GreeniacsGuides
Transportation
Cycling Guide
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Written by Natalya Stanko
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| Tuesday, 07 December 2010 | ||||
Cycling GuideBENEFITS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Like all consumer goods, bicycles and bike accessories require energy and natural resources to manufacture. That’s why it’s important to know what products are good for the environment and which ones are not. It‘s also necessary to know how to make your bike super comfortable—the more pleasant the ride, the more often you‘ll ditch the engine for pedals! COST: Moderate If you don’t have a bike, you’ll need to invest in a comfortable ride. If you do, you might not need to spend any money at all. Either way, once you switch from driving to cycling, you’ll save money at the gas pump. TIME AND EFFORT: Moderate STEP ONE: GET THE RIGHT BIKE
Here’s what you’ll need to make your ride safe and comfortable:
STEP THREE: KNOW YOUR BIKE You don’t need to be a mechanic to be a biking commuter. But there are a few skills you should pick up to feel more comfortable on your bike. That extra confidence might encourage you to ride farther! Know how to pump your tires, fix a flat tire, lube your chain, adjust your seat height, and test your brake pads. To learn how, ask your local bike mechanic, pick up a bicycle maintenance book at your local library, or check out this video tutorial: bicycletutor.com/adjust-seat/ STEP FOUR: NEVER TRASH YOUR BIKE Instead, donate your bicycle to a local charity or bike shop. And if you’re wondering what to do with that mounting pile of old bicycle tubes, check out these clever suggestions. If you are not ready to invest in a bike, find out if your city has a bike sharing program! However you go about it, pedal on, and encourage your friends and family to do the same ☺ 1 http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6456 2 Id.
1. 26-05-2011 00:50 Everyone needs to ride bicycle for achievable distance and make bid for avoiding cars. [URL=http://www.thecarterminal.com/usedcarsforsale/used_cars.php]Used cars for sale[/URL] Registered Only registered users can write comments. |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 April 2011 ) | ||||
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Green Facts
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Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.
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You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.
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An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!
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Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.
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Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.
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Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.
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American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.
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In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.
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Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.
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One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
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Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
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It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.
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Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.
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A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.
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A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.
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Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.
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Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
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82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.
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You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.
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In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.
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Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.
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Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.
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A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.
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Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.
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States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.
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If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.
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You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.
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Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.
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Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.
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Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.
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A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
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Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
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Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.
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The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.
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For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.
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77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.
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Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.
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Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.
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Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months


