A License to Kill

Last year the BBC called the pollution in China Airmageddon.

It looked as if it couldn't get any worse, but that was off the mark.  This year the smog in China is so bad it's actually creating a form of nuclear winter. That's right. Crops are dying because they are so polluted, and they simply can't get enough light.

Weibo was all a twitter when China's new president Zi Jinping went out and about in Beijing this week without the government recommended face mask.  It was an impressive photo-op, published in all the state-controlled news agencies, complete with the caption "Breathing together, sharing the fate."  A lot of folks figured it would be far more helpful if he actually did something about the pollution instead of mugging for the cameras.  The WHO says that safe levels of PM 2.5 (that's what they call the particulate that can cross into your blood stream and wreak havoc on your health) are 25 micrograms per cubic meter, but Beijing had well over 500 mg per cubic meter this week.   

So what IS the Chinese government doing about it?  While the particulates are at such heavy concentrations, they are advising people to wear masks.   Children and old people are supposed to stay indoors, and they are asking people to take public transit rather than cars. (!)  Also, they insist that industrial operations cut their emissions by thirty percent, and they are taking as many government cars off the roads as possible.  In the long term, they are talking about how to reduce their reliance on coal, along with the number of automobiles in use.

Which just makes sense, don't you think?  I remember well my shock as a youth when I discovered that spending  any significant amount of time with a running car in your enclosed garage is a sure and easy way to die. Our atmosphere is a closed system, too.  How can it possibly be a good idea to continue to add more cars and their toxic exhaust into the equation?  Sure the planet is pretty good at cleaning up our many nasty messes, but there's only so much strain you can place on the Earth's ecology before we all suffer the consequences, as they are rather painfully discovering in China right now.

MaoBreeze - a new generation

Actually, China has come a lot further along the path to sustainable energy development than you'd think. It has the largest wind turbine systems in the world, and it accounts for 63% of the globe's solar photovoltaics, too.  They developed significant hydroelectric facilities, so that by 2007, 17% of China's energy needs were met with sustainable sources.  Here in Canada today, that number is 16%, and in BC we're currently in the midst of a heated argument over whether or not to expand our coal exports.
 Go figure.

I always thought Canada would legalize marijuana long before the Americans did, but clearly that was misguided. I figured for sure we'd lead the world in sustainable energy development, too, but that's a laugh.  Our illustrious leader Steve is a throwback to the dinosaurs and his energy policies reflect his heritage.  Here in Canada, oil is king, and cars rule the roads. When Christy Clark was elected premier of BC, the first thing she did was to phase out air care, because heaven forbid we control vehicle emissions.  You'd think Vancouver, which strives to represent itself as a green city, would be the exception to the rule, but again, NO.

False Creek Energy Centre

Sure we've taken a few token stabs at sustainability. You've gotta like the various compost bins and organic community garden planters you see around town, along with the False Creek Energy Centre. Using a heat exchanger, it captures thermal energy from sewage and uses it to provide space heating and hot water to the new buildings in southeast False Creek.

BUT.
(it's a big butt!)

(sigh)

Have you heard? The radiation plume from Fukushima has reached our shores sooner than expected, so the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is offering $600 radiation testing kits to folks living here on the west coast of North America so they can test the water for themselves. (And here's real irony for you.) The radiation levels measured here are well within safe levels, but

Ocean acidification is an invisible menace that threatens the entire ecosystem and it's only getting worse. Carbon emissions worldwide, and especially in Canada, continue to rise.

Without diminishing the significance of several hundred tonnes of radioactive water released from Fukushima into the ocean, its effect on sea life is dwarfed by the billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide being absorbed by sea water every day.

It's ironic that people will pay to test ocean water, to be reassured that they will not be poisoned from almost non-existent radiation, yet they'll not consider the impact of their much more damaging fossil-fuel-burning vehicles that they drove to the beach to do the test. 

What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. Us.
???!???

Whilst the thinking world it tackling the most important issue ever to face mankind, we here in Canada are blithely turning a blind eye, and encouraging our population to drive drive drive itself into extinction.

How long will it be before we become a ghost of our former selves?

Here in 'green' Vancouver, it used to be that a cyclist could count on taxi and bus drivers for their professionalism, courtesy, and safety, but not any more.  The pros are waging their own personal war on cyclists these days.  I can't count how many taxis have charged at me over the last few weeks, pretending they're going to hit me as they look me in the eye.  Worse, Vancouver has actually given its bus drivers a license to kill.  Bus drivers here don't have to pay for tickets incurred when they run red lights, so it's not uncommon to see a Translink bus honk the horn and blast through a red, with predictable results.

It's crazy. Why aren't drivers held accountable for their actions? If you were to wave a gun around in a public place, and you accidentally shot and killed someone with it, the police would definitely charge you because you should have known better.  Yet all sorts of people die at the hands of motorists year after year without the deadly drivers facing any consequences at all.  It's not rocket science.  Speed kills.  Distracted driving is deadly, and yet where is the crack-down on dangerous drivers? 

Not here, that's for sure.  

In Vancouver, a motorist has an inalienable right to arrive speedily at the next red light.  And that trumps my right to arrive safely home at night. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Heaven forbid we consider the consequences of all of these cars on the very survival of our species...

With the incredible state of science and technology today, we could be building a beautiful, sustainable world for many future generations to inhabit and yet we continue to blindly drive ourselves into oblivion.

Why?!

We need a leg up.   We need leaders who aren't afraid to take the difficult decisions, and we need a vision of what's possible which we can all embrace, so that together we can move toward a future worth striving for.

And we need all of these things now, before it's too late.

Building bridges over troubled waters.

Peace and love, people... and hey! Guess what?

Our mountains finally saw a proper dump of snow!

Vancouver's skiers have despaired this year, cause till the middle of February there really wasn't any of the white stuff to speak of, but finally this week saw winter's mantle cloak the hills.  Now the skiers and snowboarders are happy and the Stravadopes and crash test dummies like me are .... well, crashing.  First thing in the morning the roads are pretty slick these days, but we've also seen our fair share of sunshine, so who's complaining?

You can see why people might want to live here.

From North Vancouver it's such a pretty city center, while from West Vancouver, you can see what an enormous treasure we enjoy in our 1001 acre Stanley Park. 

And THAT's why we're in the midst of another sort of dump.  Even though property prices here are way beyond ridiculous, Vancouver is growing fast.  Every year this city grows by about 32,000 people, so that in thirty years we will be bigger by a million newcomers.  And can you imagine what the roads are going to look like if we haven't figured out how to convince people not to drive everywhere they go?  It's not like you have to try hard to imagine the consequences.  It has already happened in all sorts of places, and in fact, it's happening here, yet humans have an enormous capacity for denial, and that's the order of the day.  

Deny deny deny.

What's that?  You want to build bicycle infrastructure?

Point Grey Road - closed to traffic for bike lane construction.

Not in my back yard you don't.  Someone I met this week said he had backed away from cycling in this city, despite having enjoyed the benefits of a bicycle-centric lifestyle for decades. He hasn't stopped riding daily because he has gone off the sport, but rather because "riding a bike in Vancouver has become a political act."  And he's right.  It used to be that people were surprised at my choice to ride instead of drive, but now some of them actually take offence.  Sometimes they even have a go at me with their cars.

I don't get it.  Do they really want to share the roads with a million more cars?  Do they honestly not understand how more cyclists like me on the roads will actually make their lives easier in the end?  Obviously not, but time marches on, and the inevitable is inescapable. 

Sooner or later we're going to have to plan for the future, lest we find ourselves stuck in permanent gridlock.  As it stands, there is a war on the roads over our transportation priorities. A vast chasm lies between us, creating a schism in the fabric of our communities which threatens to tear our beloved city apart.

The time has come to start building bridges, people, or it's going to get awfully ugly out there.

Time to face the music, whether or not I like the tune.

Oh dear.  

Last weekend Dave, the manager of our local cold beer and wine store kindly gave us two tickets to the Imagine Dragons concert.

That can't be a very good sign, can it?  Do you suppose I ought to quit drinking? 

I dunno.  It almost seems to be paying off... the concert was fun!  It has been a very long time since I've seen a concert in such a large venue.

Used to be that people held up lighters way back when, but the times they are a changing. 

These days it's cell phone flashlights.

No matter what, though, live music always  makes me smile.

It also makes me wanna shake my tail feather.

I hadn't really put any thought into the carbon footprint of your average concert till I noticed all of the trucks outside the arena ahead of the Miley Cyrus concert this weekend...

For some unfathomable reason a good number of these vehicles spend a surprising amount of time idling, even though they have been parked here for days. What's even more surprising to me is that Miley's is an almost modest convoy in the grand scheme of things.  

The Metallica event saw nearly twice as many trucks!

You'd have needed a wide angle lens to capture them all, rather than a silly little dumb-phone.

Who knew concerts were such energy pigs?

That's big business!

Well... unless you're marching to the beat of a different drummer, 

SoundCraveMagazine

and opposing tarsands development, the way Neil Young is.
At the other end of the business spectrum from mega concerts and tarsands development is this little beauty:

That's right.  The slogan reads "Pedaling Epic Coffee." 

Better yet, the top of this portable little coffee shop is sporting the solar panels which power it.  

That's whatcha call seriously good energy.

That guy you see there is an Aussie who hand built his little coffee-cart down under and then took to the road.  He's pedaling his wares a long way from home now, but he's definitely in tune with the times.

If you see him around, stop by for a cuppa!

You're sure to leave with a song in your heart.

The not so big Chill.

Have you heard?  Dude Chilling Park has been recognized by the city, only now the whole city is officially chilling.  We broke record cold temperatures this week.

You know that saying "It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey?"

Yeah, it's not that cold here.

The bronze bull is still intact, though you'd have to be nuts to hang out like that for long in these temperatures.

Sure the ice is back, but it's all good.

We've seen a record number of crisp, clear days simply dripping with sunshine and that unparalleled Pacific beauty, rather than rain.  Why complain?

It's great, cause that means the saline solution on the roads doesn't get washed away,

so I get to enjoy another bright'n'early, rise'n'brine morning.

There isn't even a hint of inversion fog to feed the black ice...  

(thanks, Mikeweb)

Here in Vancouver our typical winters consist of week after week of seemingly never-ending soaking wetness.  We sometimes see a bit of snow, but it doesn't stick around. And when it does snow, we're Portland North.  Vehicular chaos is the order of the day, and the daily commute goes to hell in a hand-basket. This year we've really not had much in the way of snow, either, though we've seen our fair share of ice,  black and otherwise.  That last cold snap got pretty damp in the mornings, and I learned something new on the hills behind Spanish Banks beach.

I discovered, much to my surprise, that it is actually possible to spin your way up an 11% incline when the roads get a bit slick.

Who knew?

All in all, though, this winter works for me.

I'm ok with chillin' temperatures if it means I can get around without the use of a rain slicker and wellies.

Life is good.

Really.

Sure the world has gone mad for endless consumerism and unchecked growth-at-all-costs policies, but it's impossible to stay blue for long when the sun is shining, blessed be.

Besides, it really works, you know.

Smile and the world smiles with you,

 laugh, and the sun comes shining through.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. 'Nough said.

Bea Bike is all beat up.  She's been used and abused, rode hard and put away wet.  She's been around the block a few thousand times with a rider who is always hard-on things.  Bit rough round the edges, this one, all ragged and rusty, down and dirty.

I wanted to take Bea somewhere she would be comfortable, so I donned my seven inch, thigh high boots

and rode her hard and fast, all the way to Taboo,

that naughty but nice sex show.  

K.  Just so you know... this is a NSFW post.  You might, ever so possibly, mayyyyybe come across a photo of  breasts or penises... boobs' n' tubes, as it were... cause it's dirty. 

 Bad. Ass.

And a bit cheeky.

I fit right in at Taboo... 

... right into all sorts of things.

I was just taking stock of the situation.

Speaking of taking stock and fitting in, check this out:

Who knew guys could fit into a pole dancing class so well?  Jose up there is a champion boxer from Mexico with a penchant for a slightly less pugilistic sport.  He is definitely getting hit on these days, but the hits he's taking now aren't nearly as painful as the kind he's used to.   

And these aren't the kind I'm used to, either, but the man was intent on demonstrating his wares.  I asked him if he had any used canes, but he said that they are all brand spanking new.

My nearly new boots and I got dragged up on stage

where a lovely, ever so funny girl with an enchanting baritone voice and the cutest hairdo in the history of FOREVER gave me this artfully hip little wallet,  

just cause she loves those badass boots of mine. 

I was trying to take an artfully hip shot of a whole whack of penises standing at attention,

when lo and behold, the real dink working behind the counter told me it wasn't the best place for a girl with a camera to be hanging out, 

at least not without a wide angle lens. 

What a prick!

I got tired of getting dicked around, so I set off in search of a breast case scenario.

Ask and ye shall receive. 

Hallelujah! 

I asked if I could borrow some lip gloss, but she didn't seem to be carrying any on her.

Go figure. She did recommend the sex blankets, 

but really, who gives a sheet?

Some people say I can be a bit cagey

but I am just trying to emulate my hero, Willie the Shake.

The Barred.  

Some people think all things sexy are a sin - they take issue with my kind of prayer, you know, the kind that has you calling out to God in the middle of the night...?  They say it's all wrong, and they call it Taboo. It's a crazy mixed up world we live in, all upside down and backward, where violence is commonplace and love is outlawed, but it's my right to write the naked truth as I see it.

The bard wrote of the one and only story, the tale of the human condition.  We are each of us alone in our bodies, doing the very best we can with the tools at hand, and that's enough. My body talks to me, it tells me what's good for it and what's not, and it says a big yes to a punishing ride every day, specially when it's done with love.  I look a bit like Bea bike sometimes, a bit rough around the edges for all those sweaty, pounding rides, but it's all good.  A lotta miles is a look I can wear with a smile on my face. :)

Don't know if it will bring me any closer to God, but I can always clean my bike.