Cycling: The Way Of The Green Future?

[Found Goat]

Move over hybrid vehicles and electric cars!

Man’s dependence on oil for his transportation may find a new challenger on the world scene: the bicycle.

Question: Will cycling be the future choice of conveyance for eco-conscious citizens, regardless of how impractical it would often be?

In certain cities throughout the world the creation of bicycle lanes is becoming more common. On paper, to those who ultimately make the municipal decisions and provide makework for city workers, this may seem an admirable avenue to take in seeing to a greener planet. But from a realistic perspective, it is far from commendable, on account of it being in large part a senseless solution to the problem of vehicular emissions.

In cities where the issue of traffic congestion is already a problem, roads are being narrowed from two lanes down to one for the sake of constructing curbside lanes for primarily nonexistent solo cyclists.

In certain areas of a city, bike lanes may make good sense, especially when located around a college campus or university. But are these fuel-efficient conveyances really practical the further out one goes from the downtown core or the urban academic hub?

Many of us have noticed bike lanes having been created at taxpayers’ expense that for the most part go largely unused. It is not difficult to understand why this is. Many of these bike lanes are situated in industrial areas and near shopping centers. For a cyclist to commute to work from suburbia to an industrial park would take him at least an unnecessary hour or more. Motorists who daily take these same routes to and from work hardly ever, if never, see any cyclists using these lanes and for good reason. Motorists also hardly ever see a bike lane occupied near strip malls and shopping districts, which makes perfect sense, too, as the problem of where to carry one’s purchased items comes into play. Then there is the seasonal component: For at least five months of the year, during winter, bike lanes naturally go unused.

It’s commendable for politicians to want to be green but sometimes the decisions that are made only amount to idiotic and unrealistic “greenwashing.” Look, here, all you shameless motorists: We’re doing something positive to help out the environment! (In reality, in this case, not very much.)

I once read in a news magazine of a company that is so committed to going paperless in the name of being environmentally aware that it has removed even bathroom tissue from its premises in favor of bidets and specially designed electric heaters. Another case of shortsighted eco-extremists overdoing it?

I have yet to encounter bike lanes on freeways or on rural byroads but it wouldn’t surprise if one day in the near future we have all given up on four-wheeled motorized vehicles and even autonomous automobiles for our unicycles and tricycles. In such a future as that, at least life would certainly be less hectic and fast-paced.

[dream jo]

to mush plutsenn coz of car fumesss