Here’s a provocative article [1] about why bicycling might, in the long run, be harmful to the environment. Here are the author’s main conclusions:
- Human-powered transportation can substitute for trips by single-occupant automobiles.
- This substitution has a direct and immediate benefit of reducing energy consumption, even accounting for the latent energy content of the food required for human power.
- A substantial increase in the use of human-powered transportation would engage a substantial number of currently sedentary people in physical activity.
Physical activity by previously sedentary individuals increases their longevity, and therefore their overall energy consumption. - Depending on the characteristics of the population that adopts human-powered transportation, there may be little net environmental benefit associated with an increase in human-powered transportation.
Of course, if we carry their argument to its logical conclusion, the best thing humans could do for the environment would be to become extinct, so I doubt their research is going to attract many supporters. Still, it’s a good example of how beliefs we take for granted can be grossly incomplete if we fail to consider [2] the long-term consequences.
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