Evan+S’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016

Alternative Transportation We live an America with obesity and diabetes sky rocketing. We live in a world with global warming. When we go to work out we drive to the gym to run on a treadmill. Why do we do this? Our society embraces so much unnecessary driving and waste from this. I know in my within a block of my house five students drive or are driven individually to Foothill Technology. I wish we lived in a world where people biked for more short commutes and drove less. To improve the environment it is a lot easier to start with little things and improve our day to day life style. Then to make a radical shift to try and improve the environment. A small change I wish to see in the America I grow old in is our source of transportation. I do not think getting rid of cars would be practical or functional as we still need to carry larger items and get places that are impractical to do timely on a bike. However according to the US Department of transportation over 70 percent of all driving is less than ten miles trips, and this accounts for over 30% of all miles on cars. Furthermore when you first start a car the engine block is cold, so the engine needs to burn rich to keep going, so more fuel is used. Also the catallactic converter is also cold, so the car releases the most emissions and creates the most deposits on these short drives. Compare this to the bicycle (you should be using) on a short drive, you burn zero oil zero fuel and waste zero time driving. Biking to work is a form of excessive too and even the short commute to work helps build endurance every day and although it does take longer to get places. When you do get home you have already started your work out for the day. This allows you not only to save money on gas tires and oil changes, but also would allow your car to last you at least 30 percent longer saving you money and allowing you to do more things you enjoy. Biking is not safe from all places and safety should be considered I live near northern Saticoy where there is no safe biking infrastructure to get from N Saticoy Ave. to N Petit Ave and people end up in the ditches and through the fences several times a year, so my mom would rarely let me bike to school. This is only 4.5 miles away from my house. However I know many other people that live much closer than me and drive to school. This unnecessary driving creates a traffic and parking issue not only around Foothill, but in almost every city in the United States. A decent bike would out last your car, due to its simplicity. The bike that I ride every weekend over 30 years old, and I did the math from every part ever bought for it from inner-tubes to when I got hit (I didn’t even pay for those parts) and the cost of riding the bike is less than five cents a mile including the initial cost of the bike, and parts as needed. This cost would be impossible to get close to in operating a car. To ride a bike has so many benefits for society from: reducing oil consumption, decreasing emissions, eliminating traffic, and increasing the overall health of Americans. For these reasons I want to grow up in an America that is more bike friendly with more bike infrastructure and more daily bikers. Also when I get my license taken away as I would now be old I would not be just an old man biking because he got his license taken away, but just part of the more environmentally conscious America biking to save the planet.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/pubs/pl08021 http://www.wired.com/2014/11/9-things-drivers-need-stop-saying-bikes-vs-cars-debate/ http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/benefits.htm