Billed as the “craziest, wildest, most insane event of the year,” today is World Naked Bike Ride Day (WNBR). WNBR’s many goals include to promote cycling to save the planet, put a stop to the pollution that cars create, increase body/self awareness, and build community. The first coordinated WNBR happened in 2004, and six years later there are rides happening all over the globe, including Australia, Greece, Spain, the U.K, as well as Canada and the United States. There was none in my prairie city, though! Maybe next year….
The WNBR website outlines the reason for the rides:
According to the United Nations, close to a million species of plants and animals could disappear from the face of the earth in the next 50 years as a result of greenhouse gasses being released primarily from motor vehicles.
We face automobiles with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil, and other forms of non-renewable energy.
Fresh from today’s ride in Trafalgar Square in London comes this short clip:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WaLU6CX1uA]
For more links, and to join in next year’s ride (I know I’m going to circle the date on my calendar – and fyi, the dress code is “as bare as you dare”!), go to the WNBR website – click here. There’s also a trailer for a new movie WNBR has put out.
I found out that it was WNBR day on the CBC Radio show “Go” this morning. Their show this morning was all about cycling and cyclists – click here to go to their home page, and click on “listen to the whole show” to hear it.