Kids Ride to Snap You Out of Bad Habits

by Andrea Millar — April 11, 2008

A 10-year-old riding her bike 5400 miles across the country might be enough to make some people consider taking a bus to work a few days a week. That's the hope of the six riders behind 'An Inconvenient Ride,' a 3-week transcontinental activism ride organized by high school teacher Gary Thomsen to raise awareness of environmental initiatives across the US. The six kids riding are a dream team from a collection of schools in Seattle and range in age from 10 to 18. According to Thomsen, the six planned their route and did much of the logistical work themselves (naturally, there are a few bus moms/dads and a paramedic along for the ride).

The kids will meet with officials in 65 cities to seal with a handshake pledges to cities' greener practices--a fitting reminder of the issue of generational accountability involved with cleaning up our acts today. You may not have the time or inclination to ride 250 miles/day like that 10 year old (it is a little well, inconvenient), but with any luck, the kids will plant seeds of thought as well as trees as they make their dip from Washington, D.C. through the Southern states back up to Seattle. As senior Vincent points out, "what's so great about our trip is that we're doing something big enough that it could snap people out of bad habits."

I find that optimism refreshing, though I shouldn't, really. When greening is so prevalently reduced to the bottom line, it's good to have a reminder of its roots in ethics and civic responsibility to those yet to come along. If a kid on a bike can't prod you into grabbing a few reusable bags when you go shopping, who can?

You can catch the kids' 65 city-tour on their Web site, www.inconvenientride.com, soon to be chock full of video, blogs, and other nuggets of kid-powered wisdom.