Bicycle Friendly America Spring/Summer 2016 - (Page 12)
2016 NATIONAL BIKE SUMMIT & WOMEN'S FORUM
FROM MODE SHIFT TO FRAME
SHIFT: HOW CYCLING CAN HELP
SOLVE GLOBAL WARMING
TONY DUTZIK, SENIOR POLICY ANALYST AT FRONTIER GROUP
T
o transportation planners, when a
new person gets on a bike, it's called
a "mode shift."
For many of us who have taken up
cycling, however, the change is deeper
than that. It represents a frame shift-
a change not just in what we do, but in
how we see and understand transportation in our cities.
Cyclists understand that leaving the
car behind doesn't inherently require
self-sacrifice. Biking is often simply
better than driving-cheaper, healthier,
certainly more fun and even, in some
circumstances, faster.
Cycling shifts our mental maps of our
cities and towns. Shops, parks or entire
neighborhoods that might be too far
away to reach on foot or a hassle to reach
by car, suddenly become accessible on a
bike. If driving a car puts far-away places
within our reach, cycling often helps us
better reach places close to home.
And, cyclists ... well, we see things,
things that change and challenge us. We
witness first-hand the growing peril of
distracted driving. We see the dangers
vulnerable users experience in navigating our cities. And we experience it
all face-to-face, not from behind a car
windshield.
So, unsurprisingly, cycling advocates
tend to ask some deep questions about
our transportation priorities, such as:
12 BICYCLE FRIENDLY AMERICA
Why can't we seem to make room on
our roads to allow people who want to
travel via an efficient, zero-carbon mode
of transportation to do so safely?
The answer, we know, is that governments tend to enshrine moving private
cars rapidly through our streets as the
overarching goal of transportation
policy.
We know the consequences of that
way of thinking for people using our
streets, but we might not often think
of what it means for the planet. Our
auto-centric transportation system currently produces about five percent of
the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
In large part because of how much we
drive, the average American produces
roughly three times as much carbon dioxide pollution from transportation as
the average resident of the United Kingdom, France or Germany.
All that will soon need to change.
World leaders committed last year in
Paris to hold the increase in global
temperatures to less than 2° Celsius-
the threshold at which many scientists
believe the most dangerous impacts of
climate change will become inevitable.
To achieve that target, America must cut
greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80
percent by 2050.
Meeting that target is going to require changes in technology to make
our cars more efficient and able to be
powered by renewably generated electricity. But it is also going to require
some frame shifts.
That's where cycling and cycling advocates come into the picture.
Cycling advocacy at its best challenges us to consider not just how we can
repower our cars or coax people out of
them at the margin, but also how we can
build great communities where people
are free to bike (or walk) anywhere they
need to go.
Building those kinds of commuContinued on Page 14
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Bicycle Friendly America Spring/Summer 2016
Viewpoint
Social Media
Core Values, Unique Contributions
A Silver-Level Playbook: Arlington, Virginia
How Cycling Can Help Solve Global Warming
What The Bicycling Movements Could Learn From the Climate Movement
Photos from Bike Lobby Day
Senator Ben Cardin, Legislator of the Year
Getting to Know Kathy Durham
Plenary Sessions
Memphis Hightailers: Bicycle Club of the Year
Bike Lobby Day: A Nevada Perspective
Call for League Board Applications
Reflections on the National Bike Summit
Photo Highlights of Bike Lobby Day in DC
Architect of the Capitol–Bicycle Friendly Business
Summit Demographic Information
2016 Catalyst Award Recipient: Community Cycling Center
Bicycle Friendly America Spring/Summer 2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Summer2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Winter2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Fall2016_GatewayDemo
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/bikeleague/BFA_Spring2016
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com