I Want To Be Environmental

I was not raised with an environmental perspective.  But, over the years, I became aware of what humans in general and I specifically have done to negatively impact the quality and functionality of the planet.  In spite the extremism and reactionary perspectives both for and against environmentalism, I came to realize that we are damaging the very things that sustain life.  Yes, that is a strong statement.  I have looked at what both sides have said and, more importantly, have done.  Historically, we have a bad track record.

You know those English movies, like the Sherlock Holmes series, where there is what appears to be fog all the time.  I remember being curious about why that kind of "fog" is not present in the same places today.  Was it just a dramatic affect in the movies?  It turns out that the early industrial expansion was very bad on the environment.  So much unfiltered pollution was put into the air that there really was an ongoing haze in the air.  And, yes, there were health affects that were apparent but ignored.  At the time, industrialists argued against regulations to clean up the air.  But the negative impact eventually could not be ignored.  Now, the same mistakes are occurring in some newly industrializing countries.  To catch up, the mistakes of other countries are being ignored and industry is moving forward without the necessary controls to prevent harmful impact on the health of their people.

In the USA, so many harmful chemicals were pumped in coastal areas of the Great Lakes that people developed diseases by just swimming.  Again, industrialists tried to block regulations to clean things up and to minimize harmful dumping in the water.  But the affects were eventually undeniable.

There was a battle to stop using lead in gasoline and other products that were impacting health. Catalytic converters and increased fuel efficiencies were fought against.  The list goes on.  Humanity seems to have a pattern of doing whatever makes money or is convenient while ignoring, hiding or denying environmental and health impacts.

What about the general public?  As much as I think that companies and the government can be more honest and forward thinking, the general public does affect what is done by what we buy and how we vote.  A core factor is how we decide what is correct.  When it comes to the environment, we tend to go with whatever fits our general perspective.  There are people who are in general denial.  Sometimes, this denial is even a reaction to the opposite extreme where some people also jump to conclusions without looking at the facts and science.  Too many of our perspectives toward the environment parallels our ways of looking at things in general.  We believe one thing or another based on our leanings and won't be convinced to the contrary.  But the quality of future human life is dependent on getting things correct.

We need to go past what is comfortable for us to believe and look at reality, both current and historical.  Before we jump on a bandwagon and start condemning cleaner technologies and renewable energy sources, we need to look a little at industrial history and some of the science.  On the environmentalist side, we have to be careful with lumping things together, such as blaming all weather abnormalities on global warming.  The opposition will use these statements against us.  My wish is that we all will take a more thoughtful perspective and look at the facts, not just the statements and rhetoric that happens to fit our current perspective.  I think that we need to get past the placement of short term economics and growth above long term global health and stability.

Speaking of the short term, why is it so difficult to carry our trash to the appropriate disposal areas.  I think this is a micro example of the macro issue.  So many people are careless with their trash.  It is somehow too inconvenient to carry that beverage bottle out of the park.  Somehow, it is too difficult for industries to always put health first.  I remember reading a statement by one industrialist that said that he would stop using a harmful chemical when it becomes illegal or regulated.  Yet environmental regulations appear to be behind the abilities for industries to produce harmful chemicals.  Regulations on food and drugs are far tighter than regulations on air and water.  In some ways, it's the economy again.  If we keep placing the economy above the environment, we will be leaving future generations with a bigger mess than what previous generations gave us.

I know this has been a bit "stream of consciousness" but I wanted to put the ideas out there.  I will refine the discourse in future posts.  I hear so much emotional bantering about the environment and not enough discussion of the facts.  I had already been concerned about my personal impact on the environment and the track record of industry toward environmental health.  Although I am somewhat technically inclined, the science is a bit complex.  But I worked my way through enough of the information to realize that there are serious environmental issues.  One interesting book is Carl Sagan's Billions and Billions.  It was written a few years ago and covers a lot of other material.  But there is a quite good section about the environment, covering both historical and technical aspects.

I am open to seeing the reality of things, even if it contradicts with my current perspectives and behaviors.  I am a product of past experiences that got some things correct and some things wrong.  I realize that I have been ignorant about a good number of things and this ignorance has consequences to myself and others.

Let's Ride

I have been a rider for a long time, although I regretfully had some substantial gaps. As with many people, I rode a bicycle as a kid. I lived in a small town of about 4,000 people with a small college town (about 15,000 people) 9 miles away. For several childhood years, I lived near a rocky, hilly country road. Getting a car in my teenage years broke the bicycling lifestyle for a bit.  But, while in the Navy, I picked it back up for a while.  In the early 1980's, I picked up my first motorbike.  I was mostly stationed in San Diego and I later lived in Santa Barbara, CA for several years.  Along the way, I lived in other coastal California towns, most being good for 2 wheeled transportation, rollerblading and hiking.  For much of my time in California, I did not own a 4-wheel vehicle.  Santa Barbara is possibly the most bicycle friendly town larger than 150,000 that I have been in.  Most major roads have bike lanes.  There are bike lanes going the whole length of Santa Barbara County.  Santa Barbara was also where I became a rollerblading enthusiast.  Although I started mountain hiking elsewhere, I also did a lot of hiking and biking (motor and pedal) in the Santa Barbara mountains.

Regarding motorbikes, I have mostly ridden automatics. I learned to ride on a regular motorcycle.  As I remember, it was a mid-sized Japanese bike but I don't remember the make.  But the first motorbike that I purchased was an automatic and I stuck with them ever since.  My first motorbike was a Honda CM400 (Hondamatic).  It was not quite a true automatic.  It had a switch to toggle between gears.  But it did not require clutching.  A Navy shipmate had gotten one.  After a test ride on his, I was convinced and bought one.  Living in San Diego, I though it would be more convenient in the city.  At some point after the Navy, I stupidly sold the bike when I was tight on cash.  But that did reintroduce me to bicycling, which I wound up doing for years as my primary transportation.  In addition to riding the motorbike on tours, I also got into doing bicycling tours.

At first, I was into road bicycles.  This was, in part, because of the limited availability of mountain bike styles at the time.  My most memorable road bike was a Motobécane (The French bike not the USA/Taiwan version).  In addition to the frame being well fit for my 6' 4" size, I had put a lot of high end components on it.  I had spent over $1000 on that bike and had it for quite awhile.  But Santa Barbara eventually led me to mountain bikes and I eventually stayed with them for bicycling.  I've had a few mountain bikes along the way.  My current bike is a Trek 4500.

After a few years, I returned to motorbikes again.  Honda was no longer making the Hondamatic series.  I'm not sure why I did not get a used one.  But Honda was making the Honda Helix.  Although only a 250cc, it had enough power for the freeway and I think that I got a good deal on it.  For reasons that I don't recall, I only had that for 2 - 3 years.  I had a couple of small bikes.  When I was in San Diego in the early 90's and in between jobs, someone was selling an 80cc Honda Elite for cheap.  I did not like it.  Besides being small for my size, I had 2 accidents that involved its underpowered nature.  The first was when someone miscalculated my speed and turned in front of me, causing me to skid and jam my left knee between the bike and car.  I don't remember the second accident but it looked like someone rear ended me on a curve in the road.

Now, I don't want to scare anyone from getting a small scooter.  It's not that they are inherently dangerous.  But you do need to consider where you ride the bike.  I think that my mistake was that I had bigger bikes and may not have ridden the Elite within its limitations.  That being said, I personally recommend at least a 150cc bike.  You will have better ability to pace with traffic and better maneuverability.  After the 80cc, I had a Yamaha 150cc scooter.  I think I had some financial difficulties at the time.  I was going to college and had a tight budget.  I remember that I was in Santa Barbara and was bicycling full time again.  Then the bike was stolen.  I was going to just get another bicycle but found a deal for the 150cc Yamaha.  I don't remember the model.  It was OK.  It was not freeway legal.  I think that it maxed at about 50 MPH.  But that was plenty for street riding and hills.  I thank that the Yamaha had some repair issues after I had it a couple of years.

Besides Santa Barbara being easy to get around on a bicycle, it was also not too difficult to get into the mountains via bicycle, either all the way or after taking a local bus, which had bike racks at least by the early 90's.  So I did a fair amount of mountain biking in the 90's.  The Santa Barbara coastline also had some good trail riding.  I also got into longer bicycle tour riding.  I did some long trips with the Hondamatic and Helix.  My first long bicycle trip was between Santa Barbara and LA.  I then did Santa Barbara to San Diego and San Diego to Santa Cruz.  I subsequently made 3 more bicycle trips via Big Sur, a Mohave Desert ride and some deeper trips into the Santa Barbara back country.  I'll do some posts later about these trips and some hiking adventures.

In Houston, I was a bit overwhelmed by the size.  I did not know anyone and, for reasons better explained later, did not initially network well.  So it took a bit to discover that there are some fair bicycling and rollerblading areas.  Once I switched to a motorbike again for my main transportation, it got more difficult to get to the good bicycle area.  I rented a storage space for a while and also got back into doing more rollerblading.  I eventually moved near one of the bayous, which has a bike path.  Actually, I will be doing some posts about Houston outdoor trips.

Yes, my main transportation is a motorbike, once again.  In 2007, I got a Yamaha Majesty 400cc maxi-scooter.  The 400's and up can go over 100 MPH while, at better highway speeds, get around 50 MPG.  A few months ago, I got a Kymco Xciting 500.  I wanted to get a Suzuki Bergman 650.  But I was shopping for a used bike and the 650's kept getting bought too quickly.  But I knew someone who had an Xciting 500.  I rode the bike so I knew it would fit well.  Besides local commutes, I do Houston and Texas area tours, solo, with friends and a tour group.  I have a brother in Missouri and ride up to him every couple of years or so.  Next year, I'll be exploring Arkansas a bit more.

If you are in the Houston area and interested in riding (motored or bicycle), rollerblading or hiking, contact me.  I'm open to riders with any size scooter or motorcycle, mountain bike, road bike, trike.  Hikes can be urban or rural.  I'm also game for other types of outdoor trips.  If you're out there, I'm open to it.

What's up?

I decided to start this blog to share some ideas and events with the public.  Before you start following this blog, you probably want to know something about me.  I am a progressive, open minded physicalist.  I think that we need to do better with the environment.  I consider clean energy to be very important.  Socially and educationally, my perspective is generally liberal and progressive. As "physicalist" implies, I believe in only physical existence. You can refer to me as an atheist and that would be true. But "atheist" is a limited word in that it simply refers to not believing in a god. I don't believe in anything beyond physical existence. I don't believe in supernatural things. But I like to use a more positive term, hence "physicalist".

My intent for this blog is to put things out there.  I am interested in a variety of topics and I like to do things which I think may be interesting to some people.  I'll post topics and events which I think are interesting and I hope others will find so.  Some posts will simply be short introductions to ideas which I have.  I will flesh out some of these as I go.

I'm open to a variety of subjects and experiences.  This blog will include things that I have experienced and been exposed to.  But it will also include things in which I am interested, regardless of whether or not I have gotten there.