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Mike Panic from Random3ss was running a contest as part of Blog Action Day 2007 for a chance to win a Refill Not Landfill Nalgene bottle and I won. How cool is that. You can see my original post about this at Win a Nalgene Refill not Landfill bottle.

I already have several Nalgene bottles and a few other brands of bottles as well so I’m going to share the love and give away the bottle I won. I think it could do more good in someone elses hands and maybe it will get someone else started with Filter For Good and Refill not Landfill

So to enter the contest to win the Nalgene Refill not Landfill bottle you have to do two things,

1. Leave a comment on this post that contains the phrase “I Want That Bottle” in it and case does matter (this is to weed out the competition).

2. Send the answer to the following question to me via the Contact Page. Remember do not post the answer in the comments or you will be DQed from this contest.

What famous cyclist is often quoted for simply stating, “Ride lots.”?

The winner will be choosen at random from the selection of entrants that correctly complete both steps. I will announce the winner on Friday.

Good Luck and keep riding.

Today is Blog Action Day 2007.  The topic this year is “Environment”.  Most people, when they think of the environment, think of the world as a whole.  The globe is one big interconnected environment but the planet is made up of lots of smaller environments and even smaller microenvironments.  Each person lives in their own microenvironment.  Sure it is part of the larger environment but we can have the greatest impact on our own little piece of the pie.

Bicycling is one way to do that.  Bicycles can make a huge impact on the way you live.  When farmers in Africa get bicycles they are able to travel farther to market with their goods, which lets them make more money to support their families.  Aid workers in Africa are able to reach more patients in combating AIDS.  Children are able to go to schools that were too far away to walk to.  See, the environment in which you live in is not defined just by the weather.  It is everything that factors into you daily life. 

Cities like New York, or Chicago can all benefit from having more bicycles on the streets because bikes take up less space and they don’t pollute.  Major metropolitan areas all have problems with over crowded streets and smog caused by automobile traffic.  You can park 20+ bicycles in the same space as an SUV.  That same SUV can only carry 5-6 people.  That is 4 times as many people sharing the same space.  Those same 20 bicycles create ZERO smog. 

Your environment also has to do with your personal health.  If you are not healthy you may have a decreased productive life span.  You may have to depend on getting care from others just go about you day to day living.  As everyone knows by now, obesity has become the leading cause of a lot of the health problems in the U.S.  Obesity, Diabetes, heart disease, and possibly even some cancers can all be helped by staying active.  Bicycling is a great way to do that.  Its very low impact so it isn’t hard on the knees if you ride properly and its fun.  You don’t have to be Lance Armstrong to enjoy riding a bike and there are thousands of people who ride just for the fun of it everyday. 

There are millions of people who commute to work by bicycle everyday.  The numbers are far higher in other countries but in some parts of the U.S. the numbers a quite high as well.  Every time those people ride their bikes to work they are improving the world.  They are reducing congestion, reducing pollution, and reducing their waist line which results in healthier happier people.  So get out their and ride a bicycle, its good for you and the planet.

I have gotten several responses to my participation in the Blog Action Day and my support for the Refill not Landfill campaign. 

One of those responses came from Elizabeth from the Filter For Good campaign.  This campaign is about filtering your own water using one of those filter pitchers or a faucet attachment.  This works hand in hand with the Refill not Landfill idea.  You put your own filtered water in your own bottle and its as simple as that.  Almost everyone can do this.  This can reduce a lot of waste. 

I know as athletes we use a lot of water.  We live by it.  Our health and performance is dependant on staying hydrated.  I know I consume a lot of bottled water or at least I used to.  I took the Filter for Good Pledge for a year.  I honestly think I can do it for way longer and I think you can too.   So go to FilterForGood.com and take the pledge and do your part to eliminate some waste in your environment.

Mike Panic contacted me to let me know about a contest he is running on his site Random3ss giving you a chance to win a Nalgene Refill not Landfill bottle.  This contest is part of his participation in the Blog Action Day 2007.  So if you would like to win a free Nalgene bottle (I love Nalgene bottles.  I have several) go check out this contest and get you name in the hat for a chance to win.

You can also visit RefillnotLandfill.org to purchase your own bottle to show your support for the Refill not Landfill campaign.  The purpose of this campaign is to reduce the number of plastic bottled watter bottles going into landfills and polluting the environment everyday.  They have some very compelling statistics on the site as well.