Motivation

My efforts to reduce my environmental impact have to start with what I can easily do that will have the greatest result, and the obvious candidate for that is reducing driving. (We already have put in a more efficient furnace, insulated the walls of our small house, and sealed the attic bypasses.) Riding a bicycle six miles to work is not that big a deal, but switching from driving a car almost all the time and getting to work in 15 minutes to riding a bicycle in all weather and getting to work in 40 minutes does take some effort, and, especially, some on-going motivation.

Depending on who is asking, my stated reasons for biking to work can be for getting exercise, saving money, or making a political statement about the war in Iraq, but as the years have passed from when I started in 2001 to now in 2008, I find that I like the philosophy of it. I think that we should not live in such a way that going almost anywhere can be accomplished only with motorized assistance, which is the way it seems sometimes in the area where I live. I like the image of a simple village life where one can run a simple errand by hopping on a bicycle and going a short distance to do it. (I do prefer big city living to the small town, but that is another issue.)

So to keep my motivation up, I lurk around web sites that talk about the idea of more widespread bicycle use in daily life. Links to places I like are to the left under the heading of "Motivation." Especially fun are the videos "Cycling-friendly Cities" and "City of Cyclists." They show that the way we do things in the USA is not the way things have to be done. I would encourage everyone to watch them sevaral times and see if it doesn't change one's views a bit.