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Is the bike becoming a powerful tool against the Russian invasion?

A meme went viral on Tuesday

March 8, 2022
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On Tuesday, Swedish Green Party leader Per Bolund retweeted a graphic saying “Fight Putin – Ride a Bike.” It quickly went viral. The meme has a black font and graphic of a gas pump, along with a bike, in the distinctive blue and yellow of a Ukrainian flag.

The idea behind it, of course, is to draw attention to Russia’s economic dependency on oil exports. It was created by Twitter user Harry Gray and people are even printing it and putting on their bikes, or creating stickers for their helmets.

With more and more countries banning Russian oil, and gas prices soaring, the push to use a bike as both a tool against Putin, and also as a means to conserve gas, is being widely discussed on Twitter. One person said, the best way to stand with Ukraine is to “Conserve gas. If you’re able, please: telecommute, walk or ride a bike to run errands, carpool/use public transportation or buy an electric
vehicle.”

Another person said “You want to hurt Putin? Get on yer bike. Walk more. Insulate more. Install heat pump. Install solar. We can save Ukraine and save the planet at the same time.”

President Joe Biden has banned Russian oil on Tuesday, and it’s expected that gas will continue to increase in prices, breaking all-time records.

So it may be a good idea for people to ditch their cars for bikes anyway.