Cyclists adding to pollution by breathing out

RDW

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/05 ... polluters/

According to US Republican State Representative Ed Orcutt:

"You claim that it is environmentally friendly to ride a bike. But if I am not mistaken, a cyclists [sic] has an increased heart rate and respiration. That means that the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider. Since CO2 is deemed to be a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclists are actually polluting when they ride."

Which is technically true, but rather misses the point.

Peddle Up!

Ha! Just read that and was about to post the link. Barking mad, even for a Republican.

nicklouse

soooo Sunday evening
viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12908757

drays

When contacted by the Seattle Bike Blog, representative Orcutt stuck to his guns. "You would be giving off more CO2 if you are riding a bike than driving in a car," he said, but he admitted that he had not "done any analysis" on the amount of that EPA-identified globe-warmer produced by spandex-wearing devotees of two-wheel locomotion as compared to that which is spewed from the tailpipes of the gas-guzzling vehicles driven by Washington's 6.9 million residents.

Just don't expect a reasoned argument based on actual facts :roll:

zx6man

I bet he is fat and produces more C02 climbing out of his car....

Lightning

Surely he's joking? If not, this is both funny and ridiculous.

ben@31

I bet we produce less CO2 than he does when he's approaching the counter of McDonalds. Especially when they need to send an ambulance to resuscitate him afterwards.

ben@31

After reading the article, he's blatantly saying it as an excuse to tax us. However, his comments are so stupid I feel insulted that he thinks people will believe him.

zx6man

ben@31 wrote:

I bet we produce less CO2 than he does when he's approaching the counter of McDonalds. Especially when they need to send an ambulance to resuscitate him afterwards.

Nope. Drive through.

GiantMike

He has a point though.

From the same logic we should all:

Stop walking our pets. Actually, stop having pets with all their breathing. - TAX PETS
Stop having kids. Do we really need loads of kids? 1 per family would do AND solve the housing crisis. - TAX KIDS
Work from home. Why drive to work? - TAX TRAVEL TO WORK
Ignore pointlessle stupid politicians.

Mikey23

I suppose if I do decide to go for a ride rather than vegetate on the sofa then I am producing more co2. Something else to worry about ...

bompington

GiantMike wrote:

From the same logic we should all hey ho I'm a purple daisy blumble flooble schlurp unglesplatz

FTFY

MaxwellBygraves

Good ol' Republicans

richard_farrant

Bet they could make a fortune taxing marathons...

alihisgreat

GiantMike wrote:

He has a point though.

From the same logic we should all:

Stop walking our pets. Actually, stop having pets with all their breathing. - TAX PETS
Stop having kids. Do we really need loads of kids? 1 per family would do AND solve the housing crisis. - TAX KIDS
Work from home. Why drive to work? - TAX TRAVEL TO WORK
Ignore pointlessle stupid politicians.

Isn't that why they have the one child rule in china? Pollution?

rick_chasey

If he died he'd be even greener.














Well. Greyer.

Mike Healey

And, to the sound of politician's gears grinding:
http://bikeportland.org/2013/03/04/rep- ... more-83716

MichaelW

Methane is about 20x more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. It is important for people to remember this fact when deciding out of which orifice to speak.

ben@31

Mike Healey wrote:

And, to the sound of politician's gears grinding:
http://bikeportland.org/2013/03/04/rep- ... more-83716

Looks like the politician is backpeddling after the bike community has spoken.

GiantMike

ben@31 wrote:

Mike Healey wrote:

And, to the sound of politician's gears grinding:
http://bikeportland.org/2013/03/04/rep- ... more-83716

Looks like the politician is backpeddling after the bike community has spoken.

It's just the usual political cycle. Berate a minority to get more support from the majority, then apologise to the minority for being misunderstood. Both the majority and the minority feel their concerns have been addressed and he gets the precious media coverage too.

He's a politician. He has selflessly put himself forward to tell other people how to live and what to do.

redjeepǃ

That has to rank as one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

Somebody needs to point out to him that the whole greenhouse gas isn't so much about Co2 as the release of trapped carbon. In the same way that burning wood isn't an issue whereas burning fossil fuels is, people breathing out, unless they last took a breath a million years ago, isn't a problem.

Stupidity really knows no limits does it.

ballysmate

My missus reckons I should do my bit for the environment and stopp breathing out. :?

thesquireofbanwell

Don't wish to rock the boat but I had heard this a few years ago but relative to the co2 output
of cars.It additionally stated that air coming out of a cars exhaust was cleaner than that going in
and less than that of 'Eco Warriors' exhaling.

Pross

Humans produce on average 900g of CO2 a day through normal breathing so about 40g per hour. Let's say we cycle for 2 hours a day and that in doing our CO2 output increases fivefold. Therefore over a 2 hour ride we are putting out an extra 320g of CO2. In that time we will probably travel say 50km leaving us with a CO2 output of 6.4g/km (over and above what we would be doing sat on a sofa). That green car of choice for celebrities and politicians, the Prius produces around 90g/km. A Nissan Leaf has no tailpipe emissions but still produces around 80g/km in the electricity generation required to charge it. The average CO2 emissions from a light vehicle in the US in 2010 was nearly 250g/km. Maybe this idiot needs to take on the car lobby instead but then again he's a politician so he isn't going to take on something that will cost votes!