• Atemu
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      2 years ago

      It depends. Expended energy/m is higher but space usage is much lower. For walking you arguably don’t even need a paved path while (non-sport) cycling needs a somewhat even surface and places to store and lock the bike. It’s not nearly as bad as with cars but even with cycling, space usage can become an issue in very densely populated areas; the Dutch don’t build massive bike garages because it’s cool (okay, maybe also a little of that) but because it’s a necessity.

      If it’s near enough to walk, it’s usually better to just walk.

    • ntzm [he/him]
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      112 years ago

      More people are happy to walk than bike, and getting hit by a bike is worse than getting walked into by another person

    • @NateNate60@lemmy.ml
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      22 years ago

      The bike’s production has a non-zero carbon footprint. A very small footprint, but one that is there nonetheless. The carbon footprint of walking is negligible in comparison.

      • @yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee
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        102 years ago

        Shoe production has a non-zero carbon footprint, especially with the vast majority of shoes being a “single use” product (i.e. not resoleable) and with a very limited amount of miles

        • Uranium3006
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          22 years ago

          I’m surprised by how fast I wear holes in my shoes from walking.

      • Uranium3006
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        22 years ago

        this is true, although they all round down to 0 when compared to car travel so past a certain point we don’t have to worry about it

      • @SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        Debatable, and largely depends on a person’s diet and some other factors like how much travel is getting done. If someone is fueling their biking (or walking) by flying in beef from the other side of the world, I think it is pretty safe to say that their carbon footprint is worse than a typical gas car, (because air travel and beef are just that bad) or if not that at least an electric car from renewables and ethically sourced materials. For everything else in between, we’d just be speculating and we’d have to factor in source and type of car fuel, and the source and type of additional food consumed by a cyclist where that “additional food” line lies exactly.

        Controlling for diet, distance and purpose of travel, I think cycling virtually always wins over walking.