What We Do (Other Than Biking) To Help The Environment

In addition to sharing how our partners in building a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone are taking climate-saving action through bicycling, League staff shared what we do to help the environment (besides our love for bicycling, of course) in the Summer 2022 issue of our American Bicyclist magazine. Join or renew your League membership today to receive the next issue of American Bicyclist in your mailbox and flip through the pages of our latest issue below!

Bill Nesper, executive director 

Composting

We started composting our food waste during the pandemic as a way to cut down on what goes to the landfill while making healthy soil for growing things. I like to take the recycling and compostables to the community recycling depot by bike.

Anna Tang, Bicycle Friendly America program specialist

Volunteering

My city of Pittsburgh is the headwaters of the Ohio River whose watershed reaches nearly 10% of the nation’s population. As a board member of our local trails group, Friends of the Riverfront, I volunteer as a gratekeeper, to maintain and steward the sewer grates in my neighborhood. It’s just one small way that I am trying to help the local ecosystem and its effect on our downstream neighbors. We all live downstream!

Amelia Neptune, Bicycle Friendly America director

Vermicomposting

I’ve been vermicomposting (composting with worms) for the last 12 years and absolutely love it as a simple way to reduce my family’s waste output and fertilize our plants at the same time. Over the last decade-plus that I’ve had a worm bin, we’ve lived in a number of small apartments with no outdoor space, and still found it easy and odor-free to maintain. Now that I have a yard, I recently upgraded my composting system for easier compost harvesting (and more worms!)

Alison Dewey, education director

Solar Panels

My family and I have had solar panels on our house for the last eight years. The power doesn’t go directly to our house, however, it goes back into the grid and is used by our power company. It not only helps the environment, but it also saves us money!

Kevin Dekkinga, director of membership and development 

Cargo Bike

It’s hard to pick something non-bike-related! My family commutes in style now, to school and elsewhere, with our new Urban Arrow cargo bike. Big thanks to the staff at Four Star Family Cyclery in Chicago for making it happen! fourstarfamilycyclery.com

Caron Whitaker, deputy executive director 

Enjoying a Vegetarian Diet

I reduce my climate impact by being a vegetarian.

Riley P. Titlebaum, education & outreach assistant 

Plant Care & Embroidery

Quarantine led me to pick up a number of new hobbies, including plant care and embroidery. Since then, my house plant collection has grown from a single succulent to 14 different plants and I purchased a sewing machine. This year, I want to start growing my own produce and herbs and get better at repairing, altering, and making my own clothing. 

Lorna Green, operations director

Recycling & Composting

Besides recycling, I have opted into PGC Composts, my county’s compost program. The program includes curbside collection of food scraps and helps Prince George’s County get closer to its zero waste and waste diversion goals.

Ken McLeod, policy director

Farmshare

I am a member of my local farmshare. The Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) is working to create an equitable food and farming system which prioritizes health and abundance by supporting community initiatives, markets, farms, and farmers in Roanoke. Every Tuesday during the farmshare season I pick my share up by bike. In this picture, you can see the outline of a dozen eggs in my frame bag.

Lauren Jenkins, communications director

Small Changes, Big Impact

On the one hand, it feels embarrassing to say I haven’t made any huge life changes. On the other hand, it’s been easy to make a lot of smaller, “little” changes like ditching red meat, downsizing our car, and making more meals at home. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by needing to do something huge, we can all make minor shifts that add up to a big impact.

Raven Wells, communications coordinator 

Repurposing 

I try to never leave without grabbing one of my reusable bags. Not only does it help me worry less about how to repurpose plastic bags, (those usually become trash can liners, deep conditioning hair caps or lunch bags otherwise) the larger bags—like my favorite bag pictured here—make for easy grocery trips while living in a multi-floor apartment.

Alyssa Proudfoot, membership and program assistant

Travel Choices

A huge contributor to carbon emissions is air travel, so I’ve been intentional about replacing as many of my trips as I can with other modes of transportation, especially trains. On my last trip to New York City from Washington, D.C., I went by Amtrak and halved the carbon emissions I would have contributed by air travel and was able to keep my bike by my side the whole time!

Austin Wu, safety policy specialist

Public Transit

I also take public transit quite frequently instead of driving. This is a photo of me commenting on the design of a bus stop sign on the CBC show Uytae Lee’s Stories About Here, S01E04 “How to Fix Bus Stop Signs”.