May’s answers and responses seem to best reflect my worldviews; the unfortunate thing is that due to the strange election laws in Canada, many citizens will vote against their intentions as a purely defensive technique to be sure the ‘other’ party doesn’t gain a majority. Very complicated - I’m still trying to figure it out…and am also still undecided who I will vote for due to this very reason. May proclaimed,  in response to the question of what the first things she will do if elected Prime Minister, that she will change the election laws to address this problem. Nice! She noted that since she’s a female, she’ll be able to act on many important issues simultaneously. 

Steve Paikin, the moderator of the debate, closed by saying “this debate was way better than the Biden/Palin debate”. This remark struck me as strange, especially as part of his closing statement - made it seem like an  entertainment choice. Elizabeth May actually spoke over top of him quickly exclaiming (from my memory) “of course it was better, it’s our democracy”.

If you’re more of a youtube’r, check out The Green Party’s YouTube ads…all filmed during May’s whistle stop tour through Canada.

Ad #3: Economy

Ad #5: Nature

Ad #4: Deomocracy

RL

Haven’t updated for a week or so on my blog, but you may have noticed my frequent lifestreaming posts on the right hand column of my blog. The lifestream is actually synced to my facebook account too, pretty handy.

Many of the links I post are political right now, for obvious reasons. For those concerned on the state of affairs down south, I highly recommend signing up for the Thom Hartmann radio show podcast; he cuts through the all the media driven drama and bias and gets down to business with a very grounded perspective.

I wrote a little rant a few months ago called “Lamborghini’s and Cigarettes”.  I’m not much of a car guy, but  when I saw this article on Hybrid Lamborghini’s, thought I’d post a link. It’s a bit ironic, but at least they’re moving in the right direction! Seems that because of Germany’s tightening emission restrictions, Lamborghini is now being forced to get with the times to keep up with sales (maybe the idea of high polluting cars going out of style, just as  I’d suggested in my article).

Props to Germany! Hopefully the new Canadian Prime Minister follows suit.

Cheers Folks!

I find it easy to get in to journal and blog mode when sitting in an airport lounge. Whether writing about an upcoming trip, or reflecting after one gone by, an airport is the perfect spot.

My alarm went off at about 5:30 this morning; the idea was to give myself some extra time for traffic getting to the airport, and or getting lost. Neither of those happened, but when I returned the car, the guy said the bar code on the rental wouldn’t beep with his little remote check-out device, so he sent me inside to the Budget counter to get my receipt and check out manually. So I left the keys with the guy and made my way in to the building and to the registration counter. After waiting in line I was told that I rented from Thrifty not Budget!! So I ran all the way back with my luggage in hopes that they hadn’t driven it off to the car wash already…. fortunately it was still there, and I managed to find my way to the correct drop off area. Sheesh!

Two days of riding in the desert was a blast. The trails are so different in Bootleg Canyon. Not a tree in sight of course (makes it hard to find a pee spot), the air is hot, the sky is blue, and the dirt is bone bone dry - the complete opposite of Caryn’s compost dirt at home.

My role for Norco was to hang out at the booth, meet up with dealers and media, and go riding with them. Nice gig eh! I rode a couple short cross country loops, probably 20 minutes long each; but most of my riding was up the shuttle. They had two flat deck trucks hauling bikes and riders up the dirt access road. I always seem to think that the drive up is more dangerous than the ride down, and it certainly seemed like it on one ride up. After one of the two shuttle rigs broke down, the shuttle I was one (after waiting over an hour for it) stalled out half way up the steepest hill. So the driver did a sketchy back up job down the hill, and proceeded to try his restart a few times on the hill unsuccessfully, rolling backwards quickly each time. We eventually were backed down to the flat and managed to get going with enough oomff to make it up (helped that he didn’t up shift at the steepest point this time though).

I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face on all the rides down. The trails are so much fun! My favorite was a fairly simple trail called Girl Scout because it was full of beautiful berms, natural whoop de doos, and little boulders and features to goof around with and pump through the whole way down. The trail isn’t so steep that you have to brake the whole way, but you could coast down no prob without much effort, but if you want to have a lot of fun, then powering a few pedal strokes along the way makes it a roller coast ride, good times!

The Outdoor Dirt Demo portion of this trade show is showing some green signs, such as:

• Biodegradable concession ware
• Organic Food options
• Recycled bins located throughout Demo
• Carbon offset program for shuttles
• Recycled/recyclable Demo bags

Trade Shows in general are very waste abundant and energy intensive. I’m glad to see that the InterBike show is taking steps in the right direction with their “Green Steps” initiative.

The headline on the Green Steps page of the site reads as follows:

“The Interbike Expo is 100% wind powered and uses 25% recycled carpet. And we are just getting started.”

At first glance, I had the vision of electricity used to power the Sans Convention Center with windmills located down the valley from the trade show. A little more digging and you’ll see that they bought carbon offsets for the equivalent power used at the show from an offset company that invests in windmill plants - which is great! They’re moving in the right direction.

They’re also encouraging visitors and exhibitors to buy offsets for their travel, I’ll have to encourage Norco on this one again; personally, I’m still Playing it Cool.

Alright, better get to the airport….

Airtime…what do I do when sitting for ten hours on a plane? Some may think it’s a huge bore, a waste of time, which pretty much makes it a countdown to the future. This ironically and unfortunately is how many of us conduct our daily lives, always looking forward to the next moment impatiently. But the present holds tremendous opportunity no matter where you are, and it doesn’t even matter whether you have an iphone in your pocket with wi-fi reception!

So what did I do on the flight? Here’s a quick list:

• Finished reading “Zen in the Art of Archery“
• Started reading another Ken Wilber book
• Listened to some Xavier Rudd music
• Listened to the Thom Hartmann Podcast
• Listened to the Living Dialogues Podcast,
• Ate a couple specially requested vegetarian meals (a free option for any flight with food)
• Watched “The 11th Hour” on my computer (because of course no on board plane entertainment would feature such an important film)
• Had a couple short naps
• Had a bunch of silent ‘zone out’ sessions while watching the clouds below
• And did a little writing on the computer, as seen below…

I don’t want to be entertained for the sole purpose of passing the time. Time is the most precious resource we have, though most don’t take advantage of it due to the wicked consumerism cycle. What we choose to do with our spare time (and money) is more important today than ever before. Like one quote from “The 11^th Hour”, and it was actually the closing quote from film, “The Earth has all the time in the world, but we don’t”, - Oren Lyons.

How do you want to spend your time? Stuck in traffic, working long hours to pay for the car that’s bigger, the house that’s bigger, the extra stuff you have to put in it not to mention the time it takes to find and buy all that stuff. Do you want to spend the down time you do have worrying about all the stuff you have accumulated and the possibility of losing it? How do you want to spend your time? What is really important and do your actions reflect it? Maybe you’ll have “time” when you retire, if you can just make it another 3, 10, or 30 years, then it’ll all be good - big house paid off and time to travel and finally enjoy life. Yes? …NO!!!!

I am increasingly becoming tired of our cultures rampant material lifestyles and the negative effects it has. I have been as guilty as anyone, but coming to terms with the charge is the first step, and owning this truth encourages automatic right choice. 

We have to move from the black hole of Well Having to the light of Well Being!!

Watching “The 11^th Hour” has really rattled my heart, and in a great way. I can’t say how many times this happened recently as I learn more about our human predicament. My goals are being re-shaped quite rapidly, and the more I learn, the more sure I am of the direction I would like to go, and the more I am convinced that the role I play can make a difference, as can everyone in their own unique way.

Viewing this film may be scary to some, as it was for me at times, but the feeling I have is one of elation and excitement; it’s a sense of purpose I feel that I think we all can join in on. Our generation will decide what life will be like for generations to come, and it can go either way; is there a mission that is any more important than that? Where do we start though?

I would suggest simplifying and reducing our material consumption so we can afford to buy the products that are necessities, and to use that consumer power we have to send the message that we as individuals are serious about change (buying smaller houses), serious about our health (buying organic), and serious about the planet (not buying disposable ‘stuff’ we don’t need). The majority of the stuff we buy has a cradle to trash lifecycle, instead of a cradle to cradle lifecycle which needs to be the new goal.

We do have power as individuals. The power to vote when we go to the store…and of course the power to vote politically. We have an election going on here in Canada which requires great attention, as does the roller coaster American Presidential race. The potential new American V.P., Governor Sarah Palin, denies that humans have anything to do with climate change, she is as far right as it gets; can you imagine if McCain gets elected? Scary. Please do the research and don’t rely on the media because they’re poised to gain financially if the republicans win. Yes this is a rambling post, and yes I’m battling to write this all before my battery dies, but I think we’re living in a very exciting time with huge possibilities for some beautiful transformations. There is reason for optimism, but we have to start acting now.

Our way of thinking must change before action is taken, that’s the challenge we face; action based in old paradigm thinking, no matter how well intentioned, could just make the situation worse (this is a confusing concept). Pico Iyer articulated it nicely with this quote, “Action without reflection is what got us into this mess in the first place, and the only answer is not action, but, first, clearer reflection.” 

Another example might be those acting out of fear, this has been a common response for many after “An Inconvenient Truth” was released. In a recent audio program, I heard Ken Wilber say “one of the strange paradoxes is that eco-centric thinking is often ego-centric thinking, and unfortunately Gaia is the One that suffers.” So we have to be careful. Perhaps more time needs to be devoted to expand on these concepts, so I’ll save it for another time.

In conclusion though, I will be doing everything I can to help raise that awareness and educate (both myself, then others), I will strive to spread the good word of hope. It is an important time to be alive, but we must act with intelligent haste.

Much love friends

Turns out that every beach they visited, anywhere in the world, no matter how deserted, was littered with garbage at the high tide line. When they inspect the sand, it is scattered with small pieces of plastic that have been crushed and torn among the reefs and rocks from the waves.

It’s worth just thinking about this for a while. Everytime you mindlessly use a plastic water bottle, know that it could end up somewhere you don’t intend, even if you recycle it. It takes 700 years just for a plastic waterbottle to start decomposing.

At the very very least, start using a re-usable water bottle, take it with you wherever you go. Same goes for re-usable coffee mugs. If you’re doing that, re-consider some other plastic usage habits you may be able to eliminate.

Anyway, check out these videos from my sailing friend, who is part of the OceanGybe crew. Godspeed on the second half of the journey.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Vancouver, with 25 degree weather (that’s Celsius my American friends), and some great people to hang out with. I was at a TFK event called “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day”. Some skill clinics, some tech clinics, some trail rides, a BBQ, and of course a trials show at the end of the day.

Click here to watch…

Ride ON!

Just threw this video together from EuroBike ‘08. It shows some of the environmentally friendly products and trends in the bicycle scene. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, just some stuff that caught my eye…