Ride You Bike!
Have You Had It with Rising Gas Prices Yet?
Are you hoping that somehow the price of oil will stop rising and come back down? Do you expect that our government will be able to do something about it? When will the price escalation end?
It will end when we no longer need to drive to work–when the economy crashes and we won’t have jobs or businesses. The members of OPEC are not our friends. They’ll be celebrating in the streets when that day comes.
What about our government? America is a democracy, folks. We are the government. While I don’t advocate dumping oil into Boston Harbor, we can take a stand and send a message. We can each do our part, no matter how small. When you can walk or ride your bike instead of driving your car, do it, at least some of the time.
Believe In the Power of One
For most of us, substituting walking or bicycling for driving won’t save us much money. But that’s not the point–at least not in the beginning. If each of us does something to cut back on gas consumption, we will see results. Global demand may fall enough to drive the price of oil down, and that’s one way we may benefit. Believe in the butterfly effect. Believe in the power of one. Don’t remain passive. Don’t just wish and hope. Do something!
If You Come, They Will Build It
In American society, the bicycle for the most part is sports equipment or a toy, and not a means of transportation except for students, urban messengers, and the marginalized segment of the work force. Part of the reason for this is that we lack the proper infrastructure. Most of can’t ride our bikes to work even if we wanted to. But I think the root cause is lack of interest. Though I can’t bike to work, I’ve been riding during lunch. So far, I haven’t run across anyone else in my area doing it. Some of my coworkers have expressed interest without my solicitation, though. I encourage all of you, wherever you are, to join in. If you come, they will build it.
In bicycle-friendly countries like the Netherlands and Japan, accommodations for bicycles are excellent, making the bicycle a safe, effective, practical, economical, fun, and sensible means of transportation. We have a few bicycle-friendly places here too, but we need a lot more.
America’s Abundant Oil Reserves
A lot of Americans belong to a gym. It’s funny how we look for the best parking spaces even when we drive to the gym to work out and burn calories. It’s just a habit, I guess. Speaking of habits, how often do we eat just out of habit? How often are we really hungry? Some of us have never experienced true hunger in our lives. We eat out of boredom, we eat to cope with stress. Eating is a recreational and social activity.
It’s also a habit. Twelve o’clock-time for lunch. How do you kick a habit? Substitute a healthier habit. Some days, I just ride my bike and forget lunch, and I’m fine. In fact, I come back from “lunch” with my body and mind refreshed instead of groggy. I don’t feel weak or hungry in the afternoon. The bike ride relieves stress, invigorates me. This time of year, I feast on the scent of spring flowers; I savor the sight of a heron wading in a stream and turtles sunning on a log. I fill up on what I need and not on what I don’t. I don’t need to replenish my body’s energy reserves-I need to draw it down.
We have a lot our oil in this country-an excess in our bodies. That’s why we go to the gym. But why waste that energy in the gym, when we can use it in place of gasoline?