| The Two Mile Challenge |
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| Written by Joshua Liberles | |||||
| Tuesday, 16 October 2007 | |||||
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The goal of Clif Bar's 2 Mile Challenge is simple: to make people decrease their car reliance for close-to-home excursions. As the Challenge's website states, "40% of U.S. urban travel is 2 miles or less. Ride your bike to fight global warming." Via the 2 Mile Challenge website, people can commit to as much or as little as they choose. Actions include simply getting a bike together, mapping out trips within a 2-mile radius of home and planning bike routes, and becoming a bike ambassador.
A map that runs off of a google maps platform allows users to visualize what's accessible within a 2-mile radius of their homes, and includes customizable markers for grocery stores, cafes, etc. The site is a great tool to make the baby steps to actually get your ass out the door and out of your car. Once people begin taking small trips via bike, they'll likely get more comfortable with riding and start to extend that radius. Heck, maybe they'll even enjoy getting some fresh air and having a pulse.
In an effort to get young adults in on the fun, the 2 Mile Challenge crew is hitting the road in a 1959 GMC bus with 3 million (they swear it's true!) miles on its odometer. For this chapter of its life, the bus is running on pure biodiesel. The Clif Bar group's tour will hit 16 campuses in the western United States to help guide students through the process of running errands and commuting by bike.
Hats off to Clif Bar for encouraging new people to be more active with small, simple, non-intimidating steps. Comments (2)
beforewisdom
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Riding a bike doesn't work out well for all people in all situations. However, you still eliminate many of these short car trips by consolidating your car trips. One simple trick is to simply do more of your shopping and errands on your way home from work. Not only is this green, it will extend the life of your car ( short trips kill cars early ), save gas, save prime time on weekends, and it will save money. |
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Words of wisdom from beforewisdom -- really good suggestions for minimizing back n' forth short trips. These are the most damaging to the environment by far (per mile) and this is specifically why Clif bar started their 2mile initiative. |
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