Examining the Downtube carbon footprint

It’s easy to understand why a company should be ‘green’ these days. The news is filled with stories of horrendous changing climate events, rising water levels, and cancer causing pollution. That should be enough for any company to strive to be ‘green.’ But what exactly does it mean to be ‘green’ these days? Being ‘green’ means reducing or eliminating your contribution to the pollution entering the air, water, or soil. Sounds easy. But it’s not necessarily. You need to examine how you handle waste products – burning waste causes air pollution; sending waste to a landfill causes the emission of carbon dioxide, which in turn adds to the greenhouse gas effect; dumping into our water ways is, in my mind, simply horrible because of all the harm it does to anything or anyone who relies on that water, which is basically everyone.

I often see advertisements about a company being ‘green’, especially in the bicycle industry. So how does the Downtube stack up? Pretty darn well, I’d say.

We have a near zero carbon footprint! How is that possible? Let me explain the four main reasons.

1. Manufacturing - Our factory uses a highly efficient process. We do not add anymore carbon to the environment than most bicycles produced in the market anywhere in the world. This is the only substantial component to our carbon footprint.

2. Delivery - Our bikes are shipped in a container placed on a cargo ship. These ships would sail with or without our bikes, hence delivery does not add anything to our carbon footprint.

3. Management - We do not have an office. So, no extra lights, heat, or air conditioning are needed. I run most of the operation virtually. So, it is for the most part a paperless operation. Additionally, I have been a math professor for most of the last 25 years, and I use my time to run/manage Downtube between classes and meetings. I have lived and worked as a math professor in the Bahamas, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands without ever having to augment my carbon footprint.

4. Staff - Our staff is made up of my family and a few warehouse staff. The warehouse workers we use are part of a public warehouse system. They would go to work with or without our business. Therefore, our staff adds a zero carbon footprint.

5. Shipping - We use UPS, and USPS exclusively. Both services would operate without our business, hence our shipping has a near zero foot print. All we add is getting packages from our facility to the UPS/USPS trucks. With our daily pickups, this adds up to an almost zero carbon footprint.

It takes planning, research, and determination to reduce or eliminate your carbon footprint when you run a business. But it can be done. We’re proud of your efforts to help save the world from ourselves. I believe that finding another business that runs as efficiently and uses as little carbon as the Downtube will not be easy.