PEDAL POWER!

TEEN BIKERS UNITE TO FIGHT AIR POLLUTION

On August 31, 1998, Jodie Elenz, 15, of Gaylord, Michigan, pedaled her bike up to a Virginia beach. Just an ordinary bike ride? Hardly. Yorktown, Virginia, was the last stop on the Elenz family's 7,033-kilometer (4,370-mile) cross-country bike trip. "My parents always wanted to bike across America," Jodie says. "We had to believe we could do it because so many people said, `That's impossible!'"

Their once-in-a-lifetime journey started 85 days earlier in Florence, Oregon, and crossed 10 states en route to the Virginia finish line. But Jodie wasn't pedaling just for pleasure. She's one of 600 teens who participate in "Get Out Spoke'n," a national campaign to cut auto air pollution by encouraging drivers to ride their bikes instead. "Biking is a great way to improve air quality while doing something fun and healthy," says Get Out Spoke'n organizer William Wong, 17, of San Francisco, California.

Toxic Brew

Cars emit 60 percent of all U.S. air pollution. That's because car engines run on petroleum, a fossil fuel that forms when dead animals and plants decompose in rock over millions of years. Every time a driver puts the pedal to the metal, a harmful brew of fossil-fuel leftovers spews from the tailpipe to pollute the air (see chart, p. 14).

The most toxic or poisonous air pollutant is ozone, a by-product of sunlight's chemical reaction with two car-fume ingredients: hydrocarbons (chemicals containing hydrogen and carbon, as well as other elements) and nitrogen oxide ([NO.sub.2]), a gaseous mix of nitrogen and oxygen.

Ozone isn't always toxic. The ozone layer, a region of naturally occurring ozone at heights of 15 to 30 km (10 to 20 mi) above Earth's surface, protects humans from the sun's potentially lethal ultraviolet rays. But ground-level ozone is dangerous. It triggers respiratory illnesses like asthma and emphysema. It also kills up to 10 percent of all plant crops grown in the U.S. by interfering with photosynthesis, the process in which plants use sunlight to make food. Ozone produced by cars is also the main culprit of dirty brown air known as smog.

Mixed News

Between 1970 and 1997, auto emissions, or harmful pollutants discharged by cars, decreased by 31 percent, leading to cleaner air quality. This is due in large part to the use of catalytic converters, filters affixed to vehicle exhaust systems.

But last year alone, Americans drove a total of 4.8 trillion km (3 trillion mi)--a 127 percent increase since 1970. At this rate, American driving mania threatens to offset and negate the benefit of cleaner exhaust systems by 2010.

Jodie and other Get Out Spoke'n teens are striking back. They're urging drivers in their communities to commute or run errands by bike. After all, more than one-quarter of all U.S. car trips are less than 1.6 kilometers (one mile)--easy biking distance. "There's no way to get all the cars off the road," says organizer Wong. "But we'd be thrilled to get rid of one out of 10."

Before leaving on her cross-country ride, Jodie persuaded hometown stores to pledge a total of $3,000 if she went the distance. Now she's using her hard-won cash to buy bike racks and bike maps for her town. She even hired bicycle stunt riders to perform at Gaylord schools to get students' wheels spinning.

Says Jodie: "I want to make sure the next biker who rides into Gaylord says, `Wow, this is the most bike-friendly town in America.'"

What's In Air Pollution?

pollutant     ozone                      carbon monoxide

what is it?   A bluish gas 1.6 times     A toxic compound of
              as heavy as air; the       carbon and oxygen; the
              most damaging air          most common air
              pollutant                  pollutant

source        Formed when sunlight       Given off when carbon
              reacts with hydrocarbons   in fossil fuels is
              (chemicals containing      burned
              hydrogen and carbon)
              and nitrogen oxide
              (nitrogen bonded with
              oxygen)

danger        The main ingredient of     Can be fatal when
              smog; irritates lungs,     inhaled in
              eyes, and throat; kills    concentrations of more
              plants by entering         than 35 parts per
              leaf pores                 million

pollutant     carbon dioxide             suspended particles

what is it?   Odorless compound          Tiny pieces of ash,
              of carbon and oxygen;      soot, and dust
              naturally makes up
              less than one percent
              of the atmosphere

source        Created by burning          Released into the air
              fossil fuels, such as       by burning of fuel
              coal, oil, and wood

danger        Traps heat as it            Particles can lodge in
              accumulates in the          the lungs, triggering
              upper atmosphere, and       asthma and other
              therefore contributes       respiratory conditions;
              to rising global            can damage aquatic
              temperatures                ecosystems

Take Action

Here are some ways you can help reduce air pollution:

[check] Find out which officials in your community set policy for biking and traffic. Draft a petition asking them to mark designated bike routes and install bike racks in public locations.

[check] Get your family and friends to ditch the car keys and prepare for pedaling on "Bike to Work/Bike to School Day" on May 27th.

[check] When biking is not an option, always walk, carpool, or use public transportation to cut back on the number of cars on the road.

[check] For more information, check out these Web sites: www.earthforce.org freeway.net/~bikefam/ =