I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh this April with two majors: film studies and music. I am 21 years old and began making films two years ago. This fall, I plan on braving the waters by moving across the country to Los Angeles to work my way up the film industry ladder.

Let's rewind for a second. I grew up in a small western Pennslyvania town named Somerset, better known as the home of the United 93 crash in 2001 and the miraculous rescue of 9 trapped miners from the Quecreek mine in 2002. I am the second oldest in a family of five boys. Since way back in eighth grade, my main creative passion has been writing music. For the longest time, I wanted to become a high school band director or a famous composer. Fast forward a few years. A liberal arts college came along with its nearly infinite wealth of knowledge to offer, and I chose to augment my music studies by studying film. I had no idea what I was getting into, and I fell head-over-heels in love with film! In the past two short years, I've written, directed, edited, and composed music for a dozen student films, most of which were self produced outside of class. Film has become my newest passion, because it allows me the most near-perfect way of expressing myself and making sense of the human condition.

"One Less Car, One More Bike" is a self-produced project inspired by my two friends, Doug Placias and Sarah Rogers. Doug and Sarah are two of the most socially conscious people you could ever hope to meet (although they're so modest and unpretentious that they'll laugh at me for calling them "socially conscious"). If you don't find Doug and Sarah volunteering their time at war protests, Save Darfur campaigns, studying proteins and DNA at their laboratory research jobs, or rescuing day-old bagels from dumpsters so that good food doesn't go to waste, you'll find them biking. I approached them because I wanted to do a film on an issue close to them. Biking was the obvious choice. My only hope is that I did these two wonderful people justice in allowing their voices to be heard. I guess if they could say one more thing, it would be this: Take up biking yourself. You'll be doing yourself and the environment a favor.

(And then Doug and Sarah will laugh at me for making them sound cheesy. Aren't they great?)

But seriously, try biking if the gas prices are taking a toll on your wallet. Try biking if the thought of global warming and air pollution make you cringe. Try biking until a renewable energy source like hydrogen, electric, or Ethanol allows all of our cars to run without the need of foreign oil. Try biking to lose a few pounds. Just try biking. Period.