Episode 117
[FOCUS] Bicycling and Kids Climate Action (Kids Activism)
Episode Summary: This discussion on bicycling is an excerpt from a previous episode titled 'Bicycling and Kids Climate Action.'
In this segment, Leekei and Rick delve into the liberating effects of cycling on children's freedom and cognitive development. They also examine how biking can empower kids to participate in climate action. They explore the opportunities for children as young as 18 months to start biking, and discuss how infrastructure influences the adoption of cycling.
To listen to the full episode of this conversation, go here
Urban cycling fans? Listen to another episode of CarbonSessions with Julie from Ottawa, Canada, discussing urban cycling, pathways and infrastructure among other topics.
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Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.
Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!
You can find out more on page 166 and 274 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 234 and 139
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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang and Rick Holt.
Rick is a cycling enthusiast, part of his local school cycling patrol and a certified cycle instructor, teaching adults and kids. Rick is from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.
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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.
Transcript
So you said that you have wonderful memories of your, uh, bicycle when
Speaker:you were from when you were child.
Speaker:So can you.
Speaker:Share some of these wonderful memories.
Speaker:Well, certainly I think I, I got my first bicycle when I was, uh, in second grade.
Speaker:So that would've been about what, eight years old.
Speaker:And I remember, uh, just the freedom.
Speaker:Did you get from it?
Speaker:Uh, being there was a hill behind my house.
Speaker:And so the, you know, as, as a child, you know, one of these things you
Speaker:liked doing is, is going fast, right?
Speaker:So you, um, on the bike, on the hill, I had this exhilaration of
Speaker:flying down the hill on its bike and having that freedom to do it.
Speaker:And you know, that, that kind of thing stayed with me throughout my life.
Speaker:As I kept biking and went into later year.
Speaker:So fifth grade in the us, uh, 11 years old.
Speaker:And now I I'm part of the, the school, um, safety patrol and
Speaker:I'm the crossing guard as well.
Speaker:And so I biked to school in the morning and I'd be crossing guard and, and
Speaker:then, you know, it's fascinating.
Speaker:That's I think I was reflecting on this yesterday about.
Speaker:Maybe that was my start in recycling, cuz I used to go out and um, at that
Speaker:time bottles were, had deposit on them.
Speaker:So if you had a glass bottle for a soda, um, there was a deposit and
Speaker:not everybody would return 'em.
Speaker:So I would go out on my bike and collect up these, these soda bottles
Speaker:and then turn 'em in and get my money for, for, um, for movies.
Speaker:So so that was your entrepreneurial?
Speaker:Yeah, entrepreneur and a, but also start into, uh, recycle.
Speaker:I didn't think about, you know, taking care of the environment that
Speaker:way, but it gave me, uh, uh, a.
Speaker:Freedom.
Speaker:I could move around.
Speaker:I could go to school.
Speaker:I could go to the movies.
Speaker:I could go to the pool.
Speaker:I had a lot of things within a five mile radius.
Speaker:I go to sports practice.
Speaker:For example, I picked up a, uh, paper route later on, uh,
Speaker:delivering papers in sixth grade.
Speaker:So you think in this early age, being mobile, to be able to get out
Speaker:to places and go to your friend's house and those type of things.
Speaker:I think the bike is a wonderful tool for children.
Speaker:It.
Speaker:That's uh, intersectional in the fact that it focuses on independence,
Speaker:so that growth, self confidence, resilience, but it also gives children
Speaker:from what you were talking earlier.
Speaker:It gives children a way to, without maybe knowing it take climate action, because
Speaker:you're replacing a trip that might be in, in a vehicle that's using fossil fuel with
Speaker:something that's under your own power.
Speaker:So that's the, how they can teach their parents how to be climate active.
Speaker:Uh, exactly.
Speaker:There's some great studies, uh, out at the us recently looking at, um, middle.
Speaker:Children going through, um, classes in climate change and them being able to,
Speaker:um, use intergenerational learning to, to help their parents or grandparents
Speaker:understand that and change their, their, um, mindset on climate change.
Speaker:And I think bicycle can do the same thing.
Speaker:Mm-hmm and it's also great sport because, uh, exercising.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you've not only do you have the health aspect of it because
Speaker:of it's, it's a recreational tool, but it's also in my, in my life.
Speaker:It's been a recreational tool.
Speaker:It's been a place to, for independence to get the destinations.
Speaker:Um, it's a tool I use to go.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:What's best today to get around.
Speaker:Is it walking today?
Speaker:Is it biking today?
Speaker:Is it taking a bus?
Speaker:Is it driving?
Speaker:And the other part, is it, it, you can commute with it, you know,
Speaker:most trips in, in a lot of cases underneath five miles, the larger.
Speaker:Majority is something you could do by a bike mm-hmm cause those are most,
Speaker:our vehicle trips are short distances.
Speaker:And so you could replace those in most cases with a, with a especially
Speaker:today with a e-bike mm-hmm yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, you know, it's and number, kind of tool for me, my office.
Speaker:My previous office was, um, very well actually quite close to
Speaker:my home so I could walk there.
Speaker:I could take the Metro.
Speaker:Ah, yes, mm-hmm um, it's like if I walk there, uh, which I did most
Speaker:days, uh, which is about 30 minutes walk, so it's very easy, uh, a very
Speaker:nice walk in, in Paris, but sometimes
Speaker:um, I, I bicycle to work for a very specific reason because of the traffic.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:If I, you know, when I wake up in the morning and I feel very, very stressed
Speaker:and I want to think about something else.
Speaker:Ah, I get a bike.
Speaker:I don't have my own bike in Paris.
Speaker:We have a wonderful, uh, bike rental system.
Speaker:So I rent a bike and I have to be very, very focused on my bike.
Speaker:And it worked magic.
Speaker:You know, I just have to focus on my, on my bike and, you know, keeping wonderful,
Speaker:keeping myself like San and alive.
Speaker:And then yes, and all my worries for the day disappear.
Speaker:So I arrive at work all fresh.
Speaker:So I, I it's, it's funny.
Speaker:And I used, I used to commute, uh, to work by bike and the
Speaker:whole, that that's the same thing.
Speaker:One, um, commuting by bike.
Speaker:My travel was always within five minutes.
Speaker:Mm-hmm . It was a 20, 20, 25 minute bike ride, but it was always within a
Speaker:five minute window there to get there.
Speaker:And so it's very reliable, consistent, but it was also like you said, it's,
Speaker:it's, um, it's one of these where people who bike for their commute
Speaker:actually are some of the happier people out there with their commute,
Speaker:because you are it's that Zen feeling.
Speaker:It's fun.
Speaker:You're seeing the environment, you see this with children on different.
Speaker:Things they're doing, uh, there have been a lot of, uh, critical masses
Speaker:or bike to school efforts across the international, across the globe.
Speaker:And you know, I've seen some recently in Europe as well, and you see the
Speaker:children out there biking, having that freedom to get to school in the morning.
Speaker:Just think about the fact you got to work.
Speaker:You had that Zen, the stress was released.
Speaker:And now here are kids that.
Speaker:Bike the school and they're focused.
Speaker:They, they they've used up some of that energy and now they pay more
Speaker:attention when they're in the classroom.
Speaker:So I think it's a wonderful tool to think about that they're exploring their
Speaker:environment, but then they're also more focused when they get to the school.
Speaker:Yeah.
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