Originally Posted by velotimbe
After reading all the responses, I think many missed the point.....
I am not saying to stop riding a bike. I am saying it is not enough for some of the claims of "sustainability" that people are making.
Car-free is great. I would if I could. Just stop the claims of being "sustainable" because you are not. That doesnt mean dont try. Try hard, and then try harder. Do all that you can. I do as much as I can. But that still will never make me sustainable in this system.
To be sustainable, you would need to build your own house, use no electricity (even renewables are oil-based), grow your own food or with a very local-based group of people, and you probably wouldnt be able to ride a bike, unless of course it was steel. Carbon is petrol-based and Aluminium requires massive amounts of energy to refine. 5lbs of aluminium = 8 gallons of oil.
Keep up the good work you all, but stop the bragging. Get it?
Well let's see
We typically only buy bulk items at the grocery store, things like flour, sugar and coffee. We could grow our own wheat, but is not a good use of the land at the moment. My truck runs on B100 and I really don't have to have it(the truck). We raise chickens, rabbits, and goats. We have fruit and nut trees. We plant multiple gardens. We are in the process of building a pond that will be well stocked. Mail I could care less about. Wanna save the enivronment stamp out junk mail! Most of my bikes are steel (at least the ones I prefer) However I am having an issue finding natural rubber tires
I have actually seen a bike built out of bamboo, talk about sustainable! Even 200 years ago people still depended on items from outside the homestead.
Aaron
