I read an article last week about how Kenyans, who previously had no electricity, are buying small solar panels to charge their cellphones (??) and light their huts using low-power LEDs.
In Kenya there is no grid to go off.

Think about that for a moment: Kenyans, who are literally dirt-poor, can afford solar panels for unlimited electricity, and have no dependence on power companies because there. are. no. power. companies.

Now translate that to our over-consumptive American terms. We as a nation are ridiculous shoppers, yet almost no one will make an investment in alternative energy sources such as solar panels, that will LITERALLY free them from a dependence of a massive, vulnerable and expensive power grid.

But can you imagine if even a fraction of the population got a clue and went off the grid using solar panels and installed low-power fluorescent and LED bulbs?

It's never going to happen. People are creatures of habit. Like using landline telephones. Of TALKING on telephones instead of texting. It took 15 years for people to learn to shop on the internet.

We as a nation are so far behind in terms of technology and progress it's laughable. Kenyans are now more advanced than we are.

This brings me to my bicycling point. This country is an auto-centric nation. Even I was raised on cars. The Batmobile, Speed Racer, the Monkeemobile, anything George Barris ever made, the musclecars of the late 60's and early 70's, (I actually own a 1972 Mercury Comet) and the culture that went with it.

We are raised on cars.

Do you know the company I work for prohibits me from bicycling to clients? I can drive one of the company vans if I want, but I can't bike. I've been told it's an 'insurance' issue.

When did it become more of a liability to drive a bicycle as opposed to a car?
What has this country devolved into when bicycling is DISCOURAGED?
As I write this, gas is $3.33 a gallon. Gasoline is subsidized on every level in the good ol' USA. And yet bicycling is an afterthought. A novelty.
Ask any car driver about bicycles, and they will complain that bikes should ride on sidewalks. (which is against the law for anyone over 14.) Drivers have a deluded sense of entitlement. Bikes are 'too slow' for them and are 'in the way.'
Meanwhile people drive enormous SUVs that waste gas like water, and the only way that will change is if the price of gas becomes prohibitively expensive.

THIS is the size of a typical Japanese pickup truck. That's because gasoline everywhere else is at market value, meaning DOUBLE what it costs here. And bicycling in every other country is accepted and encouraged.


Even though I also drive a car, I hope the price of gasoline hits $6 a gallon or higher. I would love nothing better than to see people bankrupted by their antiquated habits and lack of creativity, and hopefully forced to examine their lifestyle to consider alternative means of transportation.

Like bicycles.

Does that make me naive and idealistic?