October 17 is Ride to Work Day Down-Under
Carbon Planet senior emissions auditor Davide Ross wearing our specially made Carbon Planet cycling suit. Photo ©Matthew Curnow and used with permission.
Wednesday 17 October 2007 is Ride to Work Day in Australia.
Government and corporate organisations from around Australia have made the commitment to join this huge event. Estimated participation this year is:
- Over 60,000 participants
- Over 2600 registered workplaces, many hosting their own breakfasts
- More than 70 community breakfast events in CBDs and town centres
National Ride to Work Day will stimulate over 10,600 tonnes of Greenhouse Gas savings in the first three years - that’s more than 2650 hot air balloons or 212,000,000 “black balloons” full of CO2!
A large proportion of Carbon Planet’s staff cycle to work already and we are of course very keen to promote more of this. The sad truth is though that Australian cities are very poorly set up for regular cycling. Most bikes you buy here are sold on the assumption that you’ll strap them to your car and drive them up a hill then ride them down. We don’t make bikes like the classic Dutch bikes which are designed as a mass-transportation system in their own right. Our roads are bike unfriendly. If they have bike lanes at all then more often than not we cyclists have to share those bike lanes with either pedestrians or parked cars, making them much more dangerous and providing a strong disincentive for people to ride.
Bikes are clean, fun and a very healthy and efficient way to get around. If Governments were serious about public health and about climate change they’d be closing down roads and putting in real bike lanes. If they can do it in Amsterdam they can do it in Adelaide. — DS
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