Over lockdown, I’m sure many of you turned to your bikes for to let off some steam and to enjoy the outdoors. Whilst most of us weren’t able to ride trails, just going for a pedal around the block made a huge difference to my days and no doubt helped keep me sane.

Riding helps keep us healthy, but it also helps our planet if you’re able to make a trip by bike, that you’d usually make by car. Trek’s #GoByBike movement encourages you to take at least one trip by bike, a week, that you’d usually make by car. Now’s the perfect time to be making lifestyle changes, or continuing new habits, especially when they can make a positive impact on you and the planet we call home. For more, read Trek’s press-release below.

“There’s never been a better time to hop on a bike and go for a ride – and, whether it’s for essential travel, exercise, to let off some steam or to reduce your own personal carbon footprint, the benefits for you, your family, your community and your planet are clear. Trek Bicycle is creating sweeping collective action across the world with #GoByBike, a movement encouraging people to choose to ride a bike at least one trip a week, replacing other modes of transportation, with the goal of reaching 10 million trips for a healthier planet and population. While society is still social distancing, there’s never been a better time to support climate action and form new habits, inspiring people to choose a bike trip over a car trip as often as possible. “Now is the time to adjust our behaviors for the better and co-design a new normal that will have lasting impact on our people and planet,” says Trek Bicycle President John Burke.

For the planet, biking is climate action. Between rising global temperatures, melting ice caps, air pollution, and working to heal a delicate ozone layer, among other things, the world was in a tough spot before the global COVID-19 pandemic. It’s still in a tough spot. Air pollution contributes to 7 million deaths a year globally, according to the World Health Organization. It’s clear, though, that collective action can drive change. Cities, for example, that traditionally suffer from the world’s worst air pollution have seen reductions of air pollution by up to 60 percent from the previous year, during a three-week pandemic lockdown period. Replacing trips made by a car, bus, train or subway with a bike trip can reduce emissions and in turn impact our environment in a positive way.

“At Trek, we are moving fast on climate change. We have hundreds of action items we are taking to reduce our environmental impact, but the biggest thing we can do is to get more people to actually ride their bikes,” says Burke. “This is bigger than just an environmental crisis—it’s a health crisis, and in many places a congestion crisis, which will only continue to get worse as people opt to drive personal cars more in an effort to avoid public transportation and social distance. It is our hope that by encouraging the #GoByBike movement, everyone can look back together and be able to say they played their part in shaping a better future for themselves, their family, their community, and generations to come.””