Taking the climate fight to the bike lane

Combatting the climate crisis takes action of all sizes. While dealing with big polluters and having a national strategy for climate change is at the top of my list, we also must deal with everyday behavior and how we incentivize individuals to contribute to the fight for our planet.

It's one of those incentives that I want to tell you about today: creating a tax credit to make electric bikes more accessible. Part of taking action on a local level means moving away from fossil fuels, and that means not only investing in infrastructure, but in healthy lifestyles.

Helping make E-bikes more affordable is a step in that direction. In fact, researchers at Portland State University recently published a study showing that if just 15% of urban car miles were traveled by E-bike instead, we'd cut carbon emissions by 12%.

Facing numbers like that, we ought to be doing everything we can to make E-bikes affordable and accessible.

And now's the time to act. As I told Willamette Week, one of the few positive developments of the last year has been the bike boom, as folks across the nation started riding more and driving less, burning calories not carbon.

This boom can make a real difference in towns across Oregon and America in our ongoing efforts to not only fight the climate crisis, but fuel an American manufacturing industry that's on the rise.

As our movement pushes forward to take on the existential threat of climate change, we have to pay attention to both the forest and the trees – about the big, progressive picture, but also each and every smaller legislative effort along the way. I'm proud to do my part in Congress.

Courage.

Earl