While at the Green Living Show in Toronto I had a chance to catch up with Koy Thomson from the UK, who is the Chief Executive of the London Cycling Campaign. He came to meet with a variety of representatives from different cities around the world at a Bike Summit Meeting to share ideas on urban cycling infrastructure and to discuss methods for turning these ideas in to reality. The interview below is about 8 minutes long, and I apologize for the poor audio quality, the ambient noise at the convention was really strong!! Koy had some interesting things to say, so it is certainly worth a listen.

First off I have to say that I think Mr. Kennedy’s speech should have been the one that cost $200, not Clintons; I think considering the fact that Kennedy received a standing ovation and Clinton didn’t was testament to that. Both are doing amazing things for the environment, but Kennedy spoke with certain passion that I really took to.  Below will be my best regurgitation of his speech which was packed with details and facts and stats. One of the key reasons I can relate and respect Mr. Kennedy so much is his honesty about his connection to the wilderness. He states that Nature is not God, but that God communicates through Nature most clearly and powerfully, which is why all the great prophets went out in to the wilderness to allow the great teachings of the ages to come to them.

Near the beginning he remarked that he though of the US as a 14th province of Canada, a nice compliment to us Canadians; and that we must protect nature because it is the very infrastructure of community. He jumped in to the references to Kyoto, much like Clinton did, but made an interesting comparison to the Slave Trade Act. In Great Britain it made up 25% of the economy; they new it was immoral to continue with slavery but were scared to abolish it overnight as it would ruin the economy. When they did abolish it in 1807, there was an economical explosion, the slave trade was holding Britain back, and what followed was the launch of the industrial revolution. In more recent times, such as the 70’s, Iceland was one of the poorest nations, but they were one of the first to recognize the detriment of importing energy, so they kicked the habit, switch over to sustainable methods, and are now 100% sustainably energy independent. In ’96, Sweden was one of the poorest Nations, but moved to abolish carbon emmisions, which spurred entrepreneurs to come up with new solutions which boosted their economic standing to #6 in the world based on GDP. As Kennedy proclaimed “they reward efficiency and punish inefficiency while in North America we do just the opposite.”

The solutions are here, he claimed that the US has enough sunlight and wind to power the country easily, but it is tough to make prompt changes when the worst environmental government in history is in power. Kennedy went in to detailed account of just how corrupt the Bush government has been, and the key factor in this downfall has been the relationship of corporations with Government decisions. Thin Democracy as described by Frances Moore Lappe. As Jim Hightower stated “The corporations don’t have to lobby the government any more. They are the government.”   Corporations have a corosive impact if entangled with government interests. An example Kennedy used was that of the fishing license he takes out every year, and it now comes with a thick guide listing all the places that are illegal to fish in because of high levels of mercury in the fish, and so he thought to himself  “that son of a bitch George Bush”. Others in that situation, he went on to say, don’t seem to make the connection to Bush. The mercury levels in most of these lakes (go to the Waterkeeper Alliance for info, and here for mercury tests kit) is directly correlated with the over 400 illegally operating coal burning power plants who no longer have any responsibilities for their polluting actions, Bush has made that so. The regulations once in place over 7 years ago are no longer enforced. 

One example he gave (and the following below was copied from his recent article in Vanity Fair) to show just how corrupt things have been was the case of Phillip Cooney, “who was the chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. His job was to advise the president on the environmental implications of decisions that he makes. Cooney’s previous job had been as the chief lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute. His preoccupation during his four-year White House stint, according to news accounts, was combing scientific documents issued by the various federal agencies in order to remove damaging statements about the oil industry and the coal industry. He suppressed or altered several major studies on global warming in order to protect the interests of his former clients. After the Times revealed the alterations, in 2005, Cooney left his job and went to work for ExxonMobil.”

Kennedy also said that true freemarket capitalism would be good, and we should try it sometime; right now it is the polluters who are getting rich by making others poor. He stated that 80% of republicans are actually democrats who don’t know what’s going on. He recently did a speech in Alberta for a bunch of oil execs and received a standing ovation (he said that could only happen in canada) and he had people come to him and ask how come I never heard of this before?? Well that answer opens up a new can of worms, media.

In ’88 Regan abolished the Fairness Doctrine which enforced media to use airways to serve public interest, and always tell both sides of the story so citizens can then go on to make rational decisions on critical issues. Now all major media in the US is controlled by just five major corperations, and they alone decide what is broadcast, and these are the same corperations that buy their way in to government policy making.  “There can be no true democracy with an uninformed public”, Kennedy said, and the media channels today ensure that the public remains ignorant. He also shared the obvious fact that “we as a people know more about Brad and Jennifer than that of issues that matter. We are the best entertained and least informed nation.”

Bill Clintons keynote speech lasted about 40 minutes, in which time he covered many key action items he and his team (Clinton Climate Initiative) have been working on. A quick glance around the audience showed a medium age of I would guess about 45, and many political guests were present such as the Green Party’s leader Elizabeth May, Ontario’s Premier, Minister, and many others. I was fortunate to finagle a last minute ticket which I later learned was worth $200, nice!

Clinton jumped right in to the current state of the Kyoto protocol, lamenting the USA’s failure to ratify and by saying that it is because of  the current governments insistance on “supporting yesterdays interest groups instead of investing in tomorrows energy future.” He shared the fact that the countries that are leading the Kyoto Accord are subsequently the ones that have shown the most economical growth, such as Denmark who showed a 50% (whew did I hear that correctly?) growth in their economy; or Great Britain who have taken swift action (creating plenty of new jobs) on energy efficiency and are well on their way to meeting Kyoto targets. This while the USA economy has been stagnent over the last 7 years, and any signs of job growth have been primarily linked with post 911 militarization.

He talked about the importance of citizens to take action starting with the ‘low hanging fruit’, and I’ll refer you to David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge for that.

One of his intitiatives is the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Toronto is one of them. Essentially what they are doing is targetting large infrastructures and upgrading energy efficiency. His example was with an old low income housing community in NY City where they did a full energy audit on the buildings, the energy bill was tallied at 5 million/year. They figured they could garuntee to reduce this bill by 30%, at which point they front the money, install the new technology (whether it be efficient heating or replacing light bulbs, etc) after which the new yearly energy bill was 3.5 million, and the up front money is paid off from the energy savings, viola. He asserts that this process needs to happen on a much larger scale, and it is through the people with the ability to put this approach in to action that need to step up to the challenge, hence the C40.

He acknowledged that no matter how much we do along these lines, that if the developed nations don’t also help the 3rd world countries skip the mistakes we made, that these steps will be made in vain. Both need to happen. China for instance can’t build new coal plants fast enough, this is not good. An example of something he’d like to see in a country such as Liberia, is to have the financial support of the World Bank, and with the technology available build an energy infrastructure that is totally self sufficient, clean, and independent from other nations. If other countries could only see that this is possible, then faster action may spread. 

Another item that he admitted he was no expert on was deforestation, which contributes 18% of the worlds green house gas emissions, whew!! A big part of that is from methane which is actually worse than CO2. He asked the audience that he needed ideas on how to help combat deforestation and claimed to be able to provide the capitol to make some positive changes.

After his speech came a 20 minute Q&A style dialogue with the CEO of Green Living Enterprises, Laurie Simmond’s. Clintons last comment was that action needed to be taken immediately, not just from political leaders, but from all people, and that his generation will never forgive themselves later in life if they delay any longer. I have to agree, I have two beautiful nephews, and 30 years down the road I want to be able to look squarely in their eyes and say that I did everything I could toward creating a clean, happy planet Earth.

Good morning! My alarm went off today at 3:45am (Pacific Time which I’m still on) so I could appear on City TV’s breakfast show. I managed to get the host, Jennifer, who was wearing a skirt, to ride a bike, nice!

Soon after the opening ceremonies for the Green Living Show commenced, and I was taken by the speech of Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario. He gave a sincere reflection (using his own family as an example) of his the importance of ‘greenovation’ in todays world, and the economic benefits that will come from this. Ontario certainly seems to be leading the way, just take a browse through the Premiers website for examples of this, such as lifting the ban on clothelines in the city, banning the sale and cosmetic use of pesticides, and of course being the first province to ban the sale of the ‘Edison’ light-bulb.

While down at the Sea Otter Classic, I had a few moments to catch up with my team mate Fionn Griffiths. She is a 25 year old pro DH and 4X racer, and after 7 years on the pro circuit, she’s at the top of her game. The 2nd place DH finish and 3rd place dual finish at the Sea Otter is a testimate to that. If you’d like to hear more, have a look at the 10 minute interview below….though I appologize for the poor audio, it was hard to find a quiet spot, the helicopter half way through didn’t help either.

Ride On!

The following article is from the current issue of Mountain Biking Magazine…

Balance, this is my favorite word, it is just so all encompassing. For me, I love to test the limits of it on my bike, and I strive to have it in my everyday life. Today’s culture seems to do everything it can to throw you off balance. Many people just sit back and let life throw them around, ignoring or failing to acknowledge the intrinsic messages and lessons those bumps are meant to provide; riders fall off the beam over and over never examining the reasons why. Balance is a skill you develop, you have to practice and be patient. You have to acknowledge failed attempts, figure out honestly what went wrong, and then try an alternative approach.

To succeed in riding a challenging balance line, I first must be balanced internally; my subjective world of mind needs to be calm and clear. Visualization is a very important step (more on that another time); once I am mentally ready, I can then proceed to balance in the objective, external world. It is always a top down approach, mind then matter. The ego can be motivated by external pressure, but the likelihood of a crash goes way up. That is why Kodak courage often ends in injury. Motivation is often temporary (except the resulting injuries from it), while true inspiration is lasting.

This ramble brings me to a somewhat bold quote from Ken Wilber, one of my favorite authors:

“Anything less than an integral or comprehensive approach to environmental issues is doomed to failure.”

Now since this quote was taken out of context, it needs some qualifying as to what an “integral approach” actually means. I highly recommend his introductory book “The Integral Vision”. To keep things simple for now, just think of it as a balanced approach between the external and internal world, much like what I described above. I found another quote that explains the first one very nicely:

“What would happen if all of a sudden everyone stopped trying to save the world and started improving themselves? Well, you already know the answer.” Peter Ragnar.

This quote really struck a chord with me.

It is clear to us that urgent action needs to be taken for human survival (Gaia will be fine); many people are reacting to this now obvious message. When we frantically react, even if the cause is noble, we may judge others and try to put our righteous ideals on them. This is what I have often done with new bits of ‘green’ knowledge. What this approach lacks is a solid internal foundation, the base of wisdom that only your heart can provide. It is a foundation that allows you to spontaneously make positive choices toward a greener lifestyle, even when you’re by yourself and no one is watching. A bit of internal reflection before sudden action is vital.

At certain points I have thought that technology is evil, all this progress and rapid development is draining our resources and killing our planet, but I think the problem is more in the mindset of the people using the technology. It has the capacity to divide the world cultures in an frightening way, or the potential to bring all humans together as one harmonious family working together on the pressing issues of our time. The quote above from Peter Ragnar starts to make good sense in this context; and the hope is that the blind romance with the flatland material world will lose its grip to the depth that a balanced, integral approach to life can bring.

Now this series of articles may a bit philosophical for some, but it can all relate back to riding, so lets end this ramble on a riding note.

I recently worked on a special edit of my segment from Kranked 6 titled ‘Trial and Error’, and it’s touring with the Banff Mountain Film Festival right now.  Here is what I say in the piece: “The location of this trail is some of the last remaining mid elevation old growth forest on the west coast…spending so much time there made me realize and really feel deeply that it just seems so wrong to take it all down. There is an analogy between my riding and what they’re doing. To me, it seems that a clear-cut is exactly like a crash. They’ve done it time and time again and perhaps haven’t learned from their mistakes. It’s my hope that some of these practices can be reworked to preserve some of these magical zones …so we all can go out and enjoy them whether it is for riding, hiking, or just hanging out in the middle of nowhere enjoying nature.”

Whether you’re on the trail or not, try to compliment your external life with a bit of introspection; it’s not just about hitting that gnarly jump, it’s also about being outside and appreciating natures gifts. As my friend Robin Coope often says, “it’s a question of balance.”

Just getting ready to do some shows today, such a busy event!

I saw The Collectives new film last night called “Seasons”, beautiful film that takes you on a journey through the seasons with six riders. It is a blast to watch, so much fun, and of course the cinematography is unreal. I also like the ‘vote Obama’ at the bottom of the credits, nice one guys. 

No more time to keep writing, so I wish you all a great weekend!

Ryan

I stayed up late last night watching a documentary from the UK called “The Human Footprint”. National Geographic have a similar one going right now, but the I like the British sense of humor mixed in with the attached version. I took notes of all the stats when I watched the 75 minute long show, so here are the highlights (definately watch the show if you get a chance, seeing visually our consumption is really quite shocking and extraordinary.)

-8 years sitting in from the of the TV

-74,801 cups of tea (I’ll definitely beat this one)

-4239 rolls of toilet paper, yikes!

-13,354 eggs

-5277 apples

I’ll let you watch the rest…(keep an eye out for the two young kids on wooden run bikes, sweet!)

Just some video clips from my recent Northern BC Tour….I’m now southward bound (in a hotel close to Portland) on my way down to the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA.

One of the quotes I use in my Trials of Life presentation is from Dr. Suess. I actually wasn’t sure which book it was from until one of the teachers today pointed it out; the part I use is in italics, but I think entire poem is worth taking to heart…I love Dr. Suess!!!

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. 
You won’t lag behind, because you’’ll have the speed.
You’’ll pass the whole gang and you’’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest. 

I’m sorry to say so
But, sadly it’s true
That bang-ups and hang-ups
Can happen to you. 
On and on we will hike, And I know we’’ll hike far
and face up to our problems whatever they are. 
We’’ll get mixed up of course, as we already know.
We’’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as we go.

Let’s be sure when we step.
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s a great balancing act.

Let’s never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up our right foot with our left.

Will you succeed?
Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)”