An Oil-Free Future?

Well, I doubt it. But I did my bit today, and that's the truth.

Today was the National Day of Action for an Oil-Free Congress. Went right by you, didn't it? I wouldn't call it a catchy title, exactly. The idea is that the Republicans are using the national distress over gas prices as an excuse for more give-aways to the oil companies rather than getting serious about cleaner fuels and alternatives to cars. Since 1990, oil companies have given more than $190 million to members of Congress -75% of that to Republicans. And it's certainly paid off for them in friendly-to-them energy policies.

So there were rallies at gas stations around the country today, witnessing to the possibility of a clean energy future. One of the rallies was around the corner and down the street from my house, so I hopped on the little red bicycle (the love of my life) and went to see what was going on. Not much -but I met some locally-causy people I hadn't met before. And in this town, that's no small feat. It's usually the same three causy people at all the events -and local readers of this blog can name them without much trouble.

And then, I sent e-mail to the manager of the bike store -not the love of my life, but he keeps the love of my life on the road, so he's pretty special to me ;)- with an e-mail link to the Minneapolis bicycle film festival. Now how cool is that? Biking and movies... two of my favorite things. And he wrote back, saying that he was planning a similar, although smaller, event here in town. I'm so psyched.

And THEN, because what would happen if a day went by without Andrea volunteering for some half-baked scheme, I volunteered to help organize a bike-yoga-bike event in town. We'll ride our bikes to some park or field, or, perchance to dream, yoga studio, do some yoga, get back on our bikes, and come home. It sounds pretty much like heaven to me.

So... I did not change the world today. I did not save blighted countries, neighborhoods, or desperate people. I didn't even do any battles with dust bunnies or laundry. But I rode my little red bike, didn't drive my car anywhere, and had a great day.

Tags: activism