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Its been claimed that riding a bike is the worst thing you can do for the environment. The fuel for a human is the most ecologically disastrous fuel we make. Bi
by JoeAltmaier 5y ago
Its been claimed that riding a bike is the worst thing you can do for the environment. The fuel for a human is the most ecologically disastrous fuel we make. Billions of acres clearcut; chemicals in the soil and air; CO2 by the gigaton. No, increasing human output has the largest impact on CO2 we could create.
- poopypoopington 5y agoThis is wrong and stupid
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoLook into it before posting insult, perhaps? Its reasonable, arguable, and probably right.
- endemic 5y agoYour argument boils down to "people are bad for the environment." True, but not helpful.
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoBoils down to "Riding a bike instead of driving a car is a net negative for the environment". Reframing or changing the subject doesn't affect that.
- rspeele 5y agoI think it's a clever point, but it falls flat for me on closer inspection because: #1: The whole point of preserving the environment is to keep it inhabitable for humans. Fueling humans is non-negotiable up to at least a baseline level of survival, and still desirable beyond that level because we like being well fed. and #2: Due to that whole "we like being well fed" thing, most humans in the first world -- the part of the world where people worry about things like whether biking to work is good or bad for the environment -- are already overfueled. We have a surplus of human fuel that we're consuming anyway because it feels good. Might as well burn some of it off on transportation.
- Forbo 5y agoWant to reduce the ecological impact of food? Go vegan.
- formerly_proven 5y agoAssuming ~1 kgCO2e/kJ food and ~0.2 kJ/km riding a bike, well that's just about 200 g CO2e / km. Pretty bad actually.
- phillnom 5y agoWeird how in your scenario only people riding bikes need food.
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoNow that's deliberately being dense. Riding a bike means you'll eat more to fuel that effort.