I fully agree...my decision to live car free (although my fiancee drives, and I take advantage of that at times) has a lot less to do with the environment and a lot more to do with practical inner city commuting realities. I think the truth is that the green thing is largely a trendy marketing ploy, and one that will become less prevalent with time. As has already been mentioned, the green hybrid cars aren't really much greener than normal cars...it's trendy. I think that's true for a lot of these companies advertising green. Citibank is green? How? Exxon is green? Huh? Marketing.

To me decisions about legitimately going green are only going to happen by economic necessity. When it's cheaper to recycle, we'll recycle more. When gas is a fortune, we'll use it less. Etc. The only practical green initiatives are Government tax based policy decisions...like cutting back on road subsidies and spending it on public transit. My cycling isn't about saving the world...it's about enjoying it, feeling good, burning a few calories, skipping inner city traffic jams, easy and free parking and storing my transportation inside the house. I've had a love affair, off and on, with bikes ever since I was 10...which was long before I knew what ozone was.

Part of it is also that I can't afford a Ferrari (at least without making sacrifices I'd never make). I can't afford a Picasso. Bikes are one of the few things where I can afford the best of the best. I can get some of the finest machines ever produced with two wheels and appreciate their workmanship. Maybe I can't afford a ferrari, but I have a bike hand built in the Merckx factory out of Reynolds 753, one of the finest steels man has produced, for the captain of the Motorola team. That bike cost me 1/20th of what people pay for a mass produced compact car.