Suhajdab at flickr.comSome 50,000 bicycle riders took to the streets of Budapest, Hungary, for a mass procession to celebrate Earth Day.
The Sunday bike ride is the world's largest, organizers claim. The 9-mile ride ended with a traditional “lifting of the bikes” at the City Park at the end of the event.
So many cyclists participated, according to the Caboodle.hu website, that the first cyclists arrived at the final destination as others were still embarking on the ride.
The website called it a “Critical Mass” ride, even though it didn't occur on the last Friday of the month, the traditional schedule for Critical Mass rides in big cities around the world.
Can you imagine the cops in New York City trying to round up 50,000 cyclists in a Critical Mass ride?
The original article at Origo.hu is in Hungarian.
Carbon footprint
The whole idea behind promoting bicycle use on Earth Day is to encourage people to use something besides cars, vans and SUVs to get around. In the US, motor vehicles are the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, one of the greenhouse gases causing global warming.
How much carbon does your household pump into the atmosphere? Here's a cool Carbon Footprint Calculator that estimates the amount based on home heating/cooling bills and travel. After calculating your carbon footprint, you can change your auto travel miles to determine who much you'd save by commuting.
Other rides
Environmental News Service also reported on a bike-ride event supported eco-transportation planned for Sunday in Moscow.
Bicyclists took to the streets for Earth Day celebrations in the US as well. A parade in Lawrence, Kansas, featured bicycles, and an Earth Day bike ride was held in Miami.
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