We, as cyclists, are in a great position to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of you may commute with your bike or ride around the city for fun. Some of you are more geared towards cycling sports, such as road biking or mountain biking. Whatever reason you bike, you are already participating in helping our planet to cool down. What else can you do to reduce your carbon emissions than use your bike rather than your car?

 Six tips to reduce your personal carbon footprint:

1. Recycle your old tubes and tires.
2. Come up with personal weekly/monthly mileage goals, or do not use your car at all couple of times a week.
3. The longer you use your bike before upgrading, the less environmental impact it has.
4. Support sustainable focused bicycle brand companies. Recycling is necessary. 
5. Avoid companies that use wasteful packaging. We all have experienced wasteful packaging, and it is just annoying. 
6. Use your voice to demand more bicycling companies to focus on sustainability. The more bicycle companies demand sustainable bike and component manufacturing, the more it has an impact. 

“The U.S. market for bicycles is estimated to be sized at around six billion U.S. dollars. Although U.S.-based manufacturers like Trek, Specialized or Redline are popular bike brands in the United States, the majority of products are manufactured abroad: Around 99 percent of bicycles sold in the United States are imported from China and Taiwan.” – I. Wagner, Statista (September 2019). 

There is no doubt that cycling is a billion-dollar industry. It may come as a surprise for many that the current bicycling industry is not that sustainable. Too many cycling brands are focused on pumping up their profits only instead of focusing on sustainability. Most of the bicycles and components are manufactured in ASIA, and there is very little transparency in the supply chain. 

Are they sustainably sourced? Are they following all the proper manufacturing standards? Are they using recycled materials? Are they minimizing the waste of materials, and how they dispose of their waste? We recommend focusing on companies that are sustainable-driven. It will be better for future generations. 

Take action to change your mentality towards the bicycling manufacturing industry. Use your voice as a consumer to make a difference. Bike Ethically. 

Note: This article was not written to be a scientific/academic read but rather an inspiration for bicycling enthusiasts who want to decrease their personal carbon footprint.