(no subject)

[ribbit_ribbit]

"It is axiomatic among environmentalists that substitution of human-powered transportation for single occupant automobile trips provides environmental benefits. Yet, given the current state of the automobile-driving population, particularly in the United States, first-order environmental benefits can result in high second-order environmental costs due to increased longevity of those engaging in increased physical activity. That is, the energy savings due to the use of human power for transportation may be offset by the increased energy used by living longer due to better health. On first reflection, this is a bizarre Swiftian argument. However, I believe that the argument correctly places human-powered transportation, and physical activity generally, at the center of a basic societal tension
between the quest for longevity and the environmental costs of increased population."

The environmental paradox of bicycling