Published on Nov 19 2011 in
blog
From speakers to sponsors to attendees, this year’s Opportunity Green Conference had many visionaries that spanned the green economy. One particular booth that I loved was peopleforbikes.org. People for Bikes, a non-profit focused on promoting biking across the nation. Many of our cities in the US need to incorporate bike lanes into their city planning.
Why do we ride? A few interesting facts from the People for Bikes’ website:
47% of Americans would like to see more bike lanes, trails, and bridges in their communities.
- I personally would love to see the Bay Bridge not only create a bike lane from the East Bay to Treasure Island but also from Treasure Island to San Francisco. How many people travel across by foot or by pedal on the Golden Gate Bridge a day? How wonderful would it be if the Bay Bridge would be accessible by foot or by pedal?
1 pound of CO2 pollution cut for every mile pedaled.
50% of trips Americans make are less than 3 miles.
- How wonderful if you could get your exercise while commuting!
$8,000 spent on average each year owing and operating a car.
3 hours of riding per week reduces the risk of hear disease & stroke by 50%.
$10 saved each day by commuting 10 miles round trip by bicycle instead of car.
This year’s conference theme of Accelerate fits perfectly with this non-profit. “We chose the theme ‘Accelerate’ for this year’s conference because the successes that have gotten sustainably-minded people and companies to where we are today accelerates and offers the momentum to drive to an even better future.”
The goals of People for Bikes align well with the goals of green acceleration.
People for Bikes:
One for all: Build a national movement to improve bicycling in our country.
Opportunity Green:
We facilitate the movement to transform business for good, through advancing change and market transformation by providing open-minded professional unprecedented approaches to sustainability.
People for Bikes:
Let our voices be heard: Every six years, the federal government allocates billions of dollars to expand and improve our country’s transportation infrastructure. We must improve our bike infrastructure to have the healthy planet everyone dreams of.
Opportunity Green:
Because we have the unique opportunity to do good for our world and our business simultaneously. Now is the time when our leadership is most needed, and will have the most impact on the future of our organization and communities.
We must Accelerate the use of biking in order to have the future we all wish for.
Power to the Pedal People.
