Why do the democrats seem so passionate when speaking while the republicans always lack flavor. Maybe because deep down they know what they’re campaigning for, and they know it doesn’t offer America what it needs.

For example, Dennis Kucinich had some serious fire and enthusiasm during his short speech at the Democratic National Convention, certainly worth a watch. It was from hearing the following quote about McCain’s Republican’s that prompted me to search out the following speech, “They’re asking for another four years, in a just world, they’d get 10 to 20.” Nice!!

As for Barack’s running mate, Joe Biden, he seems to be an amazing pick. A friend told me a while back that if you want stuff to get done at the White House, you need to elect someone like McCain that is bro’s with all the movers and shakers….Well the Bush administration ran with that, but along the lines of “It’s not what you know, but who you know”, and at the same time, they let money talk. McCain is moving along the same lines on the most crucial issues. “McCain more of the Same”, scary.  Well, Biden seems to have “who you know” and ”what you know”. ObamaBiden08!!

Let’s heal America, and therefore the world. Vote Democrat!!

Hearing the words bikes and Obama together in a positive way is great news. Congrats to F.K. Day from SRAM for having the foresight to propose this fundraiser to the Barack Obama campaign over six months ago.

 

“CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN)—Barack Obama, in a private 20-minute meeting with members of the Bikes Belong board of directors, told them if he were elected president he would increase funding for cycling and pedestrian projects. And the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also said he would support Safe Routes to Schools programs.” For full article from Bikes Belong Website click HERE.

“During a conversational 15-minute speech, Obama poked fun at himself telling the crowd that when he was photographed last weekend riding a bike with his children, he looked like Urkel. For those unfamiliar with Steve Urkel, he was the nerdy, bespectacled semi-hero on the long running sitcom “Family Matters.” The show was centered on an African-American middle class family living in Chicago.”  For full articles, click HERE and HERE.

 

 

 

A few things to tell you about from my tour through the Canadian Prairies, but I’m busy chasing my nephews around today. Did just see this vid from Obama, and thought I’d share; trying to catch up on my news since I’ve been offline for a number of days…Props to Obama for attempting to bring back a true democracy to the US.

Reminds me of a quote I recently read from adbusters, “…give whatever it takes to ensure four more years of putting profit over people. After all, we know a good president when we buy one.” This describes the corporate ties with politics quite nicely, and fits the Bush administration to a T. Below is the man that can bring us out of this thin democracy model.

My friend Devin Leggett, formerly the Norco web guru, and the fellow who designed my website, passed along a link to a site that his current company, smashLAB, created on the importance of designers to think green in their daily business lives. Whether you design or not, it’s a slick educational presentation on climate change, and worth browsing through.

Also, how cool does Barack Obama look in this photo?! And yah, the link is about the book he is reading, “The Post-American World”, by Fareed Zakaria. Based on reviews, it’s good to see he is reading books that delve in to real world issues. As the link asks, “Anyone know what book John McCain is — or should be — carrying around?”

 

In 2000, Carey Hart put it out there when he attempted the holey grail of FMX, the back flip; now it’s in every pro’s trickbook. Just a few short years ago Darren Berrecloth put it out there with some huge 360 drops; now it’s standard practice in any slopestyle comp. Audacious individuals are often the ones responsible for progression in alternative sport. Another example of this same concept would be Al Gore and his environmental activism; all the scientific data was there, but he put it out there that action must to be taken; David Suzuki in Canada is doing the same thing.

People like this start a trickle of action, then maybe a small stream depending on the importance or demand; and if the idea or trend is worthy, a raging river. Now of course we could get by with just a small trickle of people doing 360 drops, the hospitals couldn’t handle much more, but we do need a raging river of people being environmentally responsible. I guess my motive for this new series of articles on bicycle ecology is to help divert a few more of those random trickles of water in to a desperately needed raging river.

To get a little more scientific, Everett Rogers from Stanford did some extensive research on the diffusion of innovation (trends). First are the innovators, as mentioned above, then come the early adopters, which make up 15% of the population, they seek the new and have a higher tolerance for experimentation; this might be where you find the competitors of Hart and Barrecloth, or those following the recommendations of Gore or Suzuki. Then all of a sudden a bright idea will metastasize and spread rapidly through the next group called the early majority (35%). All those young groms sessioning the dirt jumps after school in hopes of being the next big name may be in this group. The next batch according to Rogers research, which spanned some 50 years and targeted over 500 major trends, is called the late adopters (35%). The remaining 15% are the laggards, they are off the back and tend to be on their own program. So just as good tricks spread rapidly through the population of capable riders, so will environmental responsibility for everyone, but I don’t think it has quite hit home for most people.

When I’m learning a new trick or technique, I have to practice it over and over and over. When I need to update or modify a technique, it takes even more effort and dedication. Is the reward worth it? The satisfaction of nailing a new move clean is amazing, totally worth all those failed attempts and practice. A large part of the solution to global warming will be like modifying an old trick, in other words we have to change our habits! Will the reward be worth the effort?

The mountain bike world seems full of coffee drinkers, am I right? Now I’m more of a tea guy although I do love a good java here and there, but anyway, I personally drink two cups of tea a day. One of my recent road trips lasted 75 days, so that’s about 150 cups that didn’t end up in a landfill because I managed to create a habit of bringing my re-usable mug with me. To help solidify this habit, I would often punish myself from caffeine if I forgot my to-go mug. A bit crazy yes, but it worked, caffeine is a strong motivator!

There seems to be disconnect between understanding a problem like global warming and actually acting on that knowledge, in future articles, I’ll explore this further. But for now,  consider this, it is said that if insects disappeared from our planet life would cease in five years, but if humans disappeared from this planet life would flourish in five years. Yes, we have some work to do. So can we put in the effort toward this critical goal of a sustainable world? Can we change our habits and inspire others to do the same? Can we put it out there? Well I have to agree with the charismatic words of Barack Obama, “Yes We Can!”

Stay tuned for future BikEcology articles on all sorts of green topics. Check out my blog at ryanleech.com for more.