Forget the car, get on your bikes

       The whole point of World Carfree Day is to remind us all that Homo sapiens really do not need cars to get from point A to point B, and that alternative low or zero-emission means _ like walking, cycling or taking public transport _ should be used instead whenever possible.
       GREEN COMMUTERS: Drive a car or ride a bike—it’s your choice, but I hope you opt for the cleaner option.
       Some may think it's sloth _ one of Christianity's seven deadly sins _ or just plain laziness that people so easily become addicted to the painless mobility of driving or riding in a car.
       As ever, most activities for Carfree Day in most countries revolve around a cycle rally where cyclists roam from one side of town to the other in the hope of garnering attention from the general public and car drivers.
       And the message does get across if members of the public learn that all those cyclists took the effort to swap their cars for a noiseless, pollution-free mode of transport and were still able to get to work as usual.
       The Thai Carfree Day is, however, a bit of a sloth, since the activities are held on the Sunday closest to Sept 22, and this year, that's today.
       I almost joined them last year when I weakened after interviewing a spokesperson for one of the Carfree Day event organisers.
       PORTABLE: Easy to use folding bikes make car-free commuting more practical.
       But my conscience stopped me when I was searching through the picture archive to find accompanying pictures for last year's Carfree Day story.
       I came across several of photos of the Bangkok governor riding a women's bike, all smiles, promoting cycling in the city with a bunch of civil servants and politicians. What a load of fakes!
       They gave a speech, cut a ribbon, said a few nice things about why we should ride and not drive to work, rode a couple of kilometres and finished.
       And how did the governor get to the event? By car.
       And how did the governor go home after the event? By car. And the other 364 days a year they still drive their cars to work _ what a load of hypocrites!
       Most of the cyclists you see in public parks drive there, so how does that help?
       The point of Carfree Day is not to drive at all, not to show off on a bicycle at a public gathering.
       Sure, there are cyclists who do ride from home to the park at weekends, and I sincerely respect them for taking the effort, but their numbers are likely to be very low.
       That's why I won't join in such a hypocritical activity just for the sake of indulging my ego or for publicity.
       POCKET-SIZE: If we all drove small, zeroemission cars, that would be a good start.
       Some people criticised Khun Heart (the TV celebrity and former pop singer) for pretending to be environmentally conscious by showing off his folding bike on the Skytrain.
       Let's be fair, if he was a nobody, would he still have been accused of showing off?
       It's fine that people look in to using their car less for the betterment of the environment and their personal health.
       But next year, can we please have some more productive and meaningful Carfree Day activities _ such as having it on Sept 22 for a start, no driving to bike rides and no governor or celebrities acting pretentiously?
       Better yet, don't wait for Carfree Day to pretend to do something good for your health and the environment. Do it whenever you can for the cause and not just to make a statement.