an email debate that is floating around work today regarding: gas prices, the practicality of bicycle commuting, and the American way of life. This is part of my response to a co-worker who's largely ambivilant about our consumer-obsessed society and sees bike commuting as impractical and silly. Enjoy.

I didn’t mean to offend when I was critical of SUV ownership or the idea of home ownership (which I never even alluded to but am in favor of). I’m merely saying that Americans seem to have a collective mentality that is vastly different from much of the rest of the world. We likely wouldn’t even be having this discussion if we lived in Africa, or Southeast Asia for example. Purchasing an Escalade, Bentley, or even a Honda is a non-issue for most as: impractical, unaffordable, unavailable, cumbersome, ego-centric, etc. As Americans, however, we’re preoccupied with our own vanity and the fueling of our egos. In addition, we have increased means and access to luxury items of all kinds. Gas passed $6 per gallon in some European countries, but it had little effect on the majority as most don’t drive-it’s the rich who own cars over there. We also think that we are simply entitled to these luxuries as Americans. Not only that, but we’re subject to a marketing machine that’s constantly pushing us to buy these items. It could be argued that we simply have more choices in our free market economy. Not necessarily bad in and of itself, however, in our pursuit of: bigger cars, bigger houses, more malls, expensive clothes, etc we’re: driving ourselves to bankruptcy, ruining our environment, and are being forced to work longer hours at more jobs to pay for these things. The very things that are sold as “modern conveniences or necessities” may serve more commonly to burden us with debt. More Americans are in more debt than we’ve ever been in before. Fewer Americans are saving for long term eventualities like retirement, instead spending heavily on credit and relying on winning the lottery to provide for their retirement (no joke). Some may decide it’s worth it in order to have a fancy car, others may not. Would it bother you to know that the rest of the world views us as “fat, lazy, spoiled marshmallows who gobble up most of the world’s natural resources and are out of touch with reality”?



All I’m saying is that when you step back and evaluate your choices independently of what our materialistic society dictates, you may realize that you have more freedom from car payments, “pump panic”, credit debt, etc than you previously thought. That’s truly being free, as opposed to being enslaved by the pursuit of expensive, material luxuries that are pushed on you for the benefit of their manufacturers’ bottom line.



I paid $140 for the bike that I rode in today. That bike will have paid for itself in less than 2 weeks of driving to and parking in the RRB-extrapolate that data over the course of a year and my financial rewards equate to a $1344.00 to as much as a $4040 savings per year. That can, effectively, be viewed as a raise. Not too bad. In addition, I save time and contribute to a healthy lifestyle and don’t pollute the environment. Not only that, but I actually have more fun riding than I do sitting in traffic. My joy is passing the Land Rover, Porsche, Mercedes owners who are stuck on the 14th bridge exiting DC. Some may think it’s silly to ride a bike as an adult, but it’s the $70K car owner who looks like a chump when I pass by him at 17 mph as he sits in traffic. Also, regardless of: traffic, weather, accidents, Metro or VRE delays, it takes me exactly the same time (30 minutes) to get home every day.



Making some positive changes is just a matter of changing the way ones thinks as opposed to letting big business do it for us.

The countries where gas is most expensive in Europe are Great Britain and France. Both are pretty rich countries, so most people in these and other EU countries can affod to drive and, sadly, many do SUV-commute. Not nearly as many as in America, and generally there is a much more intelligent attitude to energy consuption and especially car use over here.
I wish Americans stopped whining about how expensive gas is, though. It is _cheap_, cheaper than in most Europen countries, despite higher wages. The reason is that gas is very heavily taxed over here, and rightly so. The price should double from current levels in order to get Americans to change their idiotic habits.