How’d you like to enjoy 7-and-a-half miles of L.A. streets free of motorized vehicles and open only to bicyclists and pedestrians? Stroll, play, talk, celebrate -do whatever you want on the public street without sucking up gas fumes or fearing for your life from drunk drivers, texting drivers, drivers eating or putting on makeup or just plain dangerous behind the wheel lunatics.
That’s exactly the scene you’re going to get this Sunday, April 10 from 10am to 3pm at the second ever L.A. CicLaVia where public streets from Boyle Heights to Downtown, MacArthur Park to East Hollywood will be shut down to traffic and open to you and me emission free.
My favorite part of this next CicLaVia is the Bike Parade coming from my friends at Greenpeace and Sierra Club which they’re calling ROLL AGAINST COAL. In case you didn’t know, the City of Los Angeles still gets 40% of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, the dirtiest polluters and greenhouse gassers on the planet. It’s long been time to kick coal out of L.A.’s power supply and that’s exactly what Greenpeace and Sierra Club have in mind with their BEYOND COAL CAMPAIGN.
Sunday’s bike parade is part of that campaign and designed to call more attention to it. Not only will those Rolling AGainst Coal have a traveling good time together as we bike parade throughout the event, but we’ll be busting out the Creative Greenius with the decoration of our bicycles and the visual aides and props we also sport to raise awareness about the city’s addiction to coal and the life-saving difference Los Angeles could make if it fully commits to the green vision for a clean energy future! Get all the details you need after the jump.
Roll against Coal will meet up at City Hall at 11am (meet your fellow Rollers at the statue on the south lawn of City Hall). The group will spend about 30 minutes decorating our bikes (organizers will have some signs and materials for you but please bring your own materials as well). Participants will also get stylin’ Greenpeace and Sierra Club t-shirts!
At 11:30 we’ll all pose for a memorable group photo in front of L.A. City Hall that will be shared with our members of City Council, and then we’ll hit the streets as a cool, coasting kick-ass coal-fighting pedal powered posse! And remember, this is CicLaVia so being on our bikes without the cars, buses and trucks will be a joy and cosmic enlightenment – guaranteed!
Did I mention that there will be fabulous *PRIZES* for the most creative bike decorations!? So don’t worry about feeling foolish or making an ass out of yourself, because you may already be a winner!
Just how creative do you have to be? Here’s some brainstorming ideas from the Greenius and Greenpeace to get you thinking:
-Build an ominous and scary cardboard coal plant with smoke stacks that you tow behind your bike. Or build a cardboard solar panel and wind turbine to tow and show!
-Dress for the green jobs that you want to see created in LA – wear a green hard hat and a name badge from your new company.
-Make a sign to hang from your bike: “Coal Free LA by 2020” “Angelenos Against Coal” “I Roll Against Coal” “I Am Not A Fossil Fool!”
-Dress as a caveman or a dinosaur, or the La Brea Tar Pits because burning coal is just way too old school!
For more details and to RSVP go to the Roll Against Coal Facebook page. Or you can email the amazing Jenny Binstock at jenny.binstock@greenpeace.org or Evan Gillespie at evan.gillespie@sierraclub.org.
I hope to see you there!
Creative Greenius 
The only we can save the environment and it recovers is if we stop using so much oil. Converting a home to solar or wind power is not as expensive as some think, it can be done on your own, and what expense you do incur will be returned 10 fold in the energy savings.