Cycling for a cleaner Los Angels BY Delta Cycling for a Cleaner LA Imagine Los Angels with very few cars, little to no noise from engines, and most importantly cleaner air quality.

In this new Los Angels, more people ride bikes to get where they need to go and have more money in their pockets to spend on the things they love. While this version of the city is not impossible, there are forces at play that keep it from becoming a reality.The foremost reason for this is the social necessity to own a automobile that has been deeply ingrained into the average American's mind. The next is the lack of incentive and initiatives to take part in the practice of cycling to and from regular places of travel such as work and school. With gas prices steadily rising and natural resources slowly depleting, making the switch to the green lifestyle for one major city can lead to an environmental change for the rest of the country.Of course, it is not possible to make a switch right away.

It takes time. If more people rode on bikes based on a social incentive to make Los Angels a green city, then our air quality would improve significantly as less cars would be on the road. The poor air quality of Los Angels is a significant environmental concern as well as a serious safety issue. With Southern California in a major drought, the risk of fire grows steadily as the dry weather continues to roll on with no sign of rain in sight.Because of this heat higher levels of smog can build up over the summer causing a greenhouse effect that can dry up more vegetation and lead to more wildfires in the fall.

Despite this, Tony Barbara reports that "smog-forming emissions have dropped by more than half over 20 years, despite a growing population and more vehicle mile river," according to a 33-page report on Californians progress on tackling the issue (Climate Change). The report also states that the issue should be addressed at a local level and encourage more environmentally friendly projects such as solar water heaters.At this level though, it would be easy to create more incentives for citizens to take up bike riding as a primary form of transportation to address the issue of reducing green house gas emissions by removing more cars off of the streets. Any resident of Los Angels can say they have seen the smog layer that surrounds the midtown area at least once. That grey barrier around the city usually disappears after a good wind storm for at least a day, but comes back regardless. This is due to the fact that there are so many cars swarming the streets of the city, filling the air with exhaust.

This cloud of smelly air spreads further out than Just the city, the valley also has its share of a smog layer for the same reason only it is generally more windy in some areas. However, on days when the smog layer is not around, more people enjoy their day to day lives because they can breath easier and healthier. Air quality n the southland, while being addressed, is also a major health concern as the dirty air can lead to lung and heart problems as time progresses. In a nutshell, not only does the poor air quality look ugly it also is very bad for one's health.

It is apparent that making a major city such as Los Angels into a bike friendly one would take a significant amount of time and a good amount of funding. According to Will Campbell of Los Angels times "the city has an 11-year-old Bicycle Plan, and the city and county officials cite the proliferation of on-street bike lanes as an example of the great trades being made," to create a bike friendly city (More bike lanes). Adding bike paths is only part of the whole solution. There is no good in having a complex grid of bike lanes if there are little to no people using them regularly.For this to be effective there is one crucial element that is needed and that is more people on bikes.

Creating a social incentive to get more people on a bicycle to go to work would get the city on the right track towards a green future. And this is not Just one week of using a bike to get to work, it is the average "329 sunny, bike-friendly days a year," as Campbell reports (More bike lanes). This incentive, would cost little to no funding as it is literally Just a social campaign to change the way the local population perceives cycling as a regular form of transport.As a society based on the amount of cash in their wallets and physical appearance, the real incentive is how much money can be saved and how good one would look after taking up this lifestyle. The incentives would be implicit, but the awareness is the only explicit aspect only needing a few cheap fliers and signs here and there to get the word out and convincing others to et on a bike through the benefits of the practice on one's health and wallet.

In this fast-paced world, cars are considered the all time best mode of transportation in terms of speed.These modern day versions of horses are not as friendly to a worker's wallet though. Consider the initial cost of buying a car, which is usually within a few thousand dollars to start, then factor in maintenance, insurance, and gas. That adds few hundred dollars a month to keep up with the cost of their vehicle. A bicyclist, on the other hand, would spend at the most $50 or less a month on maintenance, have o fuel costs that is not a food item, and only need health insurance to cover any physical problem.

On top of that, the most expensive bicycles on the market rarely go over even a thousand dollars and by that point are electric bikes such as the BABE by Europe at $1300. Even motorized bikes start off at only $300, with electric conversion kits averaging at the same price. According to Jon Recruit's chapter in "Bicycle Blueprint," cycling costs "less than half as much as mass transit and only one-quarter as much as driving. " This is not to say every person in Los Angels should sell their ar and hop on a bike, as helpful as that would be to the environment.It will be some time before the population can rid themselves from the addiction of owning a car.

To put in perspective, owning and maintaining a bicycle is much more friendly to one's wallet than owning a car as Rocket suggests that the average annual savings for someone to switch from driving to cycling can be up to $1100. With all these saving factors in mind, the incentive is saving more money and having more cash to spend on other things such as trips and nice restaurants.Promoting a money saving epistyle through advertising campaigns as simple as printing the statistics on a sheet of paper and sticking them to as many bikes that are on the road as possible can help raise awareness of this beneficial factor of the practice. A person's hard earned cash is not the only advantage of this lifestyle, it also has significant health advantages that everyone can agree with: a slimmer body. The average cyclist tends to be on the slimmer side of the health spectrum than most drivers and this is not just the men in tights on a road racer, but the average Joe on a mountain bike and the students on beach cruisers.That is due to the main benefit of cycling, which is of course good exercise.

According to Darrel Fleece's "The Economic Benefits of Bicycling Infrastructure Investments," "bike commuters average a day fewer absences due to illnesses each year than non-bike commuters. " In addition cycling provides "free aerobic exercise as part of one's normal daily travel," as Rocket states in his work. As it helps the heart and the immune system, the practice also burns calories and fat without having to go to extreme dieting measures.The average cyclist can burn up 215-500 calories in a half-hour if traveling at the average speed of 10 MPH. At that rate a person that travels 10 miles to get to work and 10 miles back can burn up to 2000 calories a day. This means that one can eat a ex.

from In-n-Out with animal style fries one day and not have to worry as much about working it off as opposed to someone that drive to the gym a few times a week. Taking a few cars off the road and getting on a bike would not only make the air healthier to breath, but will also improve one's health overall.Despite the benefits, the average motorist will have a few reasonable details not to Jump into the lifestyle. First is the amount of mime it takes to get from point A to point B. Bicycles are not the fastest mode of transportation and depending on where a traveler is going, a trip can take a few hours as opposed to a few minutes by car. Safety is a major concern to most new cyclists as bike lanes are not present on every street.

Often they cut off at certain intervals and sidewalks are not always accommodating.Next are the traffic delays that present bike lane additions cause for motorists and the inconvenience of slowed traffic when cyclists are present. Then there is the lack of initiative to get on a bike u to the previous factors as well as self confidence. This is the factor that some people think they will not look good on a bike because of their body. Finally is the social norm of owning a car to be successful in life, which is only partially true While it is true cycling does take a significant amount of time, it does not mean that there are not ways around it.

Most cyclists plan routes accordingly based on safety, distance and most importantly time. For example, a cyclist that lives in PCMCIA and works in Northerner has to travel ten miles to arrive at his destination with a speed of 0 MPH. To get to work on time, said cyclist would have to plan to leave an hour or more before he has to work with the fastest route being a street with frequent gaps in the bike lane. This leads into the second point on safety.

Despite the gaps, traffic is slowed on streets with higher bike usage as more signs are present giving bike riders more security on the road.Going into the third point of traffic delays. In a response to the addition of the 2nd street tunnel's new bike lane in February, Nicholas Goldberg quotes the Department of Transportation's engineer Tim Freeman in that there is "an immediate negative impact on automobile traffic after a bike lane is put in, some of that impact is reduced over time as some drivers change their routes and others choose to travel by other means, including public transportation and, of course, bicycles. In short delays are only temporary as drivers re-plan their routes or take up biking themselves. Also, these delays add to the overall safety of the cyclists as slower traffic means more buffer to maneuver out of the way of a wayward car. Which now comes down to the self-esteem issue of not looking good on a bike.

This comes down o a step by step process of getting into cycling regularly first in short distances then adding more distance that is comfortable, eventually leading to a body shaped through cycling and in turn looking good on a bike.The final block is the social norm of cars leading to success, which by creating incentives to get more of the general public on bicycles will slowly reverse over time. There are other ways to reduce air pollution on the other hand that still allow drivers to have their cars. First is increased public transit systems and another would be the introduction of new green cosmologies such as solar roadways. A recent article in LA Weekly by Dennis Roomer has stated that plans are in the works for a new light rail system for the valley with the help of the Metro system (The Valley).

However, the addition of light rail systems and more buses do involve use of federal and local tax funds as much as the next viable solution does. As most people know, solar power is clean green energy that is readily available to the general public. A recent invention by Julie and Scott Bursar has changed how we interpret modern solar technology. Solar Roadways, as the name implies, are streets that provide more power to the towns and neighborhoods that they run through. In Daniel Mower's "Solar Roadways: Route of the Future? " the couple had raised over $2.

Million in it's Indigo campaign of $1 million to begin the installations of this technology in parking lots and eventually busy city streets. According to the inventors, if all the streets in the US were replaced with solar roadways then they would generate three times the amount of energy we need to power the country. The Bureaus also state that this technology could help cut the Rene house emissions of the US by 75 percent. While these solutions are highly viable, they are far more expensive than an awareness campaign spread through word of mouth and cheap advertising.A bike and equipment alone would only cost a new rider a couple hundred dollars at the most with the most high quality gear, and that is only to start up.

As more bike lanes open up in accordance to the city's plan, all that is really needed it to draw more riders in either through the traffic delays that make motorists watch cyclists speed pass them or through explicit advertising. Both giggly affordable or even free of charge, Just starting a Backbone group costs nothing and information about routes and riding tips can be shared from one rider to the next in an instant.Once the awareness starts growing, building funds to either fix or create new bike paths can be started through Indigo and grow quickly. The funds can even go into a new rider's bike if enough funds are gathered, and bring in even more people to the cause and getting more cars off the road.

Getting more of Los Angels' population on bicycles and taking more cars of the streets will help improve he city's air quality with the help of a simple active awareness campaign.As poor air quality is detrimental to one's health and makes the city less pleasing to visit, increasing the amount of cyclists will help fight the issue. By explaining the health and economic benefits of the practice through a simple ad campaign as well as actively showing its benefits, more people could be enticed to Join in on riding a bicycle on a regular basis. There are many bike lanes opening up in the county and the city plans on adding more as the years go on.

So why wait? Grab a bike and get some cars off the road for a cleaner and nicer smelling city.