Riding a Bicycle Naked Might Make You Sweat, But It Saves Water and Generates Joy

by Brad Lancaster © 2014
www.HarvestingRainwater.com 

I love Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride! When I participated there were over 5,000 of us riding naked together.

The ride is brilliant bicycle advocacy. Cycling home—fully clothed—after the ride, folks in cars would cheer us on, calling out, “Naked bike riders, we love you!” even though we were no longer naked. No matter, they had seen so many joyous naked bike riders that now they just saw a person on a bicycle and thought, “Naked bike riders… I love them… I want to ride too, and share that happy bliss.”

And how does this tie to water? In myriad ways, but here are just a few:

* Every gallon (liter) of gasoline requires about 12.9 times that volume of water to process.

* Bicycle riding does not require the production nor burning of gasoline. It consumes only the water you drink.

* The mining, processing, and burning of fossil fuels pollutes our soil, air, and water—including our rainfall.

* So, the more we ride bicycles rather than drive, the better the health of our soil, air, water, and us.

* But best of all riding bicycles powered for free by you and me is a whole lot more liberating and fun than transport dependent on costly fossil fuel!

Wanna know more? See the Water-Energy-Carbon Nexus appendix in the new 3rd edition of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1.

And watch the video (which, as you likely suspect, includes some nudity…): Bare As You Dare: Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride.