For The Love Of Balance

Being environmentally-friendly is often about the larger-picture balance, and reconsidering the things you take for granted. Maybe you see your ability to get around by car as a given freedom, even a fundamental right. Propose to yourself that perhaps you’re wrong – and that years of habitual culture and advertising have told you that. Perhaps environmentalism, for you, is about sacrifice.

How about trading in your car for a motorbike?

In my and their defence, when someone comes across as anti-car, chances are they’re simply anti-overkill.

This is overkill:

Hummer Overkill

This is not:

While I woulnd’t call motorcycles the “environmentalists choice”, it sure is a viable and efficient motorized way of getting around.

Generally, a ‘fuel-efficient’ car comes in at about 45 mpg at best (excluding hybrids). Motorcycles like this Yamaha average about 78 mpg. That means that if you’re riding it consciously you could probably do better. Like not accelerating up hills, for instance. A simple four-stroke (one cylinder) engine is all one needs to get around (for fair distances).

Some reasons you might not want to get a moto-bike is 1) safety, if that’s your concern, 2) bad weather discomfort, if that’s your concern, 4) inability to lug things around, and/or, 4) your girlfriend won’t let you (and wants to see you in a Hummer) – see above picture.

To conclude, motorcycles are neat (see also: “cool”), and don’t drag around extra weight. In my opinion that is the overkill factor; one person occupying a hollow metal machine, dragging ass around the city. Driving half a mile to the store for milk and beer isn’t overkill, but 30 million people doing the same thing is.