Another Green Monday: Spoketown
More stories after the jump... 
Something is happening here. You see it in rain, shine, and, yes, last week, even snow. From commuters to hipsters, (plus new bike businesses springing up next door) more and more, two-wheels is the way to go. There’s lots of work to do in way of bike infrastructure but fortunately enough we have such a fantastic network of passionate activists and upcoming bike events that the wind is to our backs. And the number of Bike To Work Week participants help that momentum.
With that said, REGISTRATION IS OPEN. Participation has been growing over the years and this year the BTW planners are hoping for another increase in registration. Nearly 1,400 riders registered last year and this year they’re shooting for 1,700. And there’s only one week left to hit that. You can register online HERE and you can also register in person on May 16th at the Bicycle Education Fair at Riverpark Square. This is the first of a series of posts we’ll be doing leading up to and during with Bike To Work Week and hopefully concluding with an FBC ride. Bike To Work Week Spokane runs from May 16 – May 22. Need more motivation? Check out the podcast from our radio show this morning where we speak wtih Bike To Work Week co-chair Erika Henry - in our opinion, our best show yet.
Before the 2008 kickoff, Barb Chamberlain told the Spokesman-Review, “I think people would be scared off if they had to change their whole life all at once. But it’s so doable, once it’s part of your routine."
We are all creatures of habit, and it takes a simple event like Bike To Work week to make us realize change is easily within our reach. And the impact is huge. Riding a bike for an hour not only leads to physical fitness and if you commuted to work on a bike at least four days a week (presumably eight miles, round trip), you would save yourself 54 gallons of gas annually and 1,140 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
Register HERE.
Everyone was thinking it, Danny Westneat said it - Earth Month, the worst month for the Earth.... ever. April was Earth Month, a time to celebrate our successes in conservation and sustainability and build for the future. However, April turned out to be a pretty awful month for Mother Nature. We talked a bit about it last Monday, and then Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times took it further. "Surely no one is more relieved this observance has come to an end than Earth," Westneat said after acknowledging April as Earth Month. "It's as if we decided to celebrate by setting the guest of honor on fire." Westneat does however attempt to spin a silver lining on the events of April and early May. Read more HERE.
The "Beer Doctor" looks to open a zero-emissions brewery in Stevensville, Montana. Jim Lueders is known as the "Beer Doctor" - he's the president and sole employee of Bitterroot-based Lueders Consulting, which for the past 18 years has offered services ranging from brewhouse installation to staff training and recipe formulation. His newest ambition is a zero-emissions brewery. The Missoula Independent ran a great feature on Lueders last week in which Lueders explained what a zero-emissions brewery could look like, a brewery where "nothing will be wasted," he says. "Heat from the brewing process will keep the building warm. Spent grains will support a mushroom grow out back. Worms from the garden could be used to create alkali cleaners for the brewery's equipment." Read the feature HERE.
David Roberts lays it out. Sure, it seems like Obama can’t win. From Roberts: Last week, Josh Green had an op-ed in The Boston Globe called "Even an oil spill won't move Washington," which points out the bizarre fact that the BP Gulf oil disaster seems only to have entrenched politicians in their pre-existing positions. They asked me to write a short response for their website. I did, and it's called "How Obama screwed up on climate change."
