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Summer Treks is committed to helping youth find their own voice through experience, discipline, leadership, and fun! We are dedicated to seeking excellence in all that we do. This summer, join our trek from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Following the Pacific Coast through gorgeous parks, interesting roadways, and lush landscapes, the 16-day bike trek is one of the most diverse, beautiful and dramatic cycle tours in America. You’ll be resting at the beaches, camping under the stars, and engaging in ecological outreach activities that just might change our environment.
Economics is a social science and seeks to make decisions about tradeoffs based on quantifiable data. However, many people who chose to bike over driving believe the greatest benefits are intangible. Of course, they know they are saving money, getting exercise, and reducing their carbon emissions, but many find the greatest pleasure in the experience—the wind in their face on a brisk morning, the healthy release of endorphins, noticing details about their communities and neighborhoods that have previously been overlooked, and a sense of accomplishment in choosing a health habit every day. The intangible benefits that economics may not be able to put a price on become the greater incentives over saving money. Here at Summer Treks, that’s what we try to re-create for our clients. Our trips go through some of the most beautiful areas in the United States and we strive for excellence and lifelong memories in every activity that we are involved in. We believe our trips are a great value, physically challenging and rewarding, and environmentally responsible—all of these are priorities, but the benefits do not stop there. We also seek to empower our students to make the right decision every day, develop healthy habits, and to leave them with lifelong memories and a sense of accomplishment that is—we believe—priceless. [Tim S. Gehring]
The individual incentives may be the necessary motivation most people, but there are additional benefits for the communities, towns, and societies that we live in as well. In economics there are principles called externalities—both positive and negative. A positive externality is a decision made by an individual who does not reap the full benefits of that decision, but rather the greater benefit is absorbed by society. Immunizations and beekeepers are examples of a positive externality. Immunizations, for example, help prevent the individual from a certain disease, but the rest of society also benefits because there is one less person that is able to spread the sickness to other people. A negative externality is a situation where the individual does not pay the true cost and thus these additional costs are passed on to society. For example, I have purchased my vehicle and I pay for the gasoline that I use, but not included in those costs are environmental costs—negative externalities. My use of the vehicle releases CO2 emissions negatively impacting the quality of the air—a cost that I am not incurring. The classic example is a steel mill (popularized in Coase’s Theorem) and the air pollution that it produces but does not pay for. This is also the reason behind the proposed carbon tax in order to reduce emissions believed to be causing climate change. Commuting on a bike addresses both of these issues. It is a positive externality in the sense that it provides greater benefits to society through less traffic vehicles in the daily commute and improves the air quality of surrounding communities through less emissions, although perhaps marginally. By the same token, it removes the negative externality and eliminates the additional environmental costs being passed onto society. Thus, it is truly a habit that local governments should promote for the well being of individuals and of the greater community by providing more bike-friendly roads and streets. [Tim S. Gehring]
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