It's almost the end of bike month. Most of us know that biking is a clean and efficient way to get ourselves to work, to school, to home, to the local store and to wherever we want to go. On top of the fact that it's great for our planet, it's really great excersise. Not only that, but it's sooo inexpensive!

You would think that our 'greener' society would catch-on to these advantages. But I think that maybe it's time to scare them into the disadvantages. I cry when I hear how much my co-workers spend on gas. Purchasing the gas is supporting a horrible war-related chain that should be deterrent enough. But maybe they need to hear and visualize the facts:

"U.S. bicycle promotion initiatives and ridership lag far behind those of Europe. The number of children biking or walking to school has dropped 75 percent within a generation, while obesity rates have tripled, and only 1 percent of all trips are taken by bicycle. Estimates for the number of Americans who regularly bike to work range from 500,000 to 5 million. In contrast, 97 million Americans drive to work alone. Yet more than 100 million Americans own bicycles. With so many bicycle owners but so little bike riding in the United States, there is great potential to increase the role that bicycles play in daily commutes and other frequent trips."

Earth Policy Institue <a href="http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Bike/2008.htm">here</a>

When can we make it official? I know it's impossible to entirely <em>avoid</em> gas-guzzling transport--but it doesn't take much to make some small changes in their lifestyle that could make a big difference.