World leaders are congregating in Glasgow for COP26. The world is at a pivotal moment in history and tough decisions need to be made. But there are amazing solutions out there and we still have an opportunity to seize. The Love to Ride team, both at work and at home, have been innovating and doing their bit to make change happen and enable others to join in.
As we saw last month, riding a bike instead of taking the car can have a dramatic impact on our carbon emissions. In fact when you consider the full lifecycle emissions (production, fueling, disposal) of a mode of transportation - emissions from cycling can be more than 30 times lower for each trip than driving a fossil fuel car, and about ten times lower than driving an electric one. You can read the whole article and access the reports we referenced here.
The COP26 challenge
Knowing the potential we have to cut carbon emissions, and with the planet looking to Glasgow, we’ve created a special badge for COP26. We’re challenging everyone on Love to Ride, globally, to take part. The idea was born from a meeting with Glasgow City Council who have been implementing Love to Ride in the Greater Glasgow area since September. Combined with their recent commitment to create an additional 160 miles of cycling infrastructure to be built in the city, we’re expecting to have a big impact.
The task is simple, to ride 26 miles for transportation during COP26. Every rider who achieves that goal during COP26 (1-12 November) will unlock the special badge for taking action and having a direct impact.
Drive Less, Bike More
In the USA we’ve teamed up with The League of American Bicyclists to ask America to bike 1 million miles for transportation purposes. The Drive Less, Bike More campaign has been running since August this year and they have surpassed the original target. 1 million miles of car journeys switched to bicycle journeys has saved 181,090lbs (or 291,430kgs) of C02. That’s the same as amount of carbon that 357 acres of U.S. forest will sequester in one year.
In fact it’s been so successful we have added a stretch target - to see if we can bike an additional 500,000 miles for transportation purposes. Keep an eye on Love to Ride USA and watch the Modeshift O'Meter as it fills!
Closer to home
The Love to Ride team has also been taking the initiative in the lead-up to COP26.
Our Product Owner Christian decided to show his support and ride his bike to Glasgow. From London, that’s a 500 mile trip (for transportation purposes)! He took a week away from the Love to Ride office to embrace the British weather, and in autumn that meant sunshine, rain, hail wind, and more. Christian hasn’t asked for donations to a cause, instead he invited everyone to visit his #RideTheChange page and make a pledge - a commitment to try a simple action in your everyday life for the next two months.
From eating less meat, to rejecting fast fashion the team has made their pledges and they are varied, you can add yours as well.
Marketing Manger Claire had her own two-wheeled adventure, supporting a 16-year-old climate activist, Jessie Stevens, who rode almost 600 miles from the South coast of Devon to Glasgow. Jessie got in touch with The Adventure Syndicate (founded by record-holding round the world cyclist, Jenny Graham, and Active Nation Commissioner for Scotland and former international mountain bike racer, Lee Craigie) to get advice on how to ride such a distance.
Instead, they are supporting her with a route, film and a cargo bike relay to carry everything she needs with her as she travels up the country. Claire got involved as a cargo bike rider on one of the days and has been contributing her time on PR and social media for the movement!
Jessie will be attending both the green and blue zones at COP26 to cover the event, as a journalist, and to ensure underrepresented voices are heard, as a climate activist. You can follow Jessie’s journey here.
