What the data shows

Courtesy of the EPA — https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions

Taking a look at the first pie chart you will notice that a significant chunk (26%) represents the emissions from the United States transportation sector. That’s the same as having a whole pizza pie, eight slices, with two put aside for your friend named TRANSPORTATION. The second pie chart, below it, breaks this down further by showing what makes up that 26%.

Now, these pie charts also show that the transportation sector is certainly not the only contributor to U.S emissions, but what they do highlight is that combating climate change is a multi-faceted problem. Changing one thing or behavior in your life is a great first step, but ideally all parts of our daily routine and life should reach a more sustainable place. Policy needs to reach a place in which we are holding the big players accountable and our daily practices have to be reshaped.

Is it really worth switching from driving to cycling?

This is a very tough question to answer and is actually widely debated due to the fact that the conditions can be analyzed in a wide variety of ways. You can compare a car that is full of 5 people to one person riding a bike and you may actually find that driving is not as bad as you initially assumed. You can also investigate the manufacturing and materials used for each, such as nickel for the batteries in cars and stainless steel and aluminum for bicycles. Another thing to take into account is the diet of the individuals operating these vehicles. For example, Harvard University’s Keith Group argues that cyclists who have a very meat heavy diet can contribute more emissions to the climate than those people who drive low-emission vehicles and rely on a plant-based diet. There is also the economical side of things that can be taken into account such as money spent on gas, maintenance, parking, etc.

The bottom line is that I cannot say that, factually, it is 100% better to switch from driving to cycling, but what I can say is that switching your habits from less sustainable to more sustainable is more effective in the long run. Switching to a plant-based diet and riding a used bicycle (removing the additional carbon emission from producing a new bicycle) to and from your office everyday will release less greenhouse gas emissions than driving a typical 25 mpg US car by yourself. Taking into account the energy required to power both modes of transportation (gas vs food) it has been shown that there are 300 gCO2 emitted per kilometer of driving and 130 gCO2e/km of biking (this is not a number that reflects everyone, but is based on an average american diet of consuming 2600 kcal/day and .2 MJ/km requirement for biking).

Taking the time to better understand your daily commute and the pros and cons will only help. It is up to us to make more sustainable choices that create for a better today and tomorrow. Talking with others and discussing the problem space is a step in a right direction towards more effective and universal solutions.