You ARE NOT an environmentalist if you burn oil!

I am so tired of environmentalist hypocrisy. If you drive a car...sorry, you might as well just pound more nails into this planet's coffin. The automobile industry and the industries that, literally, fuel it are among the most polluting industries in the world (and no, i am not sorry for that pun).

I was barely15; Exxon Valdez was busy polluting the Alaska coastline. It was all over the news...that image of dead ducks and seals covered in crude marked my mind. I was obsessed with it...amazed, horrified...i had never ever seen anything so hideous in my whole life. I read anything I could get my hands on about it and little by little, I realized that I too was guilty of taking our planet for granted.

While all my friends were thinking about driver's permits, I was feeling nauseous about driving. Then, my dad was sent to Saudi...operation Desert Shield escalated to Desert Storm. Yellow ribbons fluttered and images of burning oil fields promised shock and awe.

My 11th grade Lit teacher was awesome. He believed that we were no longer children and it was time for us to snap out of our naiveties. He talked about Saudi, Daddy Bush and why we were really in Iraq...and boy did he ever feel the adminstrations' wrath for airing his beliefs - he'd later be fired for nebulous reasons.

And I thought...oil?! Again?! Could it be possible that oil was at the root of so many evils? Could it really be true that our government would put so many troops at risk for their own greedy purposes. NO WAY!! The government is here to protect us and look out for the rights of it's population...tell me it isn't true. It can't be, I thought.

My friends were busy burning off their "i gotta set of wheels and newfound freedom" high. It was ok to be irate about status in Puerto Rico and to want to be involved in politics (after all, everything is linked to politics in PR), but in the society I grew up, the US could do no evil.

I went away to college as the hole in the ozone and the enviroment was becoming an issue in the public eye. I spent my first two years at school trying to forget that all kinds of things were going on around me...then almost by accident, I stumbled into a presentation about Nigeria.

A young Nigerian, not much older than I, was talking about the horrors he had been through because he protested Shell Oil Co. in his country. He was beaten within inches of death - he had terrible scars on his face, neck and arms.

And, here it was again...injustices being done all because the US wanted to claim stake (or rather protect its stakes) in foreign oil production. As he talked about what had happened to him and why, I thought I'd throw up right there in the middle of the public library. I could not hold back tears. I felt like an idiot, then I noticed I was not the only one with tears welling down my face.

I was so impacted by his words and by what he didn't say...by what was reaching out from between the lines. I was 19. I decided that I would never drive.

I am proud that I have never owned a valid driver's licence. I rode the bus, but mostly, I got around on my own two feet. I discovered a newfound love for my bicycle. I was empowered by knowing that I could get around just fine without burning oil.

People thought I was going through a phase. I knew no one else like me. Then, I met V. She was a 1st year student when I was a senior. She lived in the same room I lived in as a 1st year student. She didn't drive either. She did not think I was crazy. She became my housemate.

We had lots of adventures...never hindered by not having drivers' licences. We moved to Colorado where we met other people that did not drive...by choice. I realized that I wasn't crazy.

I met R. He's carfree and hardcore about it too. We took a weeklong 140 mile bike trip on the Peak to Peak highway loop. We carried our gear in a bike trailer. We bought more bike trailers. We moved by bike. (INSERT NEEDLE SCRATCHING AS IT'S PULLED OFF THE RECORD SOUND FX HERE)

Yes, you read right. We moved from our last rental to my new condo on our bikes. Pedal Power! Check out our bike move.

I will never ever drive! The question I hear the most, "But what if someday you need to?!" I will never need to drive. I use alternate sustainable transportation. I choose to work where I can easily commute to work by bike or walking. I deliberately bought a condo located near stores, bike paths, bus lines and places of recreation. I live in a moderately sized city and I taught myself how to get around and how to use my bike as a vehicle.

I have yet to regret it. I will not regret it. As I ride around feeling my environment on my skin, I feel sorry for all those who choose to disconnect themselves from nature by riding in their cars. They are facilitating pollution, missing out on fresh air and exercise and worst of all, they are supporting an unjustified oil war.

I AM NOT! I AM PROUD! I PEDAL MY PATRIOTISM!