Earth Day Letter from Bike Nazi

Great post about Earth Day over at Bike Nazi. The key part is his letter to the people of earth at the end.

Dear brothers and sisters:

Happy Earth Day!

If you've been paying attention, you realize that some folks who should know are very concerned about the health of our planet, and claim that human activity is causing climate change on a global scale.

We must recognize that legitimate science is constantly evolving as new discoveries are realized. However, we cannot dismiss the theory that we may indeed be contributing to global climate change. If it's true, it is a serious issue.

Regardless of whether we are changing the climate, we all can and should try to minimize our impact on the environment. The environmentalists describe it as living a "small-carbon-footprint" lifestyle. Long before "small footprint" became fashionable, I learned the concept of "leave no trace" in Boy Scouts. The best lifestyle is the one which impacts our environment the very least. (You can choose to disagree, but you would be wrong, at least from an environmental standpoint.)

If you're serious about it, every day should be "Earth Day" for you. (And every hour should be "Earth Hour.") Don't just profess "awareness" - talk is cheap! Commit to yourself to waste less. Send less stuff to the landfill. Use less power and water. Make
fewer trips in your motor vehicle. Evidence suggests the single most significant thing you can do to reduce your impact is to drive less. Seriously! (A bonus is that in most cases, a "low impact" lifestyle is also a less-expensive lifestyle.)

I realize that the vast majority of you can't even comprehend what I'm talking about. You don't have power or heat or motor vehicles. You don't send anything to the landfill. You depend on everything you can gather for mere survival. This message isn't for you. But if you're fortunate enough to have a dwelling place with heat and power, and a private motor vehicle, or several, this challenge is for you.

If your level-of-commitment is to wear a flannel shirt and Birkenstocks, and drive a Volvo (or even a Prius), and subscribe to Outside Magazine, and eat organic produce, and wring your hands and preach to the rest of us, please just SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!!!

Thanks, and have a groovy Earth
Day.

Sincerely,

Bike Nazi

Cycling

Pics from Earth Fair

Here are the pictures from Earth Fair today. Had a great time checking out the booths and what not.

Some highlights:

• Free Clif bars (seriously, I ate like 5)
  
• Talked to a ranger from Cuyamaca State Park. She said they are almost done rebuilding the bathrooms at my favorite campsite (Paso Picacho Group Camps) after the Cedar Fire in 2004. They still have some trees they need to cut down (they are a danger to fall on people) before they open up. Depending on funding the camps could be open at the end of this summer, but almost certainly by next spring
  
• The fantastic bike valet job done by the San Diego County Bike Coalition. They make it so easy to go and not worry about locking up your bike.
  
• Got some info about the California Native Plant Society and the Food Not Lawns group. Both groups are things I've been looking into myself.
• A-16 had a list of local weekend backpacking treks with elevation and difficulty. Pretty stocked about that one. (Especially since the wife gets sad every time she sees her backpack that she has never used even though she bought it a year ago.)
• Did I mention free Clif bars? Cause I brought 2 home with me.

The lowlights:

• The 5(!!!) different anti-abortion booths. The ones with the giant pictures of aborted fetuses. While I disagree with them, I agree with their right to freedom of speech, however, have some candor. This was a family event and it was event for Earth Day, not a pro-choice rally. Bad form.
  

Always good to see the US park service (I believe) out in force. The kids really got a kick out of the stuffed cats (most of which had been seized by US Customs from people trying to bring them back in from other countries).
This is the Bamboo Van down in the Eco-autos part of the fair. This van is a little disingenious however, it is simply a Chevy van covered with pieces of bamboo. It does extoll the virtues of bamboo for many uses however, so that is redeeming. I was just looking forward to seeing how the van could be made completely from bamboo.
Lots and lots of dogs there today. Seriously, tons of them. These were the biggest.
I was stunned at the number of people attending. I'm sure the website from the last post will have a total count or estimate at some point, but the place was packed and between in the incredible number of bikes at the bike valet (courtesy of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition) and the crazy amount of traffic on the roads around the park I'd say there were quite a few people present.
Go ahead, ask the puppet. Not sure what this was for, but the whole crew got a good laugh out of it.
The sign there reads (and I couldn't make this up) Gothic Volunteer Alliance of San Diego. So for all the goths out there that read this blog. You should join up and allow your, ummm, sadness and pain to help you make San Diego a better place.

Cycling