If you simply can’t bear to see any more pictures of oil-soaked pelicans and you live near Miami, you might want to think about taking a bike ride this weekend.
A naked bike ride, that is, though the slightly shy can also indulge in “creative” bits of clothing or body paint to disguise the fact that they are otherwise in the buff.
The cause is a protest against America’s dependence on oil, and the current BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, where to date an estimated 1.5 million gallons of oil per day have been leaking into Gulf waters and destroying wildlife in a 40-mile-long swath.
The leak is now at 51 days and counting, so even though BP reports collecting about 64,444 barrels since June 4, the amount of oil sloshing around in the deep and washing onto Gulf beaches remains catastrophically unimaginable.
Called the Miami World Naked Bike Ride, and modeled on the international movement, World Naked Bike Ride, or WNBR, the protest ride begins at 4:30 p.m., when the sun is below its zenith and riders don’t have to worry about sunburn on body parts that have heretofore never seen daylight.
Riders will start at the BP service station on the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 10th Street, then ride across the Venetian Causeway to South Beach.
Organizers challenge Miami residents to “come if you dare, and bare if you believe”. The cause, a clean energy future and an end to dependence on oil, is one that WNBR supports wholeheartedly, and it’s motto, “As Bare As You Dare”, does not discriminate against the nervously naked and clothing-addicted. But do bring sunscreen.
Founded by Conrad Schmidt and Daniel Johnson in 2003, the WNBR is active in Seattle (brrr) and 70 other cities, as well as 20 countries. The Seattle group, under the expert leadership of artist and social activist Daniel Johnson, rode for the seventh time on April 29, 2010 to protest Seattle’s suit against a naked cyclist.
The WNBR is more than frivolity, though, and behind the barefaced chutzpah is a definite purpose. As Johnson says:
"World Naked Bike Ride exuberantly celebrates a future of human-powered transport and healthy, clean, green walkable cities with simple, grassroots naked bike rides all over the world. As the vessel of this revolution, we highlight the beauty, power and individuality of the naked human body with an aim of promoting body-positive values, self-awareness, simple healthy living and independence from consumerist, toxic, oil-dependent and car culture paradigms that are killing us."
You can contact Johnson at: jointhefun@WNBRSeattle.org, or phone: 206-369-2661.
The Miami event has its own Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126583797373042&ref=mf
Image courtesy of carlosfpardo via Flickr
Jeanne Roberts is a freelance writer on environment and sustainability issues. In her previous life, she worked as both a reporter and a communications specialist for a major public utility. Her most recent book, Green Your Home, approaches environmentalism from a consumer’s perspective.
Any opinion contained in this article is solely that of the writers, and does not necessarily shapes or reflect the editorial opinions of Energy Boom.
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