The road less cycled

The Interurban/Rail for the Valley message is starting to sink in in a big and exciting way. Just this morning while collecting bottles for the UCFV Environment Club, I overheard a spontaneous conversation that took place at the “Use Your Bean” cafe, otherwise known as “Rita’s Cafe” that centered around how wonderful it would be to be able to take a train out to Vancouver, spend the night, and then return in the morning without having to drive and find parking. I paused outside the elevator to eavesdrop for a few moments, hardly believing my ears. When an issue becomes the subject of coffee-table conversation, hallway chatter, it shows that it has penetrated the public consciousness. There are now huge political points to be gained by any government that recognizes the groundswell of awareness and gets this train moving.

The fact that Rail for the Valley has transcended the realm of obscurity and the world of a small group of core advocates, and morphed into an issue with a broad spectrum of awareness shows that John Buker’s Rail for the Valley and VALTAC have been tremendously successful in raising awareness. I’d go so far as to say that the battle is half won – the worst thing that could happen now would be for the sustained concentration that has been focused on this issue since last summer to lapse. Like lighting a fire, eventually, with enough fuel focused on one spot, and enough heat generated, it will eventually develop a life of it’s own. But it’s not there just yet.

Civic elections are upcoming next fall, and this represents a tremendous opportunity to make Rail for the Valley an election issue. Ensuring that all the candidates are aware of the enormous practicality of a South Fraser Passenger Rail Line, and then voting for those who commit themselves to supporting the concept will be an essential part of the process. Neither Mayor Hames in Chilliwack, or Mayor Ferguson in Abbotsford have been particulary enthusiastic about the concept to date…

What kind of impression am I making on people lately? On one hand, I’m an incredibly hypocritical environmentalist – discussing vegetarianism over a Philly steak sandwich at Bobby Sox diner with my bro, his gf, and a co-worker. My god, what was I thinking ordering that instead of a salad? But it’s a longtime since I’ve had a decent salad in a diner unless it was slathered in some way too rich dressing which drowns out the salad part. Then there’s the pizza delivery part – advocating interurban rail and better transit on the one hand, and then spending 5 evenings a week criss-crossing the entire city numerous times over. Truly, my left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing….

Then my dad can’t be too impressed either – I stated a good two hours ago now that I was going straight to bed, and he said it was the first good idea I’d had in about 3 weeks. Ouch. Then again, he wasn’t overly impressed when the cops showed up at my house last week asking why my car was parked on a shoulder on Sumas Mountain – without me in it. I was safe and sound at a friend’s place, dozing soundly with the intention of picking the car up in the morning and absolutely no clue that just about all of my friends had been contacted to see if they knew where I was…whew..talk about blowing things out of proportion. HAH said I could have embellished the story a little – but no, just having the cops involved was embellishment enough for me. Wouldn’t even have been a decent story if the police hadn’t found my car parked there.

Then there’s as good as ditching the EnviroClub temporarily – no involvement at all since the big forum in January. Poor quality and late assignments too – all things considered my conduct lately is enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Guess I’m making up for all the grey hairs I didn’t give people in my first two decades. At least I haven’t set any woods on fire yet as Henry David Thoreau did, or screeched through town blaring country music with plants pots in my car hood as Edward Abbey did (not sure on the logistics of that one.)

My almost obligatory reaction to the recently announced BC carbon tax? I’m pretty stoked about it – I hardly expected the BC Libs to take this rather bold step. Despite the harmless nature of this tax, any concept of a new tax tends to get people up in arms before they really know what the implications are, so it’s quite rough political terrain for the Libs to wade into. With that said, I also know there’s a broad current of concern over climate change so I think that once people realize that in effect this will be revenue neutral they will get on board with it.

Some have suggested that the $100 cheque to be mailed out to each adult in BC amounts to little more than pocket money that’ll be spent at the first opportunity on trinkets and consumer goods, and that therefore this will have little to no impact. I disagree – it’s no different than receiving an income tax refund, and many of these same people laud an income tax refund as forced savings because they don’t have the discipline to save this money themselves. This $100 cheque can be considered in the same light – forced savings which people can just as well roll over into a savings or investment account as they can spend it on something trivial.

I’m part of a demographic which is very likely to be supportive of a carbon tax – I bicycle or take transit whenever reasonable, and I combine trips into town when I have to drive, and I really only have an automobile for out of town trips and to generate an income. Now it’s true that I happen to work as a pizza delivery driver, so I use a lot of gas and I’ll be one of the most impacted from that perspective. But that’s a personal lifestyle choice – no one’s forcing me to do that for a living, so I have to live with the consequences and I accept that.

The carbon tax will have an extremely complex effect on the economy (ie. raising food costs and encouraging people to seek out either jobs requiring less mobility and/or less consumptive ways of getting to them). One question I have is whether this will place local shipping companies at a competitive disadvantage, as fuel purchased within BC will be more expensive, especially as the carbon tax increases in size as the years pass as it’s designed to do. Exporting goods may become more expensive and these costs will have to be passed on to the customer, while little impact will be felt on imports. We need a North American carbon tax to level the playing field.

It would also make more sense to levy the tax at the source, rather than just at the pumps, so that industry would feel the pinch as well as the end-consumer. Or would it even make a difference, as the cost of the carbon-tax would eventually be passed onto the consumer anyway, and the economic shift away from carbon consumption will be felt by industry regardless in the form of decreased demand? I’m no economist, and have a basic understanding of supply and demand, but like a natural ecosystem, any kind of price changes, whether applied by social policy or laissez-faire economics has broad economic reverberations which can be extremely difficult to predict. The great conservationist John Muir once said that, “Whenever we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else.” So it is with nature and so it is with our economic systems.

I strongly recommend the following article by UBC Prof. Dr. William Rees on TheTyee: http://thetyee.ca/Views/2008/02/26/TaxShellGame/

Also, there will be a talk by SFU climate and energy policy expert Dr. Mark Jaccard Tues. March 4 at 7 p.m. at Canadian Memorial United Church at 15th and Burrard. I’m generating carbon emissions that night instead of going to the talk, but there you go. Looks very interesting – visit www.vtacc.org for more info.

‘Twas but three minutes
Twenty words, fleeting eye contact
‘Twas enough.

Your euphonic tones
Sparkling eyes
Sureness of speech
Confidence and Independence
Vivacity
Blazed into my consciousness.

Driven to distraction
Distractedly, I drive
Your name I know not
You I know not

Yet, inside I know as I never have before
That you’re already in.
Will you come to claim what’s yours? 

They are correct
Who say it is unexplainable
They are wrong
Who demand explanations.

<Author’s note: If anybody’s still reading this far down, I thought it would be humourous to point out my ignorant usage of the phrase “doggy-style,” which I recently realized has strong sexual connotations…something I’m all the more aware of after reading Richard Van Camp’s “The Lesser Blessed.”  Oops End note>

The cold penetrates the thick blanket I’ve awkwardly wrapped around myself, and I drowsily wake to the realization that it’s finally morning. I’m still curled up doggy-style – the only comfortable position I’ve been able to find while jammed into the close confines of my car seat. I’ve wished all night I was sleeping in an Oldsmobile or anything with a texture that doesn’t resemble that of the Canadian Shield so much.

I’ve only had about four hours of broken sleep, having arrived in Chilliwack’s Promontory Hills around 3:00 a.m. Now it’s 7:30 a.m. as I groggily decide it’s time to rev ‘er up and generate some heat again. The plan is to head over to the coffee shop corner store I noticed on the way up to write this piece for my creative non-fiction course. On the way down, the warmth slowly fills the interior of my car, and my mind activates accordingly. I’m quietly exuberant, having survived my first night sleeping in my car. I descend slowly in order to take in the view which the shimmering lights far below informed me last night would be so magnificent in the morning. And it is, despite being blocked by trees. Trees which howled the entire night, buffeted by strong winds cresting the ridge and caused me to consider moving to somewhere less prone to falling branches. I played the odds however, knowing it would have to be an exceptionally large branch to actually damage my car, and also that in such a wind-prone location, the trees have adapted to it, and aren’t any more likely to snap than anywhere else.

As I drive, my mind turns to my vegan friend GB who I know must have lived just over the ridge in the Ryder Lake area, having grown up in these hills only to recently abandon them in favour of the big city. The landscape, too, fills my thoughts – all the modern, sprawling development I witnessed on the way, and the sharp, rapid transition from urban residential to rural, bucolic back-country. I think also of the freedom allowed by my car – the freedom to go where I please and do what I choose as long as I’m able to pay the costs that come with having a car, not to mention being willing to quell the guilt I feel at becoming such a gas-guzzling roadhog despite my avidly professed preference for cycling and mass transit. Also, I reflect on my ‘lone wolf’ status – I’m somewhat of a renegade, keeping to myself and not really keeping in touch with friends the way I should. The lone wolf thing is somewhat appropriate – I’ve not met many people with whom I’m completely at ease, and any awkwardness might just compromise the moment.

I’m still winding my way down the ridge, but decide to turn into a side-road on a whim. It takes me though an under-construction subdivision and over a murky little stream, its water milky grey, likely fouled by ongoing development related erosion. Continuing up, I find myself at Falcon Heights, just past Thom Creek Park, an elegantly named subdivision with a magnificent view. I leave the car at roadside and go for a short amble, hands stuffed into my pockets in reaction to the blustery chill which blasts me. Sprawled out before me is the heart of Chilliwack and the surrounding farmland. On the far horizon is Chilliwack Mountain, dusted in white and jutting out of the flat landscape like a zit on otherwise perfect skin. As I attune to my surroundings, I notice a raptor dropping out of the sky, wings swept back – avian akimbo – to reduce air resistance. I can’t identify it – it’s a mere silhouette against a grey sky, but it looks about the size of a red-tail. I’m high enough, and it drops down far enough, that soon I’m looking down on it – always a surreal experience. The bird swoops down and joins another of its species – they dance and ride the winds together.

Falcon Heights, it appears, is well named, unlike many of today’s subdivisions which are typically named in romantically hypocritical fashion after the natural features and wildlife which they displace. I have a bumper sticker which reads, “Suburbia: Where we tear out the trees and then name streets after them.” Bumper stickers are my way of getting people to think about these things – I have a captive audience whenever I’m stuck in traffic – why not provide them with some amusement? Not quite as much fun as weaving through bumper-to-bumper traffic on my bicycle, but enjoyable nonetheless. I jump back in my car and as I circle back the way I came, I notice the air is rife with raptors – perhaps they’re out for a bit of a thrill in the windy weather. Ravens, too, play in the strong gusts of wind. If it were not completely opposed to my worldview, I could see myself living here – it’s that pretty. I can certainly see the attraction to living in this place, and why there’s a market for this type of car-oriented development. Still, I don’t like it.

Most of all though, I wonder at myself. Why don’t I enjoy these early mornings more often, instead of staying up late and sleeping in the following morning? To use a car analogy, why don’t I spend more time in fifth gear, rather than coasting around in neutral?

I’m back from an unscheduled shift, and feeling compelled to write, something, anything. Anything, that is, except for my poetry essay which was due yesterday. TC in my Creative Non-fiction course talks about how as writers we have to get to point where we write not because we’re desperate for a paycheque, not because somebody gave us an assignment, but because we have to in order to express ourselves. Because writing is what we do, because it’s who we are. I may never be six figure potential; I may never be the CEO of some corporation; I may never have the security of a 9-5 40 hr./week job. I may have or be those things, too, but as things currently stand, any vocation or pursuit whose sole purpose is the acquisition of money seems soul destroying to me. How long will I continue to waffle between business/academics, and pursuing the whims of my heart, trying to balance the two but always seeming to come up short?

I’ve begun doing some retail work at the Backyard Birding Store in Abbotsford – very basic retail work combined with some seed mixing. Most important thing is product knowledge – knowing all the diverse products well enough to be able to help customers with what best suits their needs. It’s slow work, but the nature of it suits me, and the fact that often I’m working directly with the owner gives me the opportunity to learn the intricacies of running a retail business. It’s these sort of specialty shops which to me, are the life of a city and the downtown core. The birding shops, the bike shops, adult lingerie stores, coffeeshops, barber and hairstylists, used book stores, and others which scrape a bare bones existence from the fringes of business not vacuumed up by the big department stores. It’s so difficult for them to survive on a day-to-day basis, so I make every effort to patronize them whenever possible. I know every coffee shop in the city -other favorites include, of course, Backyard Birding, the hemp clothing store near five corners, the metaphysical “Food for Thought” bookstore on Gladys; Hemingway’s Books on Essendene, The Bike Shop, Wenting’s Bicycles, and most of all, the Abbotsford Farm and Country Market – all fun places to browse for gifts knowing you’re paying a bit more, but also knowing you’re sticking it to big business and supporting local producers by doing so. Quite literally, these specialty shops wouldn’t be able to survive if people succumb to buying the cheap, mass produced, and often questionable quality products found in the Walmarts and Superstores of the world.

Of all the cliches which are thrown around, perhaps two of the most important to me are “Think Globally, Act Locally” and “Vote with your Dollar.” Unfortunately, that those are cliches to me has become a cliche; something that this Abbotsford Times article only reinforced despite a game effort by the author to indicate otherwise. In a sense, I regret doing the interview – I only consented to do it firstly because I’m really bad at saying no, and secondly because I accepted the rationale that despite it being a story on me, personally, it would draw attention to the issues and viewpoints I stand for. In reading it, I’m not sure it did that, as the author focuses less on the issues we discussed (I was sure she had to put something in there about genetic engineering and Rail for the Valley) than on my evolution as an environmentalist and well-rounded invididual. I see no harm, but also very few concrete benefits coming from being featured like this, and I’ve never been one for the spotlight…

I’ve been driving a lot lately, but got back on the bike for some errands yesterday. In 3.5 hours I managed to stop in at The Bike Shop on Ware where I picked up a splash guard, new chain, and a spare inner tube. From there I stopped in at the office of the new kid in town, the Abbotsford Post, a once weekly newspaper, to pay for an ad I’m running. Next I headed over to UCFV to take care of some business there. Then down the hill on Vye over to the Ralph’s Empire, a wrecking yard, to grab a new seat belt buckle for my Honda Prelude. It felt very odd and cheeky to be bicycling into a wrecking yard to pick up a part for my car – I’m probably one of the first people to do that. On the way back I stopped in at Legal Grounds Coffeehouse for a cup of tea, and then over to my workplace where I work as a delivery driver, ironically enough, to pick up a backpack which I left there. Two drivers honked at me for being on the road with my bike. It used to give me quite a start, but now I simply take it in stride. A fact of life for a cyclist. I’ve been honked at by semi-trucks, and that’s unnerving, but in general I’m accustomed to it. The one thing I miss about cycling is the sound system, as I don’t yet have even an MP3 player or Ipod. Neither do I particularly enjoy breathing all the fumes from the cars surrounding me – hence the title of this post.

All in all however, it felt great to be back on my bike.