In this year’s record-breaking Bike to Work Challenge, nearly 15,000 riders from 1,870 teams pedaled for over 1.7 million miles! The Office of Sustainability and Environment’s (OSE) 8-member team (40% of the office participating) biked more than 900 miles total (the distance from Seattle to Fresno, CA) and finished in the top half for both number of trips and miles, and in the top third for percent commuting during the month (53% of the team’s commutes were by bike). But, what does 890 pounds of carbon pollution mean? That’s the equivalent of burning nearly a barrel of oil, or the amount of carbon sequestered by a third of an acre of US forests (from EPA’s carbon equivalency calculator).
Team Captain Nicole Ballinger kicked off the month with a lunch get-together to give seasoned and less experienced riders a chance to share advice, talk about gear and routes, and of course, tips for packing shoes (lots of people keep them at their desk to not haul them back and forth every day).
The OSE team’s name says it all: Greenhouse G-ass Kickers! Team members plan to continue biking all summer and hopefully beyond. In fact, several members rode (intentionally!) in the rain for the first time and love riding for the convenience, fitness and health benefits, and most of all, for knowing it’s a pollution-free form of transportation. Congratulations to all the other riders, especially the 3,400 plus new commuters!