EcoBliss: Ride Your Bike, Save the World

Miss Emily says:
"Get off your bum and ride your bike, human!"

Listening to: For my frog, brand new from a band I'm not sure I agree with her about!

Bliss: I had a killer headache this morning, but it's gone and that is pure bliss, for sure. Right now, I'm learning about some new things that I hope to write about soon -- but I love that initial learning phase! A geek high.

Locally, there are some ads being sent in the mail from one politician's campaign against the other that are totally annoying. What a shock.

The person I won't be voting for is claiming that the other person says that to solve the energy crisis we should all ride our bikes. GASP!

The person I won't be voting for is mocking the brave politician who is standing up and daring to challenge us.

But if you saw the person I won't be voting for, you would know why he thinks riding bikes is silly. I doubt he ever even really walks.

But riding bikes is not silly. Far from it. It is a legitimate suggestion (especially when combined with...public transportation -- this newfangled idea that is spreading like wild fire all across the rest of the world).

Many leading environmentalists are finally saying that if you are going to do one thing for the planet, stop driving. And some of the top climate scientists are saying and doing the same.

Remember, it's not just about extraction of oil from the ground. It's also about the construction of that car and the waste of the cars when we are done with them. It's also about the roads that are built and the wildlife that is displaced and the sprawl...and on and on. Cars are not about gas prices; they are about destruction on so many levels. (The politician I won't be voting for is morbidly obese -- a great example of what has happened in terms of our becoming sedentary car addicts.)

Imagine, if you could, a world in which most people would ride their bikes when the trip was less than three to five miles and the weather was good. Imagine, how much this would change the world. Just this little bit of effort.

Three to five miles on your bike is a short ride. It goes by super fast. And I'm not saying that you have to be hard core and ride in rain or cold or wind...just when it's that perfect riding weather.

See...only a tiny bit of effort. Imagine if almost everyone did this. Imagine if people took this seriously like the concept of a Victory Garden during World War II. Imagine if people saw saving the planet for their great-great grandchildren as a patriotic duty instead of say...shopping or buying bigger gas guzzlers or hating whole groups of people for their religions.

(As many of you reading know, my partner and I have been car free for over seven years. Here's the why and the how of it.)

Here's a way to start changing how you use your car.

Keep in mind that according to stats that are over 12 years old, the average American gets in and out of their cars ten times a day. The starting up of the car, of course, is when most of the pollution is spewed.

And most trips in cars, according to the same very old stats, most trips are under three to five miles.

So the first step is to figure out how average you are. And who wants to be average?

I suggest putting a tablet and pen in your car. Make sure it's somewhere where you'll see it, so that you'll use it.

For an entire week, every time you get in your vehicle, write it down. Write down where you are going and why and what the distance is. Every time. Not just at the start of an errand running, but every time you start up that car.

Average is average, so I'm betting that most of you are taking a series of very short trips every day.

How many of these trips could be by bike or by foot or by bus or subway? How many of the trips are not even that necessary but are just out of habit? How many of them could be consolidated into one trip with just a little more planning?

The first step in any change is becoming conscious of the problem. So take some time and wake up! You might just help save the world -- one bike, one step at a time.