Maybe you can save the world with a bicycle.

Bless me "dirty oil", for I have sinned. It has been thirteen hundred and thirty kilometers since my last fill up. Even worse, considering that ninety percent of my car trips last winter were less than five kilometers and I usually warm my car up for ten to fifteen minutes before driving, I would have bought at least twice as much gas as I needed to drive that same distance. Sorry I haven't been around much lately.

It’s three hours into first day of spring and today I am giving myself one gold star. I made it through one complete Saskatchewan winter without a car. When I started, that wasn’t my goal but that’s what happened and now that it’s under my belt I’m proud to say, I’m proud of my accomplishment. My original goal last spring was to use my bicycle for any solo trip under five kilometers. It took just two weeks to get into the routine of cycling to work every day, so I grabbed some pannier bags from my local cycle shop to increase the bike’s utility (66 Liters of groceries is quite a shopping trip!). By the latter part of summer, commuting and recreation combined, I was regularly riding twenty five to forty km a day and even managed to do a self supported camping trip to Rowan’s Ravine. When summer turned to fall I just kept riding, enjoying with gusto the change of season with its cornucopia of sensory delights. Then came the first snowfall, the temperature was still mild, just like the day before the crisp white blanket laid itself down. By that time I was a cyclist, through and through, and literally could not wait to be the first one that morning to lay tracks in the freshly fallen snow.
Then using common sense riding habits, tips and tricks gleaned from other cyclists regarding dress and riding technique the winter has passed without discomfort or hazard to my (or, for that matter, anyone else’s) safety.

Right off the bat these are, not the top, but the first ten things I didn’t miss this winter due to cycling. There are too many more to list here, but here’s the first ten;

• Warming up my car
• Scraping my windshield
• Waiting in rush hour traffic
• Tow trucks
• Going to the gym
• Parking
• Insurance
• Buying fuel
• Sitting on my arse
• Dead batteries

Then there is the math. This winter in addition to cycling I rode the bus ($30) and took a few cab rides ($100). This is in contrast to fuel ($239), insurance ($500) and vehicle maintenance ($70)….a net savings to me of $679.00 in my jeans. Ahh...do it yourself tax relief!

Then I went to the Canadian Government’s website (http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/prog/2/UTEC-CETU/Calculator.aspx) to do the environmental math and this is what I found:

In five months of winter cycling I saved, over last year:
340,400 liters of carbon dioxide
23,280 liters of carbon monoxide
1,111 liters of nitrous oxide
totaling 364,791 liters of greenhouse gasses
That’s approximately enough greenhouse gasses to completely fill a 1600 sq ft home.


Annual Greenhouse Gas Emission (kg CO2e)
Vehicle Upstream Vehicle Operation Total
-163.58 -508.7 -674
Annual Criteria Air Contaminant Emissions (kg)

CO NOx
-29.12099167 -1.364176667

Vehicle Class Travel Units
Light-duty passenger vehicle -1330 veh-km
Light-duty commercial vehicle 40 veh-km
Medium-duty commercial vehicle 0 veh-km
Heavy-duty commercial vehicle 0 veh-km
Bus 100 veh-km
Trolley 0 veh-km
Light rail 0 pass-km
Subway/Metro 0 pass-km
Heavy rail 0 pass-km
http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/prog/2/UTEC-CETU/Calculator.aspx

If only one percent of the City of Regina were impact only the small amount I did this winter, our city alone could reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by enough to fill a 3.2 million square foot strip mall.

I don't expect anyone who reads this to take up cycling through an entire Saskatchewan winter, but I hope it's an example of how a small action by each of us can make a large impact when combined. It’s springtime now and it wouldn't hurt to think back to days when your bike let you fly past stopped traffic and brought true independence to your life and wonder, "What's stopping me now?"

Maybe you can save the world with a bicycle.