I'm from the Netherlands and use a bicycle for most of my daily commute. What isn't mentioned in the article: cycling is also dirt cheap. I bought a new bicycle 8 years ago for 500 euro, needed two times a repair of around 100 euro in total. That's like 3 months of owning a cheap car

Having to only go as far as the Dutch for travel would be helpful for transitioning to bicycles. The moment American city distances ( hundreds of km) are applied, everyone scraps bikes. Buses and trains and cars and planes become the conversation - bikes aren't realistic for actual travel but nice for local commutes like groceries.

People shit all over 15 minute cities. I miss it moving to Canada from the UK.

Or - we could just say it’s illegal for these billionaire crybaby warcrime shitheads to fly like they do. Same emissions savings, and the world gets infinitely better.

Rebuild the whole of society, place affordable houses around work centers and we could.

Cities need to be build around this concept

It’s also fun. I always have a smile on my face when riding back from a grocery run or dinner out. Driving a car used to just make me aggravated.

there is NO solution to climate change that doesn't involve a > 80% reduction in car use (and banning flying) Even the IPCC has said e-cars aren't an answer (they embed urban sprawl).

There's is a persistent myth that we can't inconvenience anyone, which is patently nonsense as the destruction of civilisation from climate change is more than inconvenient.

And of course it's your responsibility as opposed to the people designing infrastructure, the politicians approving their plans, and the corporations lobbying the latter

/s

I'm all for more biking. I will remind everyone that the Netherlands is almost completely, absolutely, flat. probably the most conducive place for biking in the entire world

Would also make people much healthier.

I always say my "dream car" is good public transit and walkable cities with good bike infrastructure.

It might not work everywhere, but it's a nice goal and it would have the secondary effect in America of making most of us a lot healthier.

The Dutch also have a very flat country

If everybody cycled as much as the Dutch, global carbon emissions would drop by nearly 700 million tonnes per year.

For context, Wikipedia puts annual global carbon emissions in 2023 at 39,024 million tonnes. That's a 2% slash. I suppose if you find a lot of these it could add up, but without a fix for the original problem of unregulated capital expansion it's just going to fill the void.

I got 54kms to get to work every day and no place to park that's safe between.

I would be happy as a Clam to save my morning run and go to my car but it's not feasible unfortunately.

Maybe stop putting the buck on people trying to make a living and give it to politicians who fly privately or massive shipping companies.

but what's in it for the shareholders?

I don't know how swearing at pedestrians walking in the bike lane more would help reduce my carbon emissions. Satisfying though.

Then build us cities like the dutch.