Sunday 11 January 2015

The truth is a well-kept secret here in Ford country.

Hello!  Here you go - an extra large picture of an extra large pick up truck. Way to go, Chevrolet! You really outdid yourself on that one.

When does "Bigger is Better" beome just plain stupid?
Un.  Believable. What would prompt a person to purchase such a Leviathan? It serves no purpose, except perhaps to make up for some sense of SHORTcoming, as it were. It doesn't even have a fifth wheel. It's a four wheel drive with duelies, a super heavy beast of a machine with the capability of hauling five tons, only it's all for show. That box in the back there has no more capacity than any other off-the-lot half ton pick up truck in the country. A Toyota can haul as much, and it can do it with an order of magnitude less fuel. The Dickus Minimus who chose this joke of a truck obviously needs it to haul his ego. He carted it in this monster, along with his ass, clear across the country. Can you see? It's sporting Ontario plates.

And like the rest of us, he has undoubtedly witnessed the effects of climate change over the past decade or so, with the increase in extreme weather events. You've gotta wonder whether he just doesn't buy it, that climate change is real, or whether he figures his actions have no impact on the greater whole.  Either way, we clearly don't see eye to eye, he and I. Pick up trucks are a plague upon the Canadian economy, and the scourge of our environmental efforts, but try telling that to your average redneck.

I've had arguments about climate change with a few people over the past few months. Way back in the day, even before the protests at Clayoquot Sound, back when I first started thinking about my impact on the planet, and wondering about ways that humanity might alter its course to halt the full scale destruction of the Earth's natural spaces, we environmentalists were a rare species.  Sure, everyone was aware of David Suzuki, Canada's very own Lorax who speaks for the trees, but few people claimed much of a sense of personal responsibility until 1993 and the Clayoquot Sound protests. Twenty some odd years on, and the landscapes themselves - both literal and political alike - are vastly different. Literally. Just ask Naomi Klein, or better yet, read her epic work entitiled This Changes Everything. These days, climate change is a concept on everybody's radar, and most people claim an understanding, an awareness of how their lifestyle, their actions, and their habits of consumption impact the rest of the world.

And yet those who deny the obvious are always so strenuous in their protest. Take Mr Moore, for eample. the CBC's early edition introduced him as one of the original founders of Greenpeace. Despite his environmental beginnings, he turned to the dark side. He has become a spokesperson for the very industries he so vehemently decried thirty years ago. But now he earns a comfortable living, so there's that.


The one thing you can't help but notice about climate change deniers is that they tend to make a ton of dosh off the very industries at the heart of our global warming issues. Besides, who want to actually bother to change?  Change is challenging. It's easier to just carry on with a comfortable lifestyle, and instead point fingers, calling the rest of us mad. Mind you, Mr Moore was introduced as Patrick Moore on the CBC, and yet when I tweeted in response to his interview, a fellow named John Charles Moore took up the sword to do battle, so maybe multiple personality disorder explains his change of heart, and his loose connection to his name. You'd think in that case, he would embrace change, and pursue a sustainable global economy, instead of sitting back and calling environmental activists crazy.

And plenty of people truly have gone mad. You don't have to travel all of the way to Paris to find people who have lost the plot. We have our own home grown lunatics right here in beautiful British Columbia. Like the 64 year old woman who was arrested a couple of weeks ago for laying potentially lethal traps for mountainbikers on the North Shore mountains. As if life isn't dangerous enough as it is.

In fact, all you have to do is spend a few hours in traffic, or down at the ports, and you risk changing the structure of your genetic make-up, at least you do if you're exposed to deisel exhaust.  Why?  Some researchers at UBC determined that a mere two hours of exposure to deisel exhaust is all it takes to interfere with the body's methylation, a coating that attaches to many places on your DNA, affecting the expression of some 400 or so genes. And that truck up there? Not just too big to be beautiful, but deisel, too.  Figures.

It's overwhelming, sometimes, how very far we humans still have to go. But I can always find peace on two wheels. Even when the world leaves me reeling in the chaos, there's a moment of inner calm, and quiet contemplation available any time, any place.  All I have to do is head out of doors to go for a spin.


It's not rocket science, but it is tried, tested and true. Riding a bike is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, even on the most challenging of days. And it's not even one of those guilty pleasures... :)


Works a charm, every time. It's the honest truth: the best pick-me-up is the farthest thing from a pick-up truck. Don't believe me? Give it a go. Try it for yourself and see.

27 comments:

  1. il Pirata est Mort (Je Suis Charlie)12 January 2015 at 07:14

    In my lifetime I have seen the human population of the world double. Not to get too mathematic about it, but if humanity has been around for a couple million years and then in the last fifty the quantity doubles, that is a significant uptick on the log-log chart. Couple these numbers with unhealthy lifestyle choices (i.e. the Chevy) and you have a one-two to the planet's solar plexus.

    I have also seen reports of a 13,000 year warming/cooling cycle the planet tracks due to a slight axis wobble. The Wisconsin Glacier retreated from NYC during the previous warming period and we may be on the cusp of another if these findings hold water.

    All the more reason to get a ride in today!

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    1. Every day is a good day for a ride! Podium kisses... XX
      And this is an anomalous warming trend, on the verge of an order of magnitude rate of change because of the vast numver of boiling methane lakes about to be released into the atmosphere, triggered by melting permafrost

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  2. Not to be advocating the devil but, perhaps Mr/Ms pickup needs towing capacity? Diesels are more efficient than gasoline engines and more reliable and more powerful, that's why trucks, ships, big trains, transport buses, and heavy duty vehicles are diesel vs. gasoline. Today's clean diesels emit less airborne particulates. Of course, I wouldn't recommend hanging out behind tailpipes for 2 hours.
    Crew cab? Maybe it's a Soccer Mom's pickup?? hahaha I hope it at least has commercial plates. Bricks (reclaimed?) cinder blocks? Farm equipment?
    I thought ice cap mass was increasing?
    So the cycle goes - global cooling-> global warming-> climate change - - -> the next will be climate stasis, no changes at all.
    Will be nice to see Tesla's answer to all this stuff. Electrics have unbelievable torque. I think industrial vehicles will be well suited to electrification. Would be a much quieter and less smoggy world.

    I miss my bikes!!

    vsk

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    1. Yes, I found deisel to be more economical than gasoline when I drove a deisel Jetta, but its exhaust is a very dangerous mix of particulates which nobody needs to be inhaling. We simply must press forward with the development of alternative, sustainable solutions to our transportation energy needs.

      Toyota is going to begin mass producing a hydrogen fuel cell car this year, so there is some hope for us yet.

      Um...and sorry, doll, but no. The northern passage is fast becoming a commercially viable transport lane because of the thawing of the northern ice cap. That's how they finally found the missing Franklin expedition last year. Ask any polar bear. Their habitat is fast dwindling. you can talk to a million different scientists for confirmation, but for simplicity, start with the NYT. They are duty bound to fact check.

      I rode year round in Edmonton back in the days when it would hit -30 for a few weeks at a time every year. People ski in the cold, so you can certainly ride in the cold! Don't let the weather slow you down!

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  3. Il Pirata: look up Milankovitch cycles (much longer than "13,000 year warming/cooling cycle the planet tracks due to a slight axis wobble" -- more like 100,000-year cycles when all three are put together, just ask a geologist). But of course we must now be worried about dramatic changes on the scale of _decades. Ice is melting, almost everywhere (the small increase in Antarctic sea ice extent is one of the few exceptions). Species are on the move, almost everywhere. Permafrost is thawing, wherever there is permafrost. Surface air temperature is getting warmer, the troposphere is warming while the stratosphere cools, nights are warming faster than days and winter more than summer (all fingerprints of the greenhouse warming caused by our use of fossil fuels). It's time to find alternatives _before we find ourselves outside the benign climates of the Holocene.

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    1. And where the permafrost is melting, large lakes of bubbling methane are being released into the atmosphere, accelerating an already scary-fast cycle of warming. 50% of all wildlife has disappeared in the last 40 years! We are definitely creating the sixth major mass extinction event, a tragedy which could so easily have been avoided, and one which will impact us in the end, too. It isn't going to be pretty, but it doesn't have to be ugly if only we faced facts. I just wish people would wake the fuck up and do something - anything - to change the course humanity is taking.

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  4. Babs' point about this kind of heavy large truck is spot on: very few people need this kind of capacity, yet they buy trucks and SUVs anyway. The best argument for them is safety. But of course while they enhance the safety of the driver and passenger, they REDUCE SAFETY FOR EVERYONE ELSE. So yes, these are purely selfish choices and that seems to be absolutely ok with a certain tranche of North American society. Oh yes -- and you can literally look down on drivers of more economical saloon cars but NOT on CYCLISTS!

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    1. Right?! I am completely dwarfed by that monster, and it has a blind spot the size of Manhattan.

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  5. I would venture to say that it's for commercial purposes. The very few people that need that kind of vehicle do exist, even though they are very few.

    It does not seem likely that it is a personal vehicle for grocery getting. Whatever came across the country was probably very big. Maybe it has a standard type receiver hitch vs the large trailer coupling in the bed. Maybe its cargo had to go through a rough road. Who knows. It must ride like an absolute stiff board unladen and it size makes it inconvenient or annoying to tool around in without a purpose. Someone who's going to spend that much $$ on something would probably go for an Escalade or Navigator or Expedition.

    vsk

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    2. I was convinced that it has personal plates, but they may well be commercial. What I do know is that there are no signs of any sort of industrial activity in the bed, including a specialized hitch. I certainly sure hope it has a higher purpose than hauling groceries to feed a redneck ass.

      But the Canadian credit rating is at risk because of all of the car loans people take out, and pick-up trucks are the biggest issue. Most of the people driving SUV's and pick-ups have absolutely no real use for them, other than navigating the city streets. It's absolute madness.

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  6. Funny, when looking around on the Chevrolet (US) website, I saw a section for the Chevy Bolt. I was like, geez these guys can't even spell Volt! But it's a plug in! 200 miles per charge claimed. (Maybe they can use the Tesla superchargers??).
    Maybe the big trucky truck doesn't get used much? I don't know. That IS a lot of steel to be moving around for no reason if it is a personal thing.

    Maybe it's the Antarctic ice that is growning, yea yeah that's the ticket!

    vsk

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    1. In Antarctica, there is a big difference between land ice and sea ice, and a huge difference between the impact of more or less of each. The land ice (the ice sheets which will have an impact on sea levels) is disappearing, and whilst there is more sea ice every year, that is because of the effects of the holes in the ozone, and the weather patterns that occur because of that. And because there is more exposed water to freeze! You can read more about the distinction here. The ice in Antarctica is certainly NOT the smoking gun that climate change deniers like to wave about.

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    2. I would imagine more dispersed sea ice would really mess around with weather trends due to influences on sea surface temps, especially in a fast current in a non-polar direction.
      vsk

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  7. Babble, reading you from the Belly-of-the-Beast…Car-Centric California! Still, I don’t want to be a “Doomsayer”. (What good would it do, anyway? Ha!) But it IS difficult not to succumb to the Monster of Pessimism. (Don’t let the “Babadook” IN!) That bloated truck? A justifiable purpose? Yeah. Sure. Alright. Whatever. // I don’t have any answers. That said, you are absolutely right about finding peace on two wheels. Thank goodness for the bicycle!

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    1. Right?! It's a win/win. Good for the planet, and good for the body that chooses it, too. It's an Occam's razor kind of solution, and you know how well I identify with the simple things in life! :)

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  8. Did the driver of the pick-up toss any pick-up lines out the window to you?

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    1. A serious post with serious comments. Just thought I'd toss something lighter into the mix.

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    2. Any lines thrown at me from a pick-up truck always come off sounding Dodgy. :D

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  9. I may not get over the woman setting traps. I was not sure I was capable of shooting a 64 year old. I think I may be. Oh, and there is Rupert Murdoch. Shit how old is he?

    Cool post. Like the frankenbike. And This Changes Everything is a fine book.

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    1. Thank you, Mr Raney!

      Have you read This Changes Everything? I was excited to see it garner so much high profile attention, but I am not holding my breath, waiting for the people in positions of power to say "Oh, she's right. We had better develop a sustainably powered economy." I think that she is right, in that it will take some serious civil unrest, and protest against further investment in fossil fuel infrastructure. People have to make a serious commitment to not buy in. If everybody stopped fueling up at the pumps, if everybody insisted that their politicians invest in renewables, if we all made personal decisions which precluded the development of the carbon powered economy, well then things would finally change.

      And if we all rode more and drove less, we would be happier, healthier and wealthier all around!

      It's true, that I am a dreamer, but you have to imagine it before you can create it.

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  10. Interesting article I thought:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-human-activity-has-pushed-earth-beyond-four-of-nine-planetary-boundaries/2015/01/15/f52b61b6-9b5e-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html

    vsk

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    1. I saw that... very scary, don't you think? I am afraid that we are reaching a tipping point beyond which the consequences will be dire. And yet I want my boys to live long and happy lives. That's why I only drive when I haven't any other choice. And why I try to keep my footprint as small as possible, which is a challenge for a girl with big feet! But every decision counts. The fashion industry is notoriously bad for the planet. You can usually see which colours are all the rage from space - by the colour of the rivers in China!! But I love love love to wear pretty clothes. My solution? I shop at consignment and thrift stores. It isn't a big thing, but every dollar is a vote one way or another.

      Every day, and in every way, we can all vote sustainably with our pocketbooks.

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  11. I think the podium comment touched on one of the issues.. People, the growth rate has been, and still is, phenomenal. People consume the products that burn the diesel etc, and it's population growth that drives the economic growth.
    for example we love migrants here because it keeps our housing industry going. Nothing against migrants, but our reliance on them to prop up our housing industry is not sustainable. It's the big fat elephant in the room. what do we do about population growth? It's a bit hard that one... Especially with an ageing population. Who will take care of all us old bastards, do the work, pay the tax, and build the houses for the migrants?
    Love your blogs Ms Babbles. I've been busy helping to prop up my own growth industry and fallen a bit behind in my reading.

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    2. Thank you kindly, Mr Neal! I've missed your thoughtful take on things this past little while. Welcome back! :) xo

      Yes. You are absolutely correct. Population growth is probably the most important factor affecting the extraction industries on planet Earth. 'Nother good reason I would like to be the Pope. What is it with religion that it condemns masturbation? And why on EARTH are Catholics not allowed to use birth control?!?

      But I expect that sooner or later a pandemic is going to drastically reduce our numbers. Ebola isn't likely to take us out in large numbers, but any time we are exposed to a whole new strain of the flu, healthy, strong people have such a powerful reaction to it that their bodies attack themselves. If the bird flu were to mutate enough to cause human to human transmission, one in four people would... well, you know.

      There are other things we can do to feed all of us without an enormous carbon footprint. If I had tons of dosh, I would create vertical food walls out of every possible space in every city across the planet. Local. Healthy. Sustainable.

      Anything is possible.

      And necessity really is the mother of invention. We humans are remarkably good at adapting. Here's hoping that this terrifying point in history will bring out the best in humanity, and that some bright and beautiful minds conceive of the technology which will enable us to survive.

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    3. The only issue that I have with masturbation is that it's a wasted opportunity to share the experience with someone else.

      As for the birth control, or lack of.. it does help boost the number of people following that particular belief.

      "Populate of perish"- we had some fella essentially do that here a few years ago. Not on religious grounds, but to save the whole Australian species !
      http://john.curtin.edu.au/1940s/populate/

      Your vertical food wall is similar to my miles and miles of solar panels in the shit semi-arable part of Australia (most of it) powering de-sal and irrigation... Just need to add some of that Nauru bird poop. Except they have almost run out.. Where else could I get masses of poo from? Ambitious, and achievable.
      Yeh, pandemic or a war of some sort. The longer it festers the worse it will be.

      I don't think there will be a miracle invention. Instead it will be a lot of small changes and developments.. different applications of the technology we already have.

      Keep dreaming spreading the word.

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