— Written by Lyle Jarvis

Quit Driving Us Crazy 🚘️ 

Cars are one of the most obvious polluters around us. They’re also one of the most frustrating (ever been stuck in traffic?). And sure, we’re making great progress with EVs. In fact, 2024 was a record year for electric cars and charging stations. But we’ve had a great climate solution long before our roads were full of Teslas – and it has half as many wheels. 

Plain and simple, bikes reduce carbon pollution, make for cleaner air, less noise and better heath. It’s a fun, cheap and easy way to get around, that just so happens to be better for the planet.

Sure, it can be frustrating to be riding your bike only to look up and see Elon Musk doing donuts in his private jet. But by focusing on the other benefits of biking, the climate-friendly benefits can just be the cherry on top. For starters, do you have kids? Research shows links between kids who bike to school and better concentration in the classroom!

While biking might not change the planet on its own, any biking is better for the planet. If cycling replaced just 6% of car trips, we’d replace $1.2 billion dollars in climate damage every year, and $780 million in health costs!

Check out the episode here to learn more cool facts like this, and how a climate solution can double as your summer bod!

Taking Down The Almighty “Big Car” 🚙

Most cities in the U.S. weren't built for bikes – this wasn’t an accident. Cars have long been part of our infrastructure, a byproduct of the auto industry’s long standing war to make cars the main vehicles for getting around.

The good news is, this cycle (😉) doesn’t have to last forever. In the 60s and 70s, Amsterdam was overflowing with traffic. Now, it’s a bicyclist’s heaven!

The benefits of adding more bike lanes and fewer roads goes beyond just cutting out the nasty chemicals found in car exhaust. Less pavement actually cools down cities, which, not sure if you’ve heard, but they’ve been heating up lately.

Bike-Friendly Cities = More Bikes 🚴‍♀️ 🚴‍♂️ 🚴 

To reshape our cities, we need to make cycling safer. This means more bike lanes, which means talking to your local representatives and using your voting power in local elections.

Increasing bike lanes can increase bike traffic anywhere from 21 to 171 percent – of new cyclists! Which means fewer people on the road causing headaches for your (sometimes inevitable) car commuting.

And even if you hate biking, all of us can benefit from bike friendly cities. If you're not “one of those people” to join in on the biking fun, you might be one of those people who hates noise or likes walking through your neighborhood in peace.

Pedaling for Change Around Town 🏙️

This movement is happening. Cities around the globe are already becoming more bike-friendly. And the good news is, advocating for things like bike lanes is one of those climate issues that us “normal people” can actually make the biggest impacts on.

Unlike big, complicated global stuff like deforestation or carbon sequestration, the fight for friendlier biking cities begins wherever you live. Not to mention, in the wake of a changing federal administration, state and local progress has massive potential to keep the wheels turning no matter what’s happening in the White House.

Climate Changemakers creates action playbooks to help us take attainable, impactful steps toward climate progress. They made a playbook specific to civic action, to help us better contact our leaders and make an impact in our communities!

See step three for a custom letter template they’ve created to kickstart our city officials, and make sure they’re working in tandem toward a healthier, more livable planet.

📅 Community Climate Calendar 🌱🍻 🎟️ 

📣 Upcoming Event: Storytelling for Impact: Crafting Narratives That Drive Change
Join us for a dynamic panel of leading marketing and climate experts (including our very own Kip Pastor) sharing powerful strategies for crafting compelling climate brand stories.

​📅 April 8th | ⏰ 10 AM - 1 PM
📍The KINN, Venice, 150 Horizon Ave, Venice, CA 90291
🎟️ RSVP here!

And it’s almost here! LA Climate Week is coming up April 6-13, a week with events all across the Los Angeles from topics ranging from Climate Comedy 🎤 to Plant-Based Food 🍃 to Circularity 🔄 and more. Stay tuned for our 📗Guide to LA Climate Week in next week’s newsletter. 📨 

👀 Some Stories You Might Have Missed This Week 🗞️📺

1. Ten states hit decade-long EV sale targets (The Oregonian).

2. Coreshell, a battery company we covered in our NextNow Series, raised $24M to develop the lowest-cost, domestically-sourced Lithium-Ion battery anode.

3. Nitricity, a fertilizer company revolutionizing how we grow food, announced a $10M raise for a first-of-its-kind organic fertilizer plant! We also covered them in our Reinventing Tomorrow series, check it out here.

4. Emissions from the building sector stopped rising for the first time since 2020 (UN).