The bicycle is a perfect mode of transport

Any visitor to Amsterdam will quickly notice that the city streets are awash with bicycles. It is the most popular mode of transport in that city.

In Malawi, bicycles are associated with the less-privileged. If a manager turned up at work on a bicycle, people would think there is something terribly wrong with his/her mental faculties.

Bicycles have many advantages over motor vehicles. They are, for example, a lot more economic to run than cars. Of course, those that feel affluent will quickly dismiss this as a non-issue. There are a number of other advantages too.

If you drive in Blantyre these days, you can hardly find parking space. It is not uncommon to see cars driving round and round in search of parking space. A bicycle would not subject its rider to such inconvenience, as it can be parked just about any place. Modern cities are becoming more and more car-unfriendly and the bicycle is the perfect substitution for the car.

Yet another advantage of the bicycle is that it keeps the rider in good health because of the physical exercise they have to engage in as they cycle. As a result, incidences of high blood pressure would be reduced, as would be other conditions occasioned by lack of exercise.

Some readers may not believe it, but a bicycle is a mode of transport that is totally green. Unlike a motor vehicle, a bicycle does not discharge noxious gases such as carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide or sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. The greatest number of vehicles, and indeed nearly all vehicles in Malawi, are propelled by burning petrol or diesel and, therefore, push the gases mentioned above into the atmosphere.

These gases are not benign, not in the least. Carbon dioxide, for example, is a major culprit for global warming. If I may be allowed to digress a bit, let me mention that of all planets in the solar system, Venus has the hottest surface, around 420 degrees Celcius, although it is not the one closest to the Sun. Its tortuously high temperature is due to the presence of a great amount of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, which has caused the runaway greenhouse effect. If we continue pumping carbon dioxide (and methane) into our atmosphere at the rate we are doing, this planet will soon become like Venus.

Sulphur dioxide will react with atmospheric moisture to form sulphuric acid, a highly corrosive agent that constitutes acid rain. One of the reasons the environment on planet Venus is so torturous is because when it rains, the raindrops that fall are sulphuric acid. It is not that hellish here but if we continue to emit sulphur dioxide into our atmosphere, the problem of acid rain will get serious.

Environmentalists have come up with the term “carbon footprint” which, in layman’s language, is the amount of greenhouse gases (in tons) an individual emits into the atmosphere in a given time frame, typically a year. Ideally, one’s carbon footprint is supposed to be zero. The higher the carbon footprint of an individual is, the more destructive that individual is to the environment.

One way of reducing one’s carbon footprint is to refrain from driving. It follows, therefore, that those that take a bicycle ride wherever they want to go have a very low carbon footprint compared to those that drive. Let me ask you, my esteem reader: What is your carbon footprint?

I was excited when I learnt that one John Magufuli, President of Tanzania, decided, in a symbolic show, to ride back to State House from a State function one day. If such a high-profile citizen feels free to ride a bicycle, what would stop the rest of us—lesser mortals—from doing so?

I do not cycle around town, I must confess. The only reason I do not is because our roads are far too dangerous for cyclists. If the roads were made safer by providing separate paths for cyclists, I would be the first one to abandon motorised transport in favour of the bicycle.

Let each one of us search within their habits and determine the level of their carbon footprint. Having so determined, they must decide to do something about it to prevent our beloved planet from following the dangerous route taken by its cosmic neighbour, Venus. n