The End of the World

The old cliché goes that today is the first day of the rest of your life. Well, here is a sad parallel: Today is the start of The End of the World. Yes, it is true, the end is nigh. Anthropogenic global warming has begun. There is too much momentum behind the sources of change causing the warming to stop it before catastophe will be upon us, unless we all do our utmost to combat the problem. Every minute an internal combustion engine (I.C.E.) runs unecessarily is a minute closer to the brink of disaster, every plastic bag (because NO plastic bag is necessary. There is an alternative to each and every one.) is a few more grams tipping the balance in favour of doom. Every single non-renewable commodity used (or renewable wasted in such a way as to render it non-renewable) is edging us further down the slope into a morass from which there is no escape. And we are all guilty.

The ICE is the easiest target to point out, yet in our Western/Northern society heating/cooling of buildings, residential and commercial, produces more greenhouse gases than transportation. So it is clear that everyone must reduce heating and cooling energy use too. It is very simple to conserve. I know you have heard it before, but often fail to head the advice. This heating season, ask yourself if it is really necessary to turn up the heat, or will putting on a sweater do just as well. A draught causing a chill? Don't seek the thermostat, Stop the draught. Door seals, window film, various insulations and even closing internal doors at night when the heat is turned down. You would be surprised how much warmer a bedroom is with just the closing of its door. Are you only using one room for an hour or so? Don't turn up the furnace. Turn it down and just heat the small space being used. It is cheaper as well as using less energy. Don't be fooled by the appearent expensiveness of electricity compared to gas. An electric heater on Low (usually about 500 watts power level) keeping one room toasty costs less than heating a whole house to moderate warmth. (at 500W for 2 hrs, that's only about 8 cents. I know BCHydro is trying to confuse everyone by splitting the energy use and energy delivery charges, but that is what it is).

Someone recently (and others have done so previously) put it to me that bicycles weren't the answer to everything. I did not respond to it because the venue was not appropriate. But I unequivocally state here my belief that the bicycle, in one form or another, is indead the answer to almost everything. It is so much more than "just a bicycle". You name the problem, and I'll tell you how the bicycle is the answer. A whole host of health problems can be helped. Depression, anxiety, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension are just the starters. Transportation is obvious, but using bikes for transport solves other problems too. Urban planning and land use, when cyclocentric keeps people and their needs close together so they no longer have to travel far to do what they need to do. Mass transit becomes a viable option for the majority instead of a minority. No more urban sprawl eating up farmland, plenty of room for parks and recreational facilities (for velolovers and non-bikers alike). Bicycle ownership by everyone in the Western world is attainable, and would solve the problem of global warming. So many positive things would spring from bicycle usage that disaster could be averted. Those with wee chilluns ought to think about the state of our world, and what will become of it in the time when they will be thinking of propagation themselves. The prospect is bleak at present. But it does not have to be. You have to be proactive.

I know everyone who can read this knows about the 3-R's (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle), but how much of it is being incorporated into daily life. The answer for us all (yes, even me) is not enough. Reducing is 1st because uasage and wastage of all things is so great, Re-using whatever can be helps reducing, and almost everthing can be recycled. It just comes down to level of committment to find a way to recycle.

I had my epiphany a long time ago, I just didn't mention it. It is now time for me to proselytise. Propitiously, this Friday, September 22nd, is WORLD CAR-FREE DAY. I have been car free for over 7years (car-less even longer). It is time to free yourselves from the tyranny of the car. Truly, car owners are enslaved by their I.C.E. vehicles.