If you celebrated Bike to Work Week last week, maybe you’ve already met Beth Terry’s challenge to go car-free for a week! If you didn’t, here’s the upside: World Naked Bike Ride is just around the corner!

Yep, people are getting naked to exhibit their love of bicycles come June 13, 2009. Events are happening all over the country — Check to see if your city’s bicyclists dare to bare.

Why ride naked? Here’s the reason, according to the World Naked Bike Ride website:

We face automobile traffic 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.

Sign up for the attention-getting bike ride “if you’re into exhibitionism for the sake of a cause (although full nudity is not required),” says M.J. Prest at Ethical Style — who doesn’t disclose in her post whether or not she plans to strip for the cause…. I have been spared the need to make a decision because there’s no plans for an event in Los Angeles — at least not yet –

A somewhat less exhibitionist way of greening your commute comes by way of My Commute Sucks, a new project of Transportation for America that wants to let people vent about their horrid commutes — then to organize to fix the transportation bill (via autopia).

At first glance, My Commute Sucks seems kind of vague — which made me a little fearful that the site was simply pushing for more roads and freeways — a “solution” that’s never worked in the fast because new roads and freeways fill up as quickly as we build them. The site encourages people to send a note to their senators and representative, but the message — “My commute sucks and it’s not getting any better. Stop pouring billions into a broken system. Transportation shouldn’t be an expensive, dirty burden. Fix it, clean it, make it work!” — doesn’t even suggest a solution.

However, if you delve into the Learn More section of the site, it’s clear that My Commute Sucks supports better, cleaner solutions. Here are the site’s more specific complaints:

Our congested roads have lanes added to them – yet promptly fill up again. More and more people are riding the train and bus, yet service is being cut. Biking has never been more popular, but it seems our streets have never been more difficult or dangerous to use.

Those complaints point to a need for more funding going to mass transit and bicycle infrastructure — goals environmentalists can agree with. My Commute Sucks wants us to get involved to “ensure we’re investing in the best projects – those that can build communities, make neighborhoods safer, and move people in the cleanest and most efficient ways.”

Ready for a new clean and pleasant commute? Sign up for a bike ride (naked or not), join My Commute Sucks, and for inspiration, catch up on all the Car Free Mondays interviews –

Photo by spinneyhead

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