Living creatures absorb most of this carbon, but the excess accumulates in the atmosphere. Of all of our fossil fuel uses, automobile travel is the least defendable. T he amount of carbon dioxide which motor vehicles produce is enormous. The world consumption of oil has now increased to 3.2 billion tons of oil, thus 10 billion tons of CO 2 are produced yearly from oil alone. By riding my bike on errands, to work, for weekend recreation, and on summer vacations, I have greatly reduced auto use, and I have had a better life.
Cycling is environmentally sound.
We have sold our birthright and have little to show for it. Our forests have been stripped cleaned, our farms are badly polluted, our children are abandoned and carry guns, our cities have become slums, our countryside is a maze of freeways, our lives are empty, taxes and meaningless expenses eat up our salaries, the balance of trade and national debt have reached insane amounts, and our heroes are constantly in trouble over sex and drugs. H enry Thoreau, speaking 150 years ago, foresaw the problems our civilization was headed towards. T he solution, both for us as individuals and as a nation, is to quit following the piper and to rearrange our priorities. We have to learn to value people over property, Nature over luxury, love and affection over sex and money, and meaningful experiences over financial success.