I hate to break this to all of you "tree-huggers": We are polluting the air, after all, when we ride our bicycles.
Oh, but it gets worse: the more and harder we ride, the more we fill the atmosphere with a toxin--namely, carbon dioxide.
Now, I'll admit that I haven't taken a science class since, well, before some of you were born. But the notion that we are fouling the air when we pedal and puff is at least factually and etymologically true--at least in the same sense as another statement made by no less of an environmental scientist than Ronald Reagan. Back in 1981, he said, "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do."
Would you expect any less from the man who appointed James G. Watt as his Secretary of the Interior?
Apparently, Washington State Representative Ed Orcutt learned his science from Professor Ronnie. Hey, if I had science professors like him, I'd be nominated for a Nobel Prize. In what, I don't know.
But I digress. The Hon. Rep. Orcutt revealed his epoch-making discovery about cyclists to a bike shop owner during a campaign for a proposal to charge a $25 fee on bicycles costing more than $500. That fee would help to pay for transportation facilities.
Orcutt has since apologized for his remarks. However, the furor over his remarks remains.
For me, learning of this story has had at least one good outcome: I found it on the BicycleLaw.com webpage. I'll be visiting it from now on.
Oh, but it gets worse: the more and harder we ride, the more we fill the atmosphere with a toxin--namely, carbon dioxide.
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| From The Ottawa Citizen |
Now, I'll admit that I haven't taken a science class since, well, before some of you were born. But the notion that we are fouling the air when we pedal and puff is at least factually and etymologically true--at least in the same sense as another statement made by no less of an environmental scientist than Ronald Reagan. Back in 1981, he said, "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do."
Would you expect any less from the man who appointed James G. Watt as his Secretary of the Interior?
Apparently, Washington State Representative Ed Orcutt learned his science from Professor Ronnie. Hey, if I had science professors like him, I'd be nominated for a Nobel Prize. In what, I don't know.
But I digress. The Hon. Rep. Orcutt revealed his epoch-making discovery about cyclists to a bike shop owner during a campaign for a proposal to charge a $25 fee on bicycles costing more than $500. That fee would help to pay for transportation facilities.
Orcutt has since apologized for his remarks. However, the furor over his remarks remains.
For me, learning of this story has had at least one good outcome: I found it on the BicycleLaw.com webpage. I'll be visiting it from now on.
