiberg volunteers for MN350’s communications team and First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis’ Climate Justice Team. These views are his alone.
Does that mean we all get to stay home Nov-March, if we can’t afford a new EV? How about those older folks on bikes in the snow? If I have to commute by bike, what about the Davos crowd and their private jets, you know, those most assured, and loud, that if working people don’t stop driving the world is going to end?
But then, as they don’t seem to be making so many vehicles anymore, because the geniuses decided that we should ship all our manufacturing to China and SE Asia, and the price of used vehicles has doubled, it seems like the “choice” to bike is being foisted on working people.
Exactly. I did a quick demographic search of age ranges in Minnesota. 38% of us are 45 & older. Silly Boy.
Adjusting to climate change is expensive. It’s more difficult and inconvenient if you’re not rich. Even in Minnesota, bicycles are a significant if small part of the solution.
No answer here just a story. 64 years old; commute at 5 AM, is 2 miles, 2 big hills, 1 dangerous. Physical job. I drive a Honda Fit at 20 mph. Keep the house cool in the Winter. Sponge baths. I don’t know why more people live this way but they don’t.
Maybe because it’s weird and unpleasant? Sponge baths? Really? Attempting to attack climate change by demanding that average citizens radically alter their daily lives is doomed to failure, as comfort is parmount to most people. Instead, the largest contributors to the problem, industrial pollution, must be addressed first, so as to limit the disruption to daily routines. You might not like it, it might not be as efficient as it could be, but demanding asceticism and draconian lifestyle alteration is doomed to failure before it starts, and will instead lead to revolt against ANY climate action.
While it is, obviously, necessary to reduce vehicle pollution, we have to be careful about how we do it. Sloppy solutions can only make matters worse.
For example:
The writer says some trees take 100 years to reach maturity. But many (most?) take only 20 to 30.
So in addition to planting trees, which takes decades to have an effect, how about the City of Minneapolis, Park Board, Hennepin County and Met Council simply stop destroying them? The Mpls Park Board (the commissioners we had pre-last election) proposed cutting down 60 mature trees along King’s Highway in order to … create a bike path! That resonates with the infamous “We had to destroy the city in order to save it.” I think (hope) the new batch of commissioners are not similarly foolish.
Another example. The Met Council succeeded in clear-cutting literally hundreds of acres of trees to build SWLRT — which they claim falsely is good for the environment.
But in the Kenilworth area alone, they destroyed 1,000-3,000 trees (depending on whether you count trees less than 6 inches in diameter as bonafide trees; the Met Council does not). Many more thousands were destroyed along the rest of the 14-mile route. Meanwhile, the Met Council’s own (pre-Covid) environmental impact statement admits that SWLRT operation will actually ADD 2,000 metric tons more of greenhouse gases to the environment annually than if it weren’t built. And they never bothered to estimate the massive environment damage caused by years of construction.
So reckless is the Met Council’s path of environmental destruction that at the moment, they are proposing to create a TEMPORARY path for pedestrians during construction by destroying a hundred-year-old pine tree that would be in the way. This tree is on private property.
Amateur environmental solutions backfire. But that is what we are seeing. It appears there no one in government with proper qualifications charged to protect the environment in this town.
I appreciate this refreshing article, Keith. It encourages people to do what probably 99% of us know how to do: ride a bike. Even (or especially) short jaunts to the store. The sniping of small minds who look only to grumble about biking or bicyclists can be dismissed like so many fleas.
Years ago when I returned to college, broke and with no professional income, I biked from my apartment in north Minneapolis to the U of M every day for two years. This included two winters on a cheap old balloon tired bike that cost $75 and ultimately gave its life for my cause. The experience made me deeply respectful of bikers in general. The honks and curses I got were almost certainly from people who had never been required to bike.
Biking humbles the heart and gives you gratitude for your strong legs and good endurance, or it requires you to develop them, which is a gift.
Plus, I have rarely slept so well in my whole life.
Gosh, I can’t wait to make numerous trips to the grocery store on my bike in -20 weather, my elderly mom and I can get a tandem bike. My asthma and windchill will make it doubly fun. In the heat, risking heat stroke, getting all sweaty for a Doctor’s appointment. Fun for all, in all kinds of weather. Especially in Minnesota. Maybe some practical suggestions other than moving out of Minnesota. We need more creative solutions, than bikes in cold country. The solutions could possibly have a regional component to them. Something never considered. Shopping with a neighbor. Event busses? The State Fair run is the only successful route the MTC has. Riding a bus to hockey, baseball and football games? Event busses might lead the way to people trying busses. Guthrie days for different parts of the Metro area. Ditto the other theaters in the area. Might pull in more patrons from other areas by making it easy to dine and catch a show. You could order up a ride from the MTC like Uber or Lyft for these events. Might even make a little money on the fares, instead of a freeloader express as is the current financial model.
“But senior citizens who can’t walk find that they can ride a bike because it puts less stress on their joints.”
In the field of aging, the most commonly used term is “older adults.” A recent study showed that the term “senior citizen” is more likely to conjure an image of less perceived competence. The term “senior citizens” was dropped quite awhile ago.
“Bikes are the answer to halting climate change.”
Is this headline a lie?
Yes
Automotive emissions only make up about a quarter of carbon emissions (and that includes all transportation, including shipping), so it’s unlikely that bicycles are the answer to halting climate change even if it were practical in any way for most people. The automobile has allowed urban sprawl. Employees work more distantly from their workplaces; corner markets no longer exist in most neighborhoods; heck, most people DRIVE to the gym. You are not going to put that genie back in the bottle anytime soon. I am not biking 20 miles to work every day. The best I can do is carpool with my husband and/or work from home, when possible. I am not biking to get my groceries – I really do have better things to do than bike 1.5 miles on a regular basis (because I would have to if I used a bike) to get groceries. I realize it’s a chicken and egg problem, but until all the things you need are within a mile of where most people live (food deserts, anyone?), biking isn’t the answer to any significant part of climate change.
Look, it’s not as though the author is pushing to somehow mandate bike riding. If you can bike more, do it, it stops some CO2 pollution. It’s aspirational to increase bike commuting, even in cold MN.
The bigger problem, and the reason for the urgency that the author details, is that the America “conservative” movement has blocked and opposed any governmental response to climate change for so long that we are now close to the irreversible tipping point on climate. And Repubs continue to oppose all action, unfortunately aided by the one Dem coal baron in the senate, Joe Manchin.
We are so late on the game that aspirational sacrifices like having to ride bicycles more becomes an answer for those desperate to do something, anything, to try to save the 11,000 year old stable climate in which all human civilization developed. As our scientists have tried to tell us, the time has drawn short, thanks to the pigheaded anti-science obstinacy of the “conservative” movement. That’s who to blame for all the bike lanes, not the bikers, who are voluntarily making a personal sacrifice for all of us.
They deserve our thanks and support, not irritation and enmity.
To be fair, I don’t question the decisionmaking of most of your average bicyclists. I question the “holier-than thou” arrogance and attempted shaming for not being sufficiently militant that comes from some parts of the cycling community. I can be concerned about climate change without needing to resort to sponge baths, a 50 degree home, and biking several hours a day instead of simply driving one. Its a similar rationale to conservative dismissal of any environmental activism that isn’t accompanied by obvious shows of hardship from the activists, and comes from the same place of spite.
Yeah, I agree that those sorts of moral superiority views don’t help their cause.
When people ask me where I stand on helmets and cycling I like to say: “I never stand on a helmet… that’s a good way to loose your balance and hit your head on something.” Bud-um-bump.
Ms. Kahler is correct to point out the fact that bike riding won’t halt climate change, that’s a grandiose claim. And yeah, year-round riding for everyone regardless of age or physical condition isn’t practical in a climate like ours. But BK is correct to point out the fact that no one is proposing a mandate of any kind here, we’re just making a suggestion.
However this article is good example of the kind of misfire we always have when we try to cultivate a more robust biking culture in the US. Listen, I was reading my local Nextdoor neighborhood feed the other day and came across a post by a parent wanting to know a good place to send their child for bike-riding lessons. Seriously. Wrap your head around THAT question and you’ll know why we don’t have more robust culture of bike riding. I road over to Cub Foods at the West End yesterday to grab some fried chicken and potato salad… I’m sure I was the ONLY person on a bike anywhere in the West End. Point being as long as “cycling” is an “activity”, or a “exercise”, rather than an integral part of our lives we can build as many bike lanes as we want, and sell as many bike helmets, and wear as much spandex as anyone can manufacture, but you’re never going to have the level of bike riding Mr. Heiberg is suggesting here. People won’t ride to save the planet, or take back their streets, or lower their blood sugars… they’ll ride if and when it becomes a normal part of their daily lives.
Now…. drive by any high/middle school and count the number of bikes in the bike racks. I did that recently and found maybe 8 bikes (Here in my suburban paradise of St. Louis Park) locked up at a middle school with more than 1,000 students. Sure, there’s at least 50 bike racks there, all new after a recent renovation… why are all but 8 out of a thousand teen agers getting to school without their bikes? A bike is an ideal way to get to that school from almost anywhere in SLP yet only 8 students are riding there. I can sit on my porch for a week and see maybe one or two kids ride by on their own, just riding around. THAT needs to change if we’re ever going to have a more robust bike culture.
I’m going to ride over to Target now and get some batteries… yeah I could drive the CRV but it’s actually faster to ride and it’s a beautiful day. good day!