MassBike "Bicycling and the Environment" Fact Sheet

• A short, four-mile round trip by bicycle keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe. (WorldWatch Institute: http://www.worldwatch.org/)

• If the average person biked to work or shopping once every two weeks instead of driving, we could prevent the pollution of close to one billion gallons of gasoline from entering the atmosphere every year. (Interview with Patrick McCormick, Communications Director for the League of American Bicyclists in It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air Newsletter: http://www.italladdsup.gov/newsletter/fall04/experts.html)

• Since 1982, while the U.S. population has grown nearly 20 percent, the time Americans spend in traffic has jumped an amazing 236 percent. In major American cities, the length of the combined morning-evening rush hour has doubled, from under three hours in 1982 to almost six hours today. (Center for Transit Oriented Development: http://www.newurbanism.org/pages/496683/page496683.html?refresh=1116595957683)

• In 1982, Boston drivers wasted 40 million gallons of gasoline simply sitting in traffic; by 2002, that number had increased to 130 million gallons. (Texas Transportation Institute – 2005 Urban Mobility Report: http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/mobility_report_2005_wappx.pdf)

• 60% of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively. Since "cold starts" create high levels of emissions, shorter car trips—which can easily be bicycled—are more polluting on a per-mile basis than longer trips. (bicyclinginfo.org, Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center: http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/pp/benefits/enviroben/index.htm).

• Nationwide, motor vehicle exhaust contributes 55% of nitrogen oxides, and 60% of carbon monoxide emissions, including as much as 95% of carbon monoxide pollution in urban areas. (The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Air Pollutants, Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxides: http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/airairpollutants.html)

• Air pollution contributes to the deaths of 70,000 people nationwide, more than the total deaths from breast and prostate cancers combined. (Harvard School of Public Health Press Release – “ Air Pollution Deadlier Than Previously Thought” March 2, 2000: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/releases/press03022000.html).

• Diesel engine emissions are responsible for 125,000 cancers nationwide, including an estimated 2,900 in Boston alone. (State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, “Cancer Risk from Diesel Particulate: National and Metropolitan Area Estimates for the United States,” March 15, 2000: http://www.4cleanair.org/comments/Cancerriskreport.PDF)

Compiled by Sarah Hencke