[habnds]

an embarrassing article for the author.

could have left it as

>> the bicycle itself has managed to elude environmental critique ... "because" >> Cycling is one of the most sustainable modes of transportation.

hard for me to avoid wondering whether this is astro-turfing from the auto industry.

[mc32]

No, I don't think so. Th author agrees it's friendlier than most other modes of transportation but that changes in the industry catering to people with disposable money is introducing less friendly aspects into this mode of transportation.

Instead of a pedal powered vehicle to take you from place A to place B with little in the form of status affirmation and other personal projections, people are moving this aspect of their psyche to cycling and adding unnecessary baggage that is realized in the form of more energy demanding manufacturing (more expensive alloys and shapes), electrification which adds to environmental issues in the mining of needed elements and faster refresh cycles (can't keep on riding a 10 year old ten-speed, no, I need this year's cargo Riese & Muller so my friends can see it)

[habnds]

I guess to me I'm (1) surprised that you think the social status affirmation dynamic is more at play for people buying new bikes than people riding 40 year "steel is real" bikes. (it occurs to me to ask, "what is the dif in carbon footprint between buying a complete bike and buying each cool little vintage component individually?")

and (2) that we aren't interested in _encouraging_ conspicuous consumption in bicycles. This is certainly a big factor in cars. To encourage more riding, it seems like a very positive thing for people to be splurging on bikes and proud of what they're riding. This would draw more people in compared to if they only see the Sheldon Brown types out, who they don't identify with or aspire to. it's a good thing for people to envy the secure healthy life of the average wealthy urban elite on a fancy ebike or whatever.

[MrBuddyCasino]

A lot of environmentalism has unfortunately degraded into opposition to civilisation. In the absence of a viable Christianity, the innate feeling of guilt and sin caused by consumption must be atoned for. The way to do this is to sacrifice prosperity (evil transportation, evil food, evil power plants) at the altar of The Environment. In the form of Extinction Rebellion this takes on the character of a death cult - check their founder's manifests.

Note that this is not climate change denialism or something similar - the problem is that technical progress, increased prosperity and consumption aren't seen as good and welcome, but inherently evil by a certain vocal minority. Otherwise you'd see a lot more effort into making prosperity compatible with environmental regards (like nuclear plants).

[habnds]

what?

[jmclnx]

I do not like to down vote (and I did not). But in Cities bicycles are a far better mode of transport than autos.

I almost wish there was some kind of permitting system where to drive autos in a City, in good weather, you need to prove your health and age requires an auto or you pay extra to drive. But that would be very difficult to enforce. Just look at how handicap plates are handed out.