Many often miss a very important and joyous part of riding. Whether you’re racing your friends up or down the hill, annoyed at your bike because it’s not running smooth, maybe you’re stressed about something at work, or busy worrying about that stunt ahead and the one you biffed a few minutes ago, who knows, but it results in missing out on this gift, yes, that present moment when you can truly experience Nature. It’s the fleeting experience of being in Nature, not doing in nature.

 

This is similar to yoga, the most important part of the practice isn’t that crazy balance posture you pulled, it’s savasana, or corpse pose as it’s often called. So when you’re out on your next ride in the woods, take a second to feel the power of Nature, experience the presence of the trees or the desert rock, feel the wind or rain hitting your face, and just be, if only for a few moments. In the past I have been in some of the most incredible natural settings and not truly realized, recognized, or appreciated it; perhaps I took it for granted.

 

A large majority of the population takes the environment for granted, and it is because of this unfortunate view that most environmental degradation and exploitation occurs. We live as though the planet provides a never-ending supply of resources that can be manipulated for financial profit and enjoyment. That has to change. As David Suzuki once said “with six billion of us now shuffling up to nature’s buffet, the “all you can eat” sign will have to come down soon or those at the back of the line - the next generation - will be left with nothing but Jell-O salad.â€�

 

So the importance of these moments in Nature can be great, especially if riding is the only time you have that is free from the demands of the modern, fast-paced lifestyle. It’s in these moments of being that provide a certain perspective otherwise unavailable to the incessantly thinking mind; this following quote from Joseph Campbell is a great analogy of what I’m trying to say, “what if you worked your whole life climbing the ladder, and finally saw the view at the top and discovered you had leant it up against the wrong wall�. Why not let those mountain bike rides give you a glimpse of the view along the way; all you have to do is take a moment to look.

 

Just a few weeks ago, I was out practicing. I rode hard for about an hour, working on a few new moves, and jumping on everything in sight. It was a warm afternoon, the sun was out for the first time in a while; so I found some grass under a tree at the park, took my helmet off, sat down facing the sun, and just sat there soaking up the spring-like rays and letting my winter thoughts melt away. Not sure how long I was there, but I have to say it was the most important part of the ride. Conversely, I went on a night ride with a bike shop group last Fall, and they proceeded to race for two and half hours, trying to hit as many trails as possible; what I would have given for a few moments to stop, catch my breath, and gaze up at the night sky. For animals have the capacity to know, but it’s only humans that have the capacity to know they know; this is called consciousness, and it is something that we need to develop individually and then spread around.

 

Once a true relationship with Nature is realized it becomes very difficult to purposefully (or unconsciously) harm it. Now I don’t mean a kind of one-way relationship such as the “love� for nature because it provides you with endless powder snow and vertical, no. When you truly connect with Nature there is a certain respect, awe, and sense of responsibility that goes along with it. I can’t think of a better time and place to experience this connection than on a ride, how about you?

 

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.

I have officially been added to the David Suzuki Foundations Play it Cool campaign.

I am completely responsible for the large amount of CO2 being emitted in to the atmosphere because of my travel schedule. Buying carbon offsets is a way to neutralize this CO2 by preventing the same amount from being emitted elsewhere. Reducing is always the first priority, but after that offsetting has emerged as an invaluable step we all can take for a healthier planet.

Last year I offset over 30 tonns of CO2, and for the 2008 season I have pre offset 25 tonns. This essentially makes my travel emissions neutral.

I wrote a blog post recently exploring the responsibility of traveling for work, called “is the footprint of my career justified”. 

I think one of the emerging ethical questions of our time might be as to whether the carbon footprint of our jobs is justified. For example, travel is a huge part of my career as a professional mountain biker; and air travel is particularly harmful to the environment. Is the amount of pollution I emmit through my job worth all the positives that may come from it? Am I making enough of a difference to influence humanity toward a more integral and harmonious lifestyle? Or is my jaded western value system still tricking me, even after all the research and reading I have done, in to believing my role is important enough to travel the world?

I of course have had to justify this to myself in order to keep proceeding with my lifestyle. With this thought in the back of my mind though, I have seriously considered every trip I have been invited on, and the trips that I do agree to, I have been making sure my contribution while on the road is as complete as possible.

Education about the environment is important, this is why I linked up with The David Suzuki Fountain. When I am speaking at a school, or performing at a public event, I reference this foundation, and give out brochures about global warming. After all trips, I also ‘offset’ my carbon emissions; this has to be one of the best ways to justify polluting (although always as a last resort, reducing is the most important), as there is really no such thing as going on a trip that is “carbon neutral”. Anyway, this is enough of a rant for now, it’s nice to get these ideas out of your head and on to paper (well computer), somehow, doing this just makes the thoughts just that much more real.

Happy day everyone,

Ryan

April 13th,It’s been hovering around freezing all day with a mix of snow and rain, heavy at times. Recovering from the deep down chill that I got while setting up my demo obstacles was next to impossible, until my first show that was. I’m in Whistler village, my first day of 10 days of demos for the World Ski and Snowboard Festival. It would have been so easy to say, “Oooh, it’s just too wet and cold to ride, it’d be dangerous, no one is going to watch, they’re all rushing toward the next warm cafe!!”. But I buckled down and kicked a show off anyway, just one person watching. One move in to the show, babbling to myself on the microphone, I see that at least 20 people are now watching; where’d they come from!!! Kept riding, and before I new it, I had a crowd standing there in the freezing cold sleet, watching me slip and slide around on my demo stuff, cool!! Second show went even better, and now that I’m part way done a cup of tea, and warming up in my hotel room, the third show should be just as good…and wet. So I had two Trials of Life presentations this week, one in Squamish, and one in Deep Cove, North Vancouver. Two incredibly beautiful places, I truly am fortunate to be a BC resident, and I am striving to do my best to learn about what I can do to help reduce my impact on it, not in terms of tires landing on roots, but in the amount I pollute ;-).I had an awesome meeting with the David Suzuki Foundation, and am proud to announce that I’ll be an ambassador for the Foundation, and will do my best to spread the word at all my school shows and regular demos. Please do take the time to visit The David Suzuki Foundation and also, sign up for the Nature Challenge.Well, I’m looking out the window at the snow, and looking at my watch, putting the two together, equals Snow Demo. Yeehaa, here we go!!!Peace,Ryan