It seems riding a bike can have a much bigger impact on the environment than I ever would have thought. So, just in case you live or plan on living in a bike-friendly city, check out 10 reasons that will convince you that biking to work isn’t just a way to save time or burn some calories, it is also a way to save the planet.

• Biking Can Reduce Your Household Emissions

According to the U.S. Census, around half of all Americans live within five miles of their workplace. Now, if you get to the conclusion that biking those few minutes is way better than sitting in your car, well then, you could reduce your total household emissions by at least 6 %.

• Biking Saves Trees

Good news! Bicycles reduce the need for clearing land for parking lots. On each parking space, 20 bikes can fit easily. So more bikes mean less cars which results in less clearing the beautiful land for asphalt parking lots.

• Biking Reduces Traffic

According to an MIT study in Lyon France, bikes are 50 % faster than cars during rush hour. Every year, cars sitting in traffic produce 12,140 pounds of pollutants—that’s 97 pounds per mile! With bikes pollution is 0.

• Biking Supports Local Businesses

When you use your car to get around, you’re most likely to do foolish things like hopping on the highway and drive greater distances for your errands. With a bicycle, you’re more likely to keep things local and support the businesses near you. Studies have shown that local businesses help sustaining vibrant, compact, and walkable town centers, which of course help reduce sprawl, habitat loss, and water and air pollution. Very beneficial I’d say!

• Biking Can Make You More Productive

Studies found that biking is a physical activity that can boost your mental health, your endorphins, making you happier and more positive.

• Biking Can Reduce Healthcare Costs

How? Well, bikers are usually in very good physical shape and are less likely to be obese, which means that they tend to cost us, all of us, less when it comes to health care expenses. According to Good.is, 30 minutes of biking daily can save each of us $544 on health care per year. Good to know, isn’t it?

• Biking Has a Smaller Impact from Production

The production of bicycles has a much smaller environmental impact than the production of cars. In manufacturing cars, several tons of waste and 1.2 billion cubic yards of polluted air are generated every year; and that’s without including the 40 million pounds of air releases and 24 million pounds of hazardous waste from cars’ painting and coating.

• Biking Saves Whole Forests

Biking can help prevent deforestation: bikes use much less rubber and fuel/lubricants than other forms of transportation like cars and buses. Every single year the enormous amount of rubber and fuel/lubricants used in cars, clear thousands of acres of forests for rubber plantations. Something to think about…

• Biking is an Animal’s Best Friend

Humans are really the only ones to stick around an area so loud with the noise of car horns and engines. Animals definitely flee to quieter areas, and unfortunately, they are becoming fewer and farther between.

• Biking Can Save Lives

When you hop on your bike, keep in mind the fact that you’re not only helping to save the environment, you’re also helping to save lives! According to the FBI, almost twice as many people die in vehicle crashes per year than by any other form of homicide. Do you know how many bicycle crashes kill people each year? 667—almost 100 % of which also involved a car.

To put that into perspective: you have a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a car accident, however your chances of dying in a biking accident are 1 in 4,919.

So, what do you think? Good reasons, right?

Can you tell us more reasons why people should start biking? Comment below.