This week’s tip is a friendly reminder to walk or ride your bike (when possible). It might not be the best time of the year to be sending this tip while many places are experiencing snowstorms and cold weather. Or perhaps giving up your car and trading it out with a bike is too overwhelming for your brain to process. Before you stop reading try approaching the task in a new way per the EPA: next time you have a trip that is less than a mile away, consider going by foot or on bike instead.
Just focusing on those small trips can add up to make a huge difference. According to the EPA, if we just replaced half of our short car trips (less than a mile) with biking and walking we could collectively save $575 million in fuel costs and 2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, which is like removing 400,000 cars from the road each year. To understand it on a personal level, choosing to walk or bike over driving for just 5 miles can save 4.5 lbs. of CO2. (We did the math for you, but feel free to click on those links if you prefer to calculate for yourself.)
In addition to saving emissions and fuel, walking or biking has other personal benefits. It allows you to experience physical and mental health benefits from the exercise, allows you to slow down and appreciate your natural surroundings, can inspire behavior change in others, reduces noise pollution, and helps protect biodiversity. So consider embracing the season, bundling up, slowing down, and enjoying some fresh air.
And of course, if you choose to drive be sure to use navigation apps to avoid traffic jams and rush hours to prevent burning more carbon emissions. Some suggestions are Apple Maps, Waze or Google Maps. Check out this piece to decide which app is best for you.
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