Peace Transit
Energy, War & Global Climate ChangeMEDIA - NASHVILLE TN
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Peace TransitEnergy, War & Global Climate ChangeMEDIA - NASHVILLE TN |
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Cyclists pedal for peace, environment Bike tour aimed at curbing fuel use rides into Nashville By ANNE PAINE, The Tennessean Nashville TN Sunday, November 18, 2007 A bicycle isn't just for riding to some. It's an instrument of peace. That message, which includes reducing fuel used for transportation, came to Nashville Saturday as part of a biker-to-biker relay. The unhurried campaign involves taking a baton, a rock and a petition across the country and will take at least a year, said one of its instigators, Jackie Green of Louisville, Ky. He rode a 50-mile stretch that started the trip a few weeks ago from his city. Riders have taken over along the way, with Portland and Hendersonville part of the route completed so far. Nashville attorney Tom Grooms, Shannon Hornsby and Don Hensley, all members of Walk/Bike Nashville, an advocacy group for walking and biking, picked up the baton and other items from riders in Shelby Park at midday. Those bringing it included Tom Evans and Gary Williams, both of Hendersonville. Grooms said the Peace Transit Tour appealed to him, an avid bicyclist, with its talk of "thirst for oil being a source of unrest and discontent and strife in the world." "The bicycle represents a peaceful, clean machine that doesn't need any oil, or very little oil except for its chains and gears," he said. The tour is gathering participants mainly by word of mouth and Internet, and the route is casual. Grooms and possibly others will bike part of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a "familiar road" he has pedaled many times, to an area near the Duck River. That's about a 50-mile ride, to be made next weekend. Green, owner with his wife of a bicycle courier business and bike shop in downtown Louisville, said the point of passing a baton through every region of the country is to get people interested in using less fuel, reducing their contribution to global climate change and reducing international competition for oil that can lead to war. Green said he was speaking generally, not about any specific conflicts. The rock passed with the other items represents the earth, he said. The group's Web site is www.peacetransit.org. - Picture by John Partipilo/Tennessean Shannon Hornsby of Walk/Bike Nashville, an advocacy group, reads the Peace Wand she received from members of FOGBee — or Fat Old Guys On Bikes — who are riding by. The FOGBee members brought the wand from Hendersonville to Nashville. — For more information, visit http://www.peacetransit.org. Contact If you are interested in participating as a cyclist, as a host, as part of the logistics team, or as a signatory to the Peace Transit Petition please contact: peacetransit@gmail.com or Jackie Green, Bike Couriers Bike Shop, 107 W Market St, Louisville KY 40202, 502 583 2232. ======================================================================================== |