It's worth keeping in mind that riding a bike isn't necessarily better for climate change. Presuming that you aren't actively losing weight, you're eating extra calories in the form of food to power your bike. And the ecological impact of that food can easily be greater than that of biking.
For example, buying 1kg of beef has the same ecological impact as driving 63 miles in a car[0]. However, that 1kg supplies you with only 2,500 calories[1]. At ~50 calories per mile[2], you get 50 miles of biking out of the beef--less than what it took to get the beef to you. It feels like you're saving the environment by not driving, but you're actually doing the exact opposite!
Of course, most environmentally conscious people aren't going to have a diet that meat-rich. But it's something to keep in mind if you're trying to reduce your carbon emissions by biking.
>It's worth keeping in mind that riding a bike isn't necessarily better for climate change.
Don't be absurd. Nobody should worry that they're hurting the planet by riding a bike. Your calculation omitted the impact of creating and disposing of the car. Your calorie projections assume riding at a strenuous pace, most bike commuters don't. You assume a nearly all beef diet which is ridiculous. There is no reasonable calculation that would show biking worse than driving for the environment.
This seems like more of an appeal to not eat beef, than about the relative merits of cycling and driving. In my case, I eat mostly foods from the bottom of that carbon footprint table, which is a factor of 10 reduction.
For example, buying 1kg of beef has the same ecological impact as driving 63 miles in a car[0]. However, that 1kg supplies you with only 2,500 calories[1]. At ~50 calories per mile[2], you get 50 miles of biking out of the beef--less than what it took to get the beef to you. It feels like you're saving the environment by not driving, but you're actually doing the exact opposite!
Of course, most environmentally conscious people aren't going to have a diet that meat-rich. But it's something to keep in mind if you're trying to reduce your carbon emissions by biking.
[0] http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html
[1] https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?qlookup=23568
[2] https://www.livestrong.com/article/135430-calories-burned-bi...