The road less cycled

Leaving behind for a minute the question of what is money, how do we make it, who makes it, and what is it really worth, let’s accept for a minute that money as we know it is currently the way in all things are valued, and let’s face it, is an unequivocal bottom line, the determining factor for so many of the things that matter. We instinctively recoil at that thought – I know I do, at least – but it’s very difficult if not impossible to get around the fact that without access to funds, it’s going to be very difficult to acquire the things that we need, or establish something of a safety net so that when shit does hit the fan in our lives, we have something to fall back on. Without money, we can’t buy health care, we can’t buy natural health products, transportation is next to impossible, post-secondary is out of the question, and the list goes on, and on a little bit of a larger scale, corporations and extractive industries continue to be able to wield the “job provision” stick in justifying the pillaging of our wilderness.

Now, money is central in our lives, but even more so for regions far more poverty -stricken than here.  Often, just a small sum, is enough to make a start at a business that can mean the difference between continuing to live in poverty and creating some flow of income so that there is hope for the future. That’s what micro-credit finance is all about. Pioneering it is what won Mohammed Yunus the Nobel Prize. The high re-payment rates of loans made on the micro-credit principle speak strongly for its success. It should even make the hardline right-wingers who decry what in my economics class they call, “transfer payments” – social benefits, employment insurance, welfare, GST rebates, child benefits, and the like – happy, ’cause what microcredit is undeniably doing is giving a leg up to those just don’t have a means to get a start otherwise, and not doing so in perpetuity or extended periods so as to create dependence, but just providing a start-up amount so that people can put their ideas and skills to the test.

So that’s just micro-credit off the top of my head. As with everything these days, there is a wealth of information about it online. At Dr. Google. Or…fine…I’ll do some research. Go here: http://www.globalafc.org/blog/press/microcredit-an-agent-of-change/

So micro-credit fits perfectly with my belief in a need for far-reaching reform, but that only a massive shift in how we use money is practical right now. We can use small sums to fight poverty. We can donate small amounts to non-profit groups doing work that we believe in. We can make small sacrifices in the monetary sense so that there’s still some money at the end of the month, and we can contribute to something we feel good about. It’s the path I was on back in 2006, and got away from in a big way since then, and would like to re-capture.

Even better, there’s a program I’m going to do next summer called the Global Agents for Change, in which money is raised by participants who cycle together for weeks at a time. Three rides are available in 2010: Vancouver to Tijuana; Amsterdam to Istanbul, and a Cambodia ride. Now I ask you, was anything ever designed that was more suitable for me? A 2-3 month bike ride, an extremely low-carbon and pro-fitness way of travelling, while raising money to lessen the income gap between rich and poor nations? I was intrigued from the moment I heard about this, so it didn’t take me long to make up my mind that I was going to do this. It’s going to happen. Summer 2010, and I’ll do what it takes to get there. I’ve been throwing around ideas for long distance bike rides or walks for a while now, and this totally fits the bill.

So what do I need? Well, $3000 bucks and a good bike. Not that I don’t have  a good bike. Right now I have an old Raleigh, probably from the ’80’s somewhere. Bright blue. A little faded. No gear slippage. Sturdy, if a little heavy. A good touring bike? Not really. Too heavy, considering I’ll probably want to carry 60lbs of gear. Not customized for my body, and for a 9 week ride, that’s essential. So a new (used?) touring bike is probably essential for this trip.

How am I going to get the bike and the money? Scrounging. Not eating out. Buying and re-selling. Re-developing the focus I haven’t had a semblance of since I had a concussion at the behest of a giant, moving, chunk of steel in March, and leveraging that into having a job while going to school. That, for me, is hard. I’m not a great saver. I tend to say, “screw it, when I decide what I want to do with my life I’ll save. For now? No way Jose.” But to cycle from Amsterdam to Istanbul, it’s worth it. No question. So I’ll do that, with a little help from my good buddies who read this blog who have my permission to give me a good kick in the ass whenever I spend too much…

Speaking of getting some money together, if you like and believe in micro-credit and want to see what it can do, feel free to send some cash in the direction of this important cause – from now until June saving to donate money to this is what I’ll be doing, that much is certain. Although….probably best to wait until I’m accepted before you decide to contribute

Our booth in Clikz

The drive to see a transit link between Abbotsford and Chilliwack is accelerating, and I have no doubt that if we can follow through and collect the target number of signatures, that we will succeed. I said after U-PASS that I never wanted to hear the words “bus” or “public transit” again. U-PASS, to me, was a big victory, one that has the potential to significantly change the drive-by culture of this university. The campaign itself, however, was nauseatingly repetitive, and now I find myself in the same situation with the campaign to finally link up Abbotsford and Chilliwack with some form of public transit.

When this campaign wraps up, I will be taking an extended break from this type of public transit advocacy. I am passionate about public transit that adequately services the community and region, and strongly feel that there will still be tremendous room for improvement once we do get the Chilliwack-Abbotsford Connector route, but for the short term, I will not be involved on more than an advisory level.

Now that we have that out of the way, I’ll quickly update how this campaign is going. There are 489 signatures to SFS’s petition online, and I have in the neighbourhood of 950 collected in hard copy. We have some 1-200 still circulating, so we have almost certainly passed the 1500 signature threshold. That’s one quarter of what Edith Griese collected to get the Aldergrove line in place.

On Monday I rode the #21 over to Aldergrove to pay Edith a visit (and get her to sign of course!) I chatted with Edith for about 20 minutes, and at the end of that conversation, I was more determined than ever that to succeed in this effort. We needed this service 30 years ago, and seeing Edith’s resolve and enthusiasm, despite being well into her senior years, was uplifting. In total, Edith collected some 6 000 signatures, taking just over two years to do that. Now, there is no way I am spending two years on this – currently we have been doing this very actively for perhaps three months, so at this pace will need one full year, or 9 more months to match her total. I want to do it faster, as I can’t commit to being here for that long. To accomplish that we will be setting up booths at the Farmer’s Market, the Flea Market, the Greyhound station, and the Welcome Back BBQ’s in September.

Recently, the Abbotsford News wrote a story about this petition effort, and the Aldergrove Star will be publishing a similar piece today (Thursday). The story can be read here, along with my ugly mug about to be run over by a bus.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/49038981.html

I am sitting in Clikz cafe, the Tim Hortons on campus as I write this, having collected an additional 50 or so signatures over the last few hours.  It is interesting how people seem to be too preoccupied to notice the petition despite there being a highly legible banner displayed out front, but once you invade their consciousness by asking them if they’ve seen the petition, generally respond enthusiastically. It makes me wonder how many opportunities in life they miss by simply being oblivious to them, being too focused on where they’re going to pay attention to anything else.

This petition, in fact, is one reason that I’m still in the Fraser Valley. When SFS helped the Student Union to pass the U-PASS which will be implemented this September, we committed to advocating for a Chilliwack – Abbotsford Connector, so it was important that somebody take this on. After my bicycle accident in March, I have the time to spare, so here I am, striking a few blows for a workable transit system.

The issue has recently taken on added importance, with UFV’s declared intent to build a ring road and adjoined parking through what is currently one of the last intact mature Douglas Fir forests in the area, the woodlot on the southern half of the campus. To erect new buildings, UFV must provide more parking, and this is the only space which they have to do this, so  they are willing to destroy a grove of mature forest, in which some of the trees must be at least 300 years old. If we can encourage a broad mode-shift to transit, the need for parking will be reduced, and the building permit authority may just waive the strict requirements for more parking for the new buildings.

You’d think that if the City can build a 6 or 7 thousand seat Entertainment Centre with 500 parking spots, that they could arrange something to ensure this small tract of rare forest is preserved.

 In recent years, the City of Abbotsford has been giving the creation of bicycle lanes a little more consideration, making progress by creating a Bicycle Master Plan, participating in Bike to Work Week, and most importantly creating bike lanes on a few of the major east-west running streets.

One of those east-west running streets is Downes Road, a major thoroughfare that lies outside Abbotsford’s urban core and is marked by a long succession of hills, one after the other. I happen to live on Downes Road, so have seen firsthand the efforts to make it bicycle friendly.

At this point, the City has finished most of the job of widening the road, painting the lines, and installing signs alerting drivers to the presence of the bike lane. They have yet to paint bicycle symbols on the lane though. The bicycle lane is well positioned to connect to the bike lane on Clayburn Road, though between the two lies a  hill that is intimidating to drive up, let alone bicycle. The new lane also connects to the bicycle lane on Mt. Lehman Road, but that bike lane is plagued by the presence of a lot of gravel, while also being intermittent and limited in scope.

So when the bicycle lane on Downes is finished and connects to these other two bike lanes, what Abbotsford will have is something of horseshoe shape of bike lanes on its northern perimeter. These lanes also happen to be  located on some of Abbotsford’s hilliest roads with the exception of the urban growth on Sumas Mountain.

So make no mistake about it. These new bike lanes will never accomplish the task of making Abbotsford a bike friendly city. At best they will make it more pleasant for people who already cycle to do so. They are little more than glorified shoulders in their current state, and the cynical will argue that the construction of bike lanes is a nice way to add money to the road-building budget, and use it to upgrade poor shoulders.

Though the new bike lanes on Downes are by no means unwelcome, they aren’t particularly helpful either. What is needed is bike lanes on the major roads of Abbotsford that come close to the urban core – on South Fraser Way, Sumas Way, Hillcrest, George Ferguson, Clearbrook – and other such roads, to send a message loud and clear that Abbotsford intends to become a bike friendly city as soon as possible.

Though these new bicycle lanes will do very little to boost the popularity of cycling, I can understand the thought process used by planners. Since Abbotsford had virtually no bike lanes prior to the construction of the ones on Bevan and Peardonville, they probably felt that bike lanes on Downes and Clayburn would be a good way to introduce Abbotsford’s drivers to the concept, bridging the way to make Abbotsford’s core bike friendly. If this is the thought behind these bike lanes, I can understand it – on the assumption that making the rest of the city bike friendly happens sooner rather than later.

Everyday, the freeway between Chilliwack and Abbotsford is packed. There are line-ups at the major intersections bordering the freeway, Whatcom and Vedder Roads. A very steady flow of traffic constantly occupies the Number One. It’s not like further west, in Surrey and around the Port Mann, and in Vancouver. But it’s definitely busy. Not all of this traffic is necessarily stopping in one of the two cities other. Some is passing right on through, but a good deal of it is bound for a destination in Chilliwack or Abbotsford, be it a UFV campus, Seven Oaks or Willowbrook, a financial institution, or a restaurant.

Both cities are part of the Fraser Valley Regional District, a level of government on the same level as Metro Vancouver, or any of the other regional districts in B.C. The FVRD also includes Mission, as well as the smaller districts of Hope, Agassiz, and Yale. Though public transit systems in all of these areas are managed by BC Transit, there is a startling lack of integration within the region.

Obviously, the two major population centres are Chilliwack and Abbotsford. Each operates transit systems that function independently of each other, and the Abbotsford system is joined up with the Mission system, which together are called ValleyMax. The two systems contribute to the operation of a connector bus, the #31, which runs from transit loop to transit loop over Highway 11, the Abbotsford-Mission Highway, and during peak periods offers 15 minute service, and half hour service all day.

Similarly, there is a connector service between Abbotsford and Aldergrove, though it’s not very frequent at all, only running 6 times per day. Even so, it serves around 100 people per day, connecting Abbotsford to Metro Vancouver through Aldergrove for those who rely on transit. The Aldergrove Connector, of course, is only in place because of a petition campaign ran by Aldergrove senior Edith Griese, who was fed up with not being able to visit people in Abbotsford when she chose. She got 7 000 people to back her up, and voila, she had her bus. They should have named it the Edith Griese line while they were at it.

So with those connections in place, it seems patently obvious that a route between Chilliwack and Abbotsford is the glaring shortcoming of the regional system. There are obviously many areas where the systems need improvement, but the number one area is the Chilliwack-Abbotsford connection. There is Greyhound service between the cities, but it`s expensive and infrequent, and requires additional transfers to connect in to the municipal transit systems. A round trip will cost you $13.30 for a refundable ticket, or around $10 for a non-refundable ticket. By comparison, a municipal service should be much cheaper. In Metro Vancouver, a cross-regional route, say the 502 from Aldergrove to Surrey, which I happen to ride regularly, costs the same as a short inner-city route, that cost being $2.50. Regular fare for the ValleyMax and Chilliwack transit systems is $1.75, which is what a connector service should cost as well, though a top-up of $1.00 is charged for the Aldergrove route, to bring the fare up to $2.75. This really shouldn’t be the case; I don’t believe it’s standard practice for transit authorities to charge more for longer routes, as this simply confuses things. System funding should make all routes available at the same cost.

It’s true that the personal automobile is the dominant mode of transportation in the region. I don’t believe that this is because it is better. I think this is because the service level for people to do otherwise simply hasn’t been provided. Transit service faces a long, uphill battle in the FVRD, but the first priority has to be the Chilliwack to Abbotsford service. It’s essential for students commuting between campuses, seniors wanting to travel between the cities, and the general public that doesn’t really want to drive but has no other choice. Now that UFV will have a U-PASS in September ‘09, it is paramount that this service is implemented as soon as possible. The petition is online, at:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/chilliwackabbotsfordconnection. It has 123 signatures online, and a bunch more in hardcopy, and that’s only a start.

Let’s speak up and make it known that we want authorities to make public transit a higher priority, and provide for immediate funding for this route. And let’s not forget about Rail for the Valley; we need rail AND bus service, and tthat petition is now online too:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/rail-for-the-valley.

Students for Sustainability and I can’t do it by ourselves. I’ve tagged you in this note because we all need to become advocates. We won’t succeed with one or two people here or there tugging at the politician’s shoulders; we need to be a loud, persistent voice demanding that commitments to public transit are made and lived up to. E-mail enviro@ufv.ca for copies of the petition that you can print out and distribute, and send around the link. We can’t do it without you!

The Done Deal is Coming Undone – We Demand Transit First, Not Freeways

Faced with the twin meltdown of climate and economy, the Premier and the Prime Minister seem intent to drive us over the edge by refusing to rethink the Gateway Project.

The people of this Region don’t want more Truckin’ Freeways or Evil Twin bridges, and now it seems the banks don’t want them either. The twinning of the Port Mann Bridge is now on shaky ground because banks don’t want to invest in the $2.3 billion project — more than double the cost promised by the Highways Minister.

The provincial government, desperate to save face, has extended the deadline for the Port Mann deal until February. NOW is the time for us to deliver a clear message to the provincial and federal governments and to the banking community: Don’t Bankrupt our Communities and our Climate – We Need Transit First! The BC Treasury Board states that transit projects create more jobs than freeway projects by 7 to 1.

Stand up for your community and demand green jobs, not blacktop!

With less than five months to go until the Provincial election, NUMBERS make all the difference. Please join us, bring drums, signs, costumes and banners, and add your voice to the rising chorus.

Come out at noon on Thurs. Jan. 22 and help to bring this dinosaur to its knees

NO GATEWAY BAILOUT!

ACTION TO STOP GATEWAY AND SUPPORT A GREEN ECONOMY

When: Thursday, January 22 @ NOON to 1 pm

Where: 5 Bentall Centre @ 550 Burrard and Dunsmuir- the offices of Australia-based Macquarie Bank, major Gateway financier. Kitty-corner from Burrard SkyTrain Stn.

What: A gathering of activists and concerned citizens from across the region staging a creative protest to tell Gordo, Harper, and potential investors to RETHINK GATEWAY, create GREEN JOBS, and invest in TRANSIT FIRST.

For background see Vancouver Sun, Thurs. Jan 15: Port Mann Bridge financing thrown into question

For more info about the Gateway Project visit www.spec.bc.ca or www.gatewaysucks.org

I’ve been writing all day for impersonal reasons; the Cascade Newspaper, e-mails, and U-PASS advocacy. It’s time to write something for myself for a change, now. There is so much I could write on; economic concerns are front and center, of course, as is the U-PASS and my thoughts about the majority vs. minority issue, and appreciating the bigger picture. I think I just want to focus on the awesomeness that was my bike ride today.

I didn’t really need to be anywhere in particular, but needed to get out and get some exercise so I decided to cycle over to the gym. I could have simply gone to the MRC which is only 5 minutes by bike from my house, but instead I chose to go all the way across town to the UFV gym where I can workout for free. This way, by cycling, I’m all warmed up by the time I get there, so I can get right to the workout without a warm-up session. It’s getting quite chilly these days, and since my Apollo Club Tourist has an abundance of metal parts, the warmth gets sucked out of my hands real quick. I don’t really bother wearing gloves  just yet though; not quite cold enough for that.

The University is about the furthest destination I could have within Abbotsford, short of Sumas Mountain or the residential on the far east side. Yet on my bike I can get there in 25 minutes and not have to worry about parking at all; it saves me gas $ so I can go on long midnight drives and still break even financially and emissions wise. Please don’t judge me for that; it’s a sanity retention tactic the necessity of which I regret.

By the time I get to the University today, the gym has just closed. Damn. Should have checked the hours today. I don’t really mind however; the main thing was getting my cardio, and by now I’m breathing hard and breaking a sweat. I always feel that somehow my day’s been unsatisfying when I go the entire day without getting any significant physical activity. I’m not on the level of a Randonneur yet; Randonneurs go for long 100, 500, 1000 km. rides, sometimes lasting for several days, but I’m getting there, and a few modifications to my posture on the bike and I should be able to attempt that.

Meanwhile, on my ride through Abbotsford, I realize how much I really do love this city. The more time I spend elsewhere, the more I realize how many ways Abbotsford comes up short, but the city’s coming along. There are still so many interesting nooks and crannies that give it some character; have you seen the medieval architecture on Langdon Avenue? Or the specialty bakery dealing in wheat, sugar, and gluten free products across the street from it?

I’m really enthused by the growing coffee shop music culture. Nearly every weekend you can drop in at a coffeeshop and come across some live entertainment, usually just a local performer or group trying to spread their reputation a little bit. Sometimes, like today at Seven Blends, just a group of friends showing support for each other; sometimes a destination event drawing a sizeable crowd. Ethical Addictions is perhaps the pacesetter in terms of being a place for young people to hang-out and enjoy some live shows. It’s become the east-side place to be if that’s what you’re looking for. City Blends Mt. Lehmann is coming to fill that function on the west-side, hosting live shows almost every Friday. I see these shows as a great warm-up if you’re planning to spend the evening at one of the local pubs, of which the Duke of Dublin is certainly the star attraction in this city, though the Bull ‘n Raven has great location and atmosphere as well.

If the outdoors is your thing, well, Abbotsford continues to expand and develop, but if you know where to look, you can still find some great places to go for a quiet walk. There’s been some controversy over it, but the Discovery Trail will be a great recreation corridor for the city, going through some of Abbotsford’s best parks – Fishtrap Creek, Douglas Taylor, Downes Bowl, Horn Creek, Willband Creek, over Sumas Mountain, and then McKay Creek as well. On it you will be able to avoid the monotony and sterility of the farmland and dykes, and if you choose, go cross-town in one shot.

On the way back from UFV today, I stop in at Lifecycles to make some enquiries, and then, spying a rare sight -a fellow cyclist – I opt to follow him down King Road instead of going through town like I normally would. He doesn’t set an insane pace, but he’s obviously just a little better equipped and I do have to push to keep up. He’s one of those “true cyclists” – dressed in skin tight aerodynamic clothing. I’ve never been a fan – sure, it’ll give you some added efficiency, but I dislike the hassle of putting it on and taking it off every time I get on and off my bike. Moreso, I love the casual appearance of cycling in my street clothes; it combats the impression of cycling as an exclusive transportation method that only a few people are equipped for; I’ll ride in whatever I happen to be wearing and pack along some raingear, and slap on an ankle-ring to keep my pants out of my sprockets. In Europe you won’t catch people in cycling tights; cycling is just how people get around and you don’t need much special gear.

So I end up going north on Clearbrook where I hog the one lane in the overpass so some impatient driver doesn’t try to squeeze through the narrow space between me and the centre line. Some guy in a huge truck guns it as he roars past me when the one-lane becomes two; from his acceleration rate he seems angry, and I can’t help it; I give him the finger. Probably he wasn’t even overly pissed, that’s just what his car sounds like, but it still gets under my skin. I haven’t had any accidents yet, but I’m still fairly jumpy on the road. Not like some – my buddy Trevor’s had two recent accidents, and I once came across him on his bike while I was driving, and I heckled him a little, and before he saw it was me he’d growled at me to “back-off, buddy.” Justifiably, he’s on pins and needles when cycling in Abby; between us and the other cyclists, we’re educating Abby’s drivers one at a time. Perilous.

So instead of heading straight down Clearbrook, I detour down Langdon, stopping in at the aforementioned bakery and the library where I take home an armload of books, a number on raw food diets, a book on the future of real estate by Garth Turner, and some others, most of them for my sister. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish on a bike with some planning ahead; I always feel like I come out ahead because of cycling instead of driving, and I dream of the day when South Fraser Way is clogged with cyclists, the Discovery Trail is packed with people, the coffeeshops and basements sport a thriving underground music culture, and development is contained within the current urban boundary, supported by a robust transit network and increasingly densified residential development. I can see myself living here for a long time, working towards that vision. There are many forward-thinking, progressive people  here; more than you’d think. However, I can just as realistically see myself travelling for quite a while and perhaps settling down halfway round the world, should I find someplace or somebody I especially like.

By now it’s dark, and I turn on my lights. My Apollo that was bought used came with this really great retro generator; a headlight and tailight hooked up to a little wheel that runs on the tire’s kinetic motion. As long as you’re pedalling it’ll stay lit. I plan to spend the evening at a coffeeshop, but in the meantime I’ve had a great ride, more convinced than ever that in this city, probably half of all trips or more could be accomplished on a bike by anybody who’s reasonably fit. If we really used our bicycles, cars could very well become the exception rather than the norm, only used for the odd trip to conduct an errand that a bike simply couldn’t handle.

Imagine where our automobile industry would be then. And you know what? Cry me a river. Humans are smart; we’re adaptable; we’d find a way to make the economy work. I’ve no confidence in the consumption based, manufactured obselescence economy, but I’ve every confidence in the power of human ingenuity.

This morning I watched a heron fishing in Swift Creek, delicately stalking the riverbank waiting for an unlucky fish to swim by.  As I stood at the riverbank, a large brown head appeared to my right, an otter I think, but perhaps a beaver.  For a split second its head broke the surface before diving under and being borne downstream.   On the way out of the campsite, I ate wild raspberries, and near the library a handful of saskatoon berries.  It is beautiful here in the summertime, though I imagine winters would be cold and unforgiving.  Mt. Robson, where I am headed soon, is more or less a ski-town. 

I’m safe and sound in Valemount at the moment, writing from the public library where the motto is, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”  I’d amend that to “A house without books” but that’s just me splitting hairs.  It’s a small library, built entirely out of thick logs like many of the buildings here.  I”m glad to be able to take a rest, as from my campsite at Wilderness Creek it’s a good twenty minute walk with around 40-50lbs between my backpack and the bag I’m carrying. 

Everything here is insanely expensive compared to Abbotsford.  I was going to grab a couple slices of pizza, until I read that it was $4.50 a slice, 5 times what you’d pay in Abbotsford.  A basic meal, and I mean very basic, at the restaurant the Greyhound stopped outside of en route was over $11. 

It’s been raining lightly on and off today and overnight.  The vodka shot container I left on the picnic table while I slept had about 2-3mm of rain in it, and the moisture in the air and light rain made it difficult to start a fire with the wood I was given by my neighbours.  One of these days I’ll have to learn to start a fire without paper, but thanks to my notebook last night I did have a warm fire for a few hours.

Next stop is Mt. Robson.  I could wait around here in Valemount until the rest of the crew arrives by Greyhound on Saturday afternoon and I’d get a ride to Mt. Robson, but I think I’ll simply walk it and enjoy the scenery on the way.  I’ll camp one more night in Mt. Robson by myself, and then the group will arrive and the Sustainable Living Leadership Program will begin.  From the highway, the river looked fairly calm in most stretches, but the water is high for the time of year. 

Throughout the program, while spending much of each day on the river, we’ll be exploring various concepts that relate to sustainable living.  Already, a giant environmental issue has reared its head here.  The fellow who runs the Wilderness Creek campsite, who I spoke with last night, works for much of the year up at Fort McMurray where he operates equipment.  The money’s good he says, but the environmental damage is great, and it’s the money he earns there that allows him to take summers off and operate the campsite.  The footprint of the tar sands is indeed far-reaching; even here, many hours drive from Fort McMurray, it shapes the lives of the people. 

Last night I also attended a talk on the Mountain Pine Beetle crisis; here is another example of a problem that has wide-spreading implications.  It’s shifted the nature of the economy from logging to tourism, as the logging industry simply isn’t capable of supporting itself any longer.  For the time being, and this may be ending, there’s been good profits in harvesting and market beetle killed timber, but when the beetle kill windfall comes to an end there’ll be a death of lumber.  It will take generations if not centuries for the ecosystem to restore balance and re-generate to its former stature.

A train’s blasting it’s way past outside, reminding me that I’ve got to hit the road if I want to make camp by nightfall, and I doubt there’s a library in Mt. Robson, so you won’t hear from me for three weeks until I’m down in the valley again.  The problems facing us seem enormous, from the tar sands to the Mountain Pine Beetle, and contemplating them I think of Lao-tzu’s words in the Tao Te Ching (Dow deh Jing), which I do not profess to understand, that:

“Do you want to improve the world?  I don’t think that it can be done.

The world is sacred.  It can’t be improved.  If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it.  If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it.” 

And, “Love the world as yourself.  Then you can care for all things.”

And lastly, “He (The Master) holds back nothing from life.  Therefore he is ready for death.” 

At this time, travel seems the essence of life.  There is something unbelievably satisfying, stimulating about being on the road, that being home and developing a career or working in retail simply can’t compare to. 

There is so much in the Tao Te Ching that brings to mind Biblical corollaries.  Some seem counter, some complementary.  Interestingly, the translator of this version uses a Bible verse in his dedication of the book.

The guy in the picture to the right, Tyson Kellerman from somewhere back east, is one cool dude.  He’s cycling across the country this summer, and dedicating his trip to the Green Party of Canada.  I think that’s awesome.

Before I get to the political stuff, I’ve added Tyson’s blog to my blogroll – I encourage you to check it out.  What he’s doing is awesome and I definitely plan on doing some similarly long bike trips, whether they be across Canada, the US of A, or Europe. 

Now a warning.  Political commentary upcoming.  Those of you who suffer from Acute Politics Exposure Syndrome (APES) stop reading now and direct yourself instead to the following link: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/today_now_how_to_pretend_you_give

Politically, I’d have a hard time placing myself firmly in the camp of any of the major parties, as each have their strong points.  However, what I will say is that the Green Party has had a tremendous impact on the Canadian political scene despite never having managed to elect an MP.  By consistently capturing 5% of the vote in recent elections, and polling very close to the NDP and higher than the Bloc in recent months, and creating a five way vote split, they have ensured that it will be very difficult for either the Liberals or Conservatives to win a majority government.  Some say this will stall the country by throwing it into a deadlock; I say this will force actual discussion, cooperation, concession, and sacrifice, as well as a measure of prudence and greater represention of the electorate on important decisions.

It’s nearly sacrilegious or heretical in our society to openly express acceptance of littering, or to actually engage in it oneself. In high school, Principal Neufeld spoke of using the amount of litter in the hallways as a barometer of student’s attitudes. At the time I agreed in full; and to some extent still do. If the hallways are cluttered with garbage of all sorts, it’s generally an indication that the students don’t give a shit, which would appear to translate to more than simply the cleanliness of the hallways; also their marks, morals, values, etc. Concern for one’s habitation (and make no mistake, school was and is a habitation) is a basic benchmark of character. Ever hear someone labelled a “pack-rat?” Well, I doubt that person was a socially respected individual.

There are exceptions of course; some people are just natural tinkerers, fixers, refurbishers, recyclers of whatever they can lay their hands on. These people are driven and can’t stand waste, hate to see anything thrown out. So they don’t. Instead, they’re always welding this gizmo to that gadget, and coming out with some pretty spiffy stuff. Kudos to them. But for every one of them, there’s five who never throw anything out regardless of it’s condition, and seem to attract “stuff” like a messy beard attracts food crumbs or blood draws sharks. The metaphors are appropriate, as more than likely they have the messy beard as well, and like sharks, their stuff will eventually consume them, weighing on their backs until they can turn neither left nor right and stagger with each step. Remember the late and brilliantly offensive George Carlin saying how, “Other people’s stuff is shit, but somehow your shit is stuff”?

Of course, dirty hallways can also be indicative of apathy at higher levels; perhaps the administration simply doesn’t care enough to adequately fund the janitorial department, or the janitors take every chance to slack off, or in the case of my high school, (remember, this is hypothetical) the private donors don’t care enough to actually donate in adequate levels forcing budget cutbacks, or hell, perhaps dirty hallways can be traced right up to those who control our money supply not caring enough to manage it wisely, generously, responsibly, or perhaps most of all, honestly. Truly, there’s a crescendo of implications.

But let’s not think about this too deeply; we might just hurt ourselves or actually accomplish something and we couldn’t have that. Oh no. Let’s just accept that littering is bad and those who do it are lazy and apathetic and that lots of litter means bad people and clean streets mean good people. Keep it simple, stupid.

Before I continue, let me point out that I’ve participated in garbage clean-ups, and not just at the behest of an elementary school teacher in a bad mood and equipped with lots of bright new shiny garbage picker-uppers, or, just to use my favorite childhood phrase, “super-dooper-pooper-scoopers.” No, stretches of Clayburn Road, Clayburn Creek, Ravine Park, and Downes Creek are all cleaner because I felt the desire to chip in and lend a hand, or in the case of Downes, herd some of the fearsome “Streaming Eagles” crew down into the creek to haul out whatever we could find.

What happened next, to use the Downes Creek example, to the 11 garbage bags of wrappers, busted sports balls, barely recognizable bottles, and other miscellaneous junk we hauled out of that creek? We put it in the school dumpster for a garbage collection agency to come and collect, and lo and behold, to dump it again!!! That’s right. We put in all the effort (a good part of our weekend as I recall, to haul this shit out, just so it could be re-dumped, several hours drive away. How does this make sense?

Moreover, what actually benefit did we do the creek? Sure it looked a little nicer to the human eye, but I don’t think a coho salmon decked out in bright red spawning colors would look at that little pocket of intertwined condoms wedged in a back-eddy behind a log, and turn tail back downstream because “boy, I don’t know if I can spawn in the vicinity of used condoms.” (and for that matter, the contents of those condoms might well enrich that streambanks nutrient profile, lol) No, that old tire wedged in the streambank might take thousands if not tens of thousands of years to decay, so it’s not significantly affecting the water quality. Nor is it likely to be impeding fish progress, or in any way posing an immediate threat to wildlife or the local ecosystem. One exception would be six-pack rings which can strangle waterbirds, or plastic bags which can do the same, but in general, I think we can agree that a lot of garbage is fairly harmless.

So now we’ve taken our 11 garbage bags and dumped them. All we’ve done is re-arranged the waste and emitted tons of carbon in order to do, and oh yes, we’ve bumped up the GDP a notch because us urbanites paid those Cache Creek hill-billies money to take our crap. Whoopee. Now the waste is all concentrated in one area where nobody can see it, instead of being spread out where everybody sees it. So what happens next? Well, out of sight, out of mind is what happens. We accept that we can simply send our waste elsewhere. We subconsciously condition ourselves to believe that it’s okay to generate copious quantities of waste because it doesn’t affect us tangibly. We don’t think twice about buying those oh so tempting muffins from the supermarket and throwing out the package afterwards only to repeat the process next week. Sure we can sometime recycle the package, but only for a limited time and not neccesarily for the same purpose, besides which recycling takes energy too. Eventually it’ll still end up in Cache Creek.

What if instead of doing those garbage clean-ups, we had dedicated our time to educating people about the automotive waste fluids which undoubtably affect Downes Creek? I’m by no means advocating apathy here. Merely that efforts be re-directed, as has become almost cliche in the health-care field, towards addressing the issues rather than the symptoms. Instead of picking up somebody else’s garbage, why not write to manufacturers indicating the future loss of your business should they not take whatever steps possible to reduce packaging? Or put time into re-vegetation of the streambanks (which we did, too)? Or any number of projects with potentially valuable long-term impact?

Do I regret participating in those garbage pick-ups? No; the exercise did me well and I made friends out of it, and gained some great feelings of accomplishment, because at the time, I believed wholeheartedly in what I was doing. My opinions have evolved; hey, if Stephane Dion can evolve his opinion of a revenue-neutral carbon tax that affects an entire country, I think I can update my thinking about garbage. Because, as I can’t resist pointing out, my thoughts ain’t garbage.

Neither do I regret, however, releasing two organic energy bar wrappers and a bag that contained mixed nuts out of my sunroof today. I may have ruffled some feathers, but that’s about all.

What I do regret is buying items wrapped in plastic in the first place. That is true apathy. I am conscious of this when I buy, and I will buy items wrapped in plastic again because I’m one person on a schedule, but perhaps it’s time to re-examine packed lunches and homemade snacks. Were I truly motivated, it’s what I’d be doing.

That’s right; brown-bag it. Just like your momma taught ya.

You might be able to detox in a matter of days, but the planet can’t. No, the planet, needs thousands of years, and you just might not survive that process. I, for one, would rather not risk it.

Something was eatin’ me real bad after work today. I drove today to take the car through AirCare which this little ‘86 Prelude passed with flying colors. Only problem was the thing kept on flying right out of the gates, and not two winks after the test I was slammed with a ~$130 speeding ticket. Still wondering how the hell they managed to point that radar gun through the hedges and houses separating me from their set-up, but no matter. Damage is done.

For whatever reason, there is some satisfaction in taking it stoically. It’s my first ticket for speeding, not for lack of trying mind you, and perhaps it’s petty but I can’t allow the satisfaction of any kind of reaction, so I basically grunt, take the ticket, and move on. At 60km/h.

But that’s not what was eating me. It’s only money, after all, and I haven’t learned to respect that yet; not enough, anyhow. Don’t rightly know what it was, but I fumed all the way home where I decided to keep on going to the Mt. Lehman City Blends to finish Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. Work was slow enough that I read several chapters during the day, and I simply had to finish it off. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Had to be done.

Turned out to be one of the best novels I’ve read. It’s historical fiction, written from the alternating viewpoints of five very different women, four of them the young daughters of a rabidly evangelical Reverend Nathaniel Price who is hell-bent on bringing Jesus Christ to the Congolese people, one person and one village at a time. The fifth is Price’s wife, Orleanna.

The setting is amidst the Congolese fight for independence from Belgium. Price and his family take up a missionary post in Kilanga, where he delivers fiery sermons to the villagers while completely neglecting his family and the customs of the people.

Kingsolver brilliantly brings together the subtleties of the Kilangan tongue with masterful reference to the Bible, capturing the complete incompatibility of the Baptist faith as presented by Price with the villager’s way of life. The personalities she creates are deep and believable, and historical context of the unfolding plot is riveting. The novel starts and ends a bit slow, but this is more than compensated for by the intricately woven plot.

I finished the novel, but what I really wanted to say is a thank-you, to GSR for being there randomly to chat on a rare intellectual as opposed to social plane, and to the young lady behind the counter, both of you for quite literally making my day. To GSR, well, you just rock, and to the young lady, I’ll be back for that Kaila special. You can count on it. (For those who know a Kaila in my life, no, not that one.)

Again, thanks, because I entered there under a black cloud and left with a grin.

And it wasn’t simply the iced hemp milk mocha.

Gas at $144.9? To be blunt, I couldn’t care less. What for many people is a fact that raises blood pressure nearly to the point of apoplexy and causes them to grumble all the way to wherever they’re combusting their way to, has been nothing but a boon to me. It’s been the final piece of motivation I’ve needed to leave the car at home with much greater regularity than when gas was at $1.20. Overall, I think I’ve saved money with the higher gas prices, especially since mileage reimbursement at my job as a delivery driver was increased. On top of that, the BC Libs sent me $100.00 to try and soften the political damage resulting from their carbon tax. On an aside, while I’ll take the hundred bucks and treat it like income, it looks like a cheap political gimmick to palatize the policy; make it annual or invest carbon tax proceeds in emission reduction programs, and then I’ll give the Libs credit.

Even when I drove to the Okanagan, and the six of us split the cost of gas among other things like camping and food, the total cost for four days of cycling, drinking, camping, and swimming including gas was around $75.00. I can’t complain about that price – chalk one up for local holidays.

Today, for instance, I cycled to the University to drop off some library books, headed over to Save-On foods for some shopping, and then over to the Matsqui Recreation Centre for a swim, all in the mid-day heat – a trip that’s not easy given the traffic on Sumas Way and the 25 + degree temperature. Cycling, though, felt great, pushin’ pedal in the midst of 2 ton SUV’s, loaded mini-vans, motorbike riders all decked out in summer gear, one vulnerable cyclist criss-crossing the town on nothing but muscle power and sweat, and then stopping in for a refreshing swim on the way home.

Flash-back to a time many years ago, at the very same pool, the MRC, with my brother and I taking swimming lessons, one of the few activities we were ever to do together. Our lack of confidence in the water was obvious; granted our swimming lessons were a luxury that didn’t last long, but both of us were terrible swimmers. Well into the lessons, the rest of the kids were diving off the low-dive for the first time, while the two of us could barely tread water. I joked about calling us “the Sinking Brothers,” bu there was Papa, off at the side watching the lessons, the frustration at watching us flounder palpable. He could swim like a fish, even as a kid, so you can understand his mounting frustration. We never did learn to swim well, and the lessons were soon discontinued, though I’ll probably never know if he was just pissed off or if he simply didn’t have the money.

That was then; since then I’ve learned to swim, and more, learned to love swimming, though by no means am I an expert. Regardless, I can’t seem to get enough of it, though I still hate the chlorine in the water at public swimming pools. It irritates my eyes and my throat (somehow I always swallow some pool water), and relegates the best swimming to alpine pools generally only accessible through 3-5 hour hikes. The kind that make you feel like you earned the swim, but also of the kind that rarely fit into my schedule.

Though I’m far from an expert, if what Richard Heinberg and others have to say about declining oil stocks has any credence, I think that gas prices will only go up from here. The trend of governments finally slapping a price on carbon dioxide emissions will only exacerbate this trend, so I won’t be surprised to see more and more bicycles on the road.

Not to mention people washing off all that sweat at the local watering holes, be they chlorinated in the city or fresh and clean hundreds of metres into the mountains. Up for a hike? Let me know.

Although Stephen Rees and Paul Hillsdon have already expressed much of the indignation I felt on reading the coverage of Maureen Bader and the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation views on gas taxes, climate change, and transportation policy in The Province, I feel inclined to add to the chorus of outrage that an organization claiming to be representative of Canadian Taxpayers has the audacity to claim that, “People love their cars and and need more roads, so gas taxes should be directed to encourage the car culture, not fund public transit.” 

Like Rees, I nearly choked on the pita I was eating at the time that I read that comment, and couldn’t believe the contents of the rest of the article.  With statements like, “More and more scientists are coming on record and saying that man-made global warming is probably not the cause of the global warming that we have been experiencing over the past few years.”

And further, “Taxpayers have got to ask themselves: ‘Do we really need to have a $14-billion Cadillac transit plan when all the government is really expecting to see is maybe a five-per-cent increase in transit use?’ People here want to use their cars.”

These views are exactly the opposite of what I would hope an organization speaking on behalf of the taxpayer would be espousing.  I’m all for reducing the net tax load on individuals, and this is what the CTF should be advocating, but speaking against action on climate change at this critical point is sheer lunacy, and betrays unbelievable ignorance of what scientists are telling us and have been telling us for decades.   The following article makes this quite clear.

Maureen  Bader and the CTF need to get their facts straight, examine the real causes behind oppressive taxation, and be more representative of the Canadian taxpayer before further damaging the organization’s credibility.

Did you ever get the feeling that you’re doing something for the very first time, even though it’s something that is so common as to almost be second nature? An experience of rejuvenation, something that previously was difficult or routine, but suddenly is wondrous and new? I’m referring, of course, to my new old bicycle, but most other examples I can think of also involve technological upgrades – a new computer system, a new car, or even the the invention of the remote control bringing the luxury of not having to get off the couch to change the channel.

The experience can be applied to a long awaited healing as well – imagine, or hearken back to, using a disabled body part for the first time after an injury and finding it works as well as it ever did. I can only imagine how Mama would leap and dance for joy were she to regain the strength she should rightfully have.

Cycling today, on the Apollo Shimano 600 Club Tourist bicycle Papa picked up for a pittance at the local auction, was an absolute joy. The sheer power of the stroke resulting from having the toe-cups for my shoes and the bigger revolution. The aerodynamic benefits of the road-bike posture with the down-turned handlebars. The minimal friction generated by the ultra-thin road tires. I truly felt like I was flying and as if the drivers on the road had nothing on me.

For the first time, I truly understand the joy that is cycling, the whir of the chain on the gears, the synchronicity of body and bike, and actually feeling a sense of ownership of the distance traveled. You don’t get that in a car, in a car 99% of your body gets a free ride, and the hills and valleys are swallowed up by the car as if they were nothing at all. I’ve discovered that I love driving almost as much as I enjoy cycling, but I can’t live with the side-effects of car culture – I can only temporarily stifle my inclination to actually give a damn.

Though it’s certainly hard to do so when encountering people like the jackass with the gigantic Dodge 4×4 who honked at me though he was only 30 seconds from his destination where he let his truck idle for a good 10 minutes.

Saturday was a crisis-caused blast.

Did a favour for the store manager in Mission by coming over from Abbotsford to close on Friday night. Blew out a tire somewhere in Mission, and noticed it when parked on a delivery just around the corner from the store, from where I limped back to the parking lot, though considering the integrity of my rim I should probably just have left the car where it was and had it towed. Caution is, after all, the better part of virtue. Or is it patience?

No matter. It was 1:30 a.m., and between the 3 of us in the store, we couldn’t come up with the right combination of spare tire, wrench and socket, and jack to put on a spare, so I left it in the parking lot overnight and spent the night at the manager’s place just up the road. Having only recently begun driving with regularity, and having been first and foremost a cyclist since high school, I do admit to still being extremely inept when it comes to anything car related, and I’d never even changed a tire, so figuring out how to do that for the first time at 2:30 a.m. wasn’t overly appealing.

I figured I could be up and gone by 9 a.m., as couches and I don’t agree too well. The times when I crash at people’s places are the times when I’m least worried about sleeping in – I never sleep well enough on such occasions for that to be a remote possibility. This time SH apparently cranked up the gas fireplace just before retiring to bed, causing me to wake-up at 6 a.m. wondering whether I’d developed a roaring fever or whether it was time to call upon my elementary school “stop, drop, and roll” arsenal. When you’re accustomed to coming home to a basement equipped only with an electric heater that takes 2 hours to bring the room up to temperature, well, roaring gas fireplaces used indiscriminately can be a bit of a shock.

Sure enough, 9 a.m. saw me staggering out the door for a brisk 20 min. walk down the Cedar Valley Connector where after a breakfast at City Blends and a half hour wait I caught the #31 bus back to Abbotsford. It’s soon to be an every 15 minute bus, as is the #1 which took me home. Since Stephen Lewis and Hugh Brody were speaking that night at the UCFV Abbotsford Campus, I made plans to leave the car in Mission until after the talk, resolving to take advantage of the very clement weather to cycle cross-town to the University. Until I realized my ticket was, well, you guessed it, on the passenger seat of my Prelude.

Now Mission’s not that far away, but I have an intense dislike of asking favors of people to the order of free rides to Mission and back, so out came the bicycle a little on the early side. After a visit to Vancity and Starbucks (they have great Happy Planet juices – a progressive, community and sustainability oriented company founded by Vancouver mayoral candidate and NDP MLA Gregor Robertson), I naturally missed the #31 Connector by 4 minutes and determined to keep right on pedalling.

When I arrived at Mission Domino’s, the next bus was leaving Abbotsford.

Grabbed my ticket, said hello to the Mission staff, and rode down to the Junction Mall bus stop, where the first #31, naturally, had no bike rack – one of the kinks that has to be ironed out of the transit system if it’s ever going to be considered reliable. Since I never can pass by a chance to read the paper over a mocha, I stopped in at Starbucks at The Junction (The Onion News Network reports that Starbucks is now opening new branches inside the washrooms of existing Starbucks and I believe it) again while waiting for the next bus – this would prove an ill-fated decision, as my inner gossip and roving eye teamed up and came to rest on an intriguing figure.

As I was to learn, he was Irish – though I could have guessed from the size and color of his nose. Occupying a table by himself, he looked just a little out of place. One of those people who look like they’ve just emerged from a log cabin in the Canadian wilds after a 20 or 30 year hiatus from civilization, and has just cleaned themselves up enough to look respectable. I asked myself whether I’d rather bury my face in the Province Newspaper or learn more about this guy, since I was, after all, sitting pretty much right next to him. So as a conversation starterI asked him some innocuous little question that I don’t even remember. Turns out he rents a little acreage out in the Dewdney area where he has some horses, and operates a little boat in the Fraser River for a local mill for $20 bucks an hour. As he spoke he rolled himself a – a what? I’m not that good on my taboo substance or activity slang – guess I’ll go with the cliche “doobie.” He told me of his kids who range from 5-18, and of his passion for artistry, commenting on how in the 70’s he could make $2-300 in a half hour doing work that today is all done by computers. I have a distinct appreciation and respect for those who earn their living purely through physical means – coupled with a respect for the land and for fellow human beings there’s nothing dishonorable about it. Quite the opposite, in fact.

While chatting, naturally, my bus pulled up. I was waiting for it, being only 20 seconds on bike away. Still missed the damn thing, as it pulled in and out way faster than I expected. Of course I chased it, gesticulating wildly at the bus driver, who, like all bus drivers, either didn’t seem me or pretended not to see me. A few strings of well chosen curses later, I was pedalling to Abbotsford again, arriving in good time for the Lewis/Brody event.

The car tire got changed too, that night – nothing to it, actually. Since then the leak was temporarily fixed – work I actually enjoyed doing. I’m a little mortified and stupefied at the realization that I seem to be developing a liking for car mechanics.  I suspect it won’t take more than a day or two of trying to fix the little stuff and a couple hundred dollars of big repairs to disabuse me of that.

Egads, I really am a nerd. A transportation nerd, that is. Opened the Abbotsford News today, and literally got chills down my spine reading that the City of Abbotsford is planning to add an exchange near Clearbrook and South Fraser in 2008, and perhaps relocate the current one? The latter part wasn’t too clear. Anyway, creating an exchange in West Abbotsford is something I and at least several other people that I overheard specifically advocated for at various transportation related open houses, so it appears that City staff are listening. They’ve also planned to provide 15 minute service along the main routes, the 1,2,3 Go Lines, accompanied with a fare hike. I can live with that, as this could well lay the groundwork for the implementation of a U-Pass system for UCFV students.

There will be an Open House on March 12 for the public to provide input and discuss these plans. I, for one, will make every effort to be there.

Of note, on my way to work today I stopped in at the Clearbrook library to pick-up a book on the history of the BC Electric Railway Company and the old Interurban, and who did I meet but my friend CK, a local cyclist and active community member. He’s with the Abbotsford Cycling Action Group, Central Valley naturalists, and coordinates weekly Tuesday night rides during the warmer months which I’ve been meaning to attend for ages, in addition to which he helped the StreamKeeper’s group I led in high school clear blackbery bushes from a streambank in preperation for re-planting with natives. We had an amusing little exchange – I mentioned I was delivering pizzas now, and he replied in his strong British accent, “On a bloody bike? You’ll be fit as can be in no time (paraphrase). And then, commenting on the fact that I’d finally begun driving myself around, “Well, yeah. You must be fighting off the women now. I was the same way.” I gave a knowing chuckle at the cheekiness of that comment, and ended the exchange there to leave for work. For perspective, I’d say CK’s in his 60’s and still going strong, too. I should know – I’ve cycled with him.

I walked out of the library with a big grin. The rewards of spending so much time with groups like the cycling action group, the naturalists, etc. – I meet a lot of people outside my age group who’ve got more interesting things to say than more than a few of my peers who seem to have perfected the art of meaningless conversation. With a generous handful of exceptions, of course.

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…

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.

<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’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.

A dream of mine came true today. It’s a total admission of geekiness, but tonight UCFV Enviro hosted a forum on sustainable transportation at the Abbotsford campus, bringing in several high-profile and knowledgeable panellists to discuss how to stave off a future for the Fraser Valley that is completely car dependent. Yes, I dream of this kind of stuff happening, and when they do, well, these events always give me a big charge – coming home afterwards I feel so energized and optimistic. Something about getting that many people in one room together generates so much positive energy, and I really feed off of it. I absolutely love it – I call myself an extroverted introvert because it’s well known that extroverts are people who are energized by being in association with others, and leaving an event such as this just leaves me on a huge high, although I generally consider myself very much an introvert. Most times I’ll be more than content to just do my own thing, and social functions can really stress me out as well.

Today however, we pulled off the big forum, made a lot of headlines, and probably turned some heads in the process. Judging by the number of people in the audience and the dignitaries present, I’d say we significantly ratcheted up the political pressure to do better for the entire Lower Fraser Valley than even the latest 14B plan, if ever completed, will do. So much of it is just rehashing and re-presenting targets that we were supposed to have met by now. It seems the big price tag is there simply to create the impression that the government is actually doing something about transit and greenhouse gases, while the first priority remains roads, freeways, and more bridges. Doubt that? Just ask yourself why Gateway is being fast-tracked right away, while all the transit is on long term timetables. Governments can easily set long term objectives because by the time their promises come due, the government has changed and the politicians moved on. People have to get organized and stop letting governments promise the world and deliver only an island or two, and this forum is one step towards making this happen.

Perhaps when I’m 50 I’ll be disabused of the notion that people will ever take charge of their governments, but for now I’ll continue to bask in the idealistic belief that one day it will happen and we’ll see some real progress.

So, do you have your Rail for the Valley bumper sticker yet? No? Well, get on that train already!