As the argument progressed it turned out that his 2 mile commute
The counter-counter argument at that point should have been that if it's only 2 miles you should walk or ride a bike, and leave the pickup at home.
edit: Just to be clear, I agree with your argument and find it strange that so many "eco" people insist on living in houses far off in the country side where they have to drive everywhere.
This discussion took place in Michigan. For a substantial fraction of the year you really don't want to ride a bike there. And 2 miles is long enough that walking is inconvenient.
In any case the guy in the conversation wasn't the wannabe environmentalist. He just didn't like being harassed about the impact of his lifestyle choices by a hypocrite who was demonstrably far less environmentally friendly. (But who thought she was doing her bit.)
In other word it was a standard beam/mote discussion.
Does Michigan have worse weather than Bergen? The wettest city in Norway, situated 6° south of the Arctic circle? I'm willing to bet not.
Bergen has seen a boom in percentage of trips made by bike since they instituted a program to make the city more friendly to that mode of transportation.
Cities being designed around the automobile are by far the biggest thing standing in the way of the uptake of everyday cycling, not the weather.
Does Bergen have ice on bike paths for much of the year? My dad traveled to Bergen when he was in his 60s, but I have never been there. Here in Minnesota (which has a climate similar to Michigan), a big barrier to biking or walking outdoors for shopping or commuting (which I do a lot) is the presence of ice on the streets. In places with a freeze-thaw cycle repeatedly during the winter (and Minnesota is one of those places) streets can be covered with ice on random occasions during six months of the year.
Some Minnesotans fly to Arizona every winter to avoid the icy streets here. They are called "snowbirds" locally. I used to think that was an extravagant lifestyle, but when my dad was not quite seventy-two years old, in April in Minnesota, he slipped on ice while on a trip to the local grocery store and then was paralyzed (quadriplegic) for the last six years of life, unable to care for himself at all. Since then, I have taken icy streets much more seriously. I still bike a lot, and I still stay in Minnesota during the winter, but I realize now that walking or biking on ice can have catastrophic consequences.
I agree with the idea that designing a city to be more bike-friendly increases bike trips. I enjoy where I live now because my city has an extensive set of city bike trails (which in the winter are sometimes used by Nordic skiers) that connect to regional trails (former railroad lines) that extend all over our metropolitan area. But I watch out for ice for half of each year.
I clearly shouldn't have underestimated Michigan's climate. I haven't been to Bergen, but I've been in Minneapolis in winter (it was -20 °C). I wouldn't have cycled there due to the bad infrastructure, not due to the weather.
Anyway, aside from those two cities the main reason people don't cycle has been shown time and time again to be lack of infrastructure, not the weather. Just look at other places with the same climate as The Netherlands, or Bergen. Clearly the common factor isn't the weather.
It's also a much bigger factor than people imagine. I've lived in Iceland which often has these sort of glassy ice conditions an -5 °C, and I'd much prefer it to otherwise equivalent weather at 20 °C somewhere else.
The cold allows you to push harder without being sweaty, and I've found that in mixed terrain cycling on ice with studded tires is a lot safer than on no ice. It's a lot easier to slip on loose gravel than it is to slip on ice when your tires have a dozen nails sticking into the ice.
That was 12 years ago, maybe it changed a lot. I just remember a city that fit the typical sprawling metropolis model with everything far apart and cars everywhere that the US is known for. None of it looked very bike friendly compared to similar cities in Europe.
Edit: The parent pointed out that Minneapolis was one of the top cycling cities in the US with around 4-5% of trips made by bike (compared to Europe's 2% average, 10% for Austria & Germany, and >20% for the Netherlands and Denmark). Then deleted the comment for some reason.
Yes, the Twin Cities have improved for bikers in the last twelve years. The metropolitan area here is one of the most sprawling in the United States, so many people rely on personal automobiles for all of their transportation, but there has been a major effort since you were last here to improve bicycle trails.
I don't really understand why Europeans think they have harsh weather. Despite their relatively northern position, water currents and conditions actually produce a calming effect for the majority of Europe (excluding Russia and some of the westerly former soviet satellites). Recently someone asked the same question for a city in Sweden, but I noted that even Chicago has a slightly lower average winter temperature and a much higher average summer temperature. Whatever you do, don't underestimate Minnesota! (I say from experience :().
P.S. Yeah, I know you Canadians have it rough, I feel for you.
P.S. Yeah, I know you Canadians have it rough, I feel for you.
Actually I grew up in Victoria, BC. The climate there is very mild for similar reasons to why much of Europe is. I didn't experience nasty weather until I moved to New Hampshire.
Indeed, the most eco-strident person I know a) lives in a huge house full of consumer crap b) flies all the time on business to c) Dubai, where she is part of the indoor-skislope-in-the-desert economy.
She was vegan for a bit which I suppose might count for a little, then her therapist told her it was OK to eat meat so she started again...
That may be true, but I believe the point is not that the Truck-driver couldn't do more (Sure, he could.. Switching to a car would be better), but to show that the car owner was not considering things logically and considering that the ramifications of her own choices.
The counter-counter argument at that point should have been that if it's only 2 miles you should walk or ride a bike, and leave the pickup at home.
edit: Just to be clear, I agree with your argument and find it strange that so many "eco" people insist on living in houses far off in the country side where they have to drive everywhere.