Later this summer, I’m planning a big bike ride. I’ll be cycling from Gretna to John O’Groats, covering over 400 miles. I want to set myself a bit of a challenge, and raise funds for Friends of the Earth Scotland. Sometimes you need to give yourself a good reason for a big bike ride. Though as Conan Doyle notes, cycling can be an end in itself:
When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.
With atmospheric CO2 at 400 parts per million, I decided it was time for a ‘low carbon tour’. I want to highlight the issue of climate change, and raise funds for an organisation which is working hard to save the planet.
Graph via The Atlantic
Why is 400 parts per million such a milestone? Well, scientists have warned that if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change, we should keep the levels of atmospheric CO2 below 350ppm. See Hansen et al, 2007, ‘Target Carbon’. For more about what sustained CO2 levels in excess of 350ppm could do to the planet, see this Nature feature.
So it’s vital to tackle CO2 levels in order to combat global warming. Reducing our CO2 missions can be challenging. Our economic systems and some of the most familiar parts of our lives involve burning fossil fuels, hence the rapid rise in CO2 levels and global warming.
400ppm of CO2 visualised at carbonvisuals.com
I know I’ll find my bike ride a bit of a challenge. It’ll involve some big hills and some long days in the saddle. Friends have already warned me about the vicious midges north of Inverness. But I’m sure it’ll be fun and worthwhile too.
Why not…
- Support me in my challenge?
- Find out about Friends of the Earth Scotland?
- Set yourself a low carbon challenge?
things that might have been otherwise 