Climate Change is my Fault

Ouch, it kinda hurts to say that.

I’m here. So is climate change. It is time for me to admit that ok, already, "Hi, my name is Richard and I am a global warmer". It’s the first step to recovery, don’t you know.

Not that it really matters whose fault it is, that is all water over the bridge. But going forward, what is important, is taking personal responsibility and commitment to finding solutions.

Looking back 20 years when I first became concerned, I first sat around watching depressing documentaries for a couple of year before deciding to get off my ass. I ditched the Accord. I took up cycling, walking and transit. Started some organizations, led protest rides, got a few metres for cyclists here and there.

I didn’t envision that 20 years later we would be in a worse mess than the day I started. Obviously, I failed miserable. Emissions are up 30% since the late eighties. Not that that matters going forward either. Playing blame game solitaire isn’t much fun but it sure beats passing the buck.

The wait until you do something before I will do anything game being played between the US, Canada, India and China is getting tiresome to stay the least. Although it is what made me pissed off enough to write this so I guess it is serving a useful purpose. Small consolation though.

Pointing ones finger at oil companies, republicans, the United States or China. Problem is, that really doesn’t solve anything except perhaps a lack of smugness. All I really can do is everything I can do. If others decide to do anything, that is great. That is their choice.

I admire people like Al Gore and David Suzuki for their commitment and tremendous. They have inspired millions to take action. They may well be successful in their efforts, but I not going to sit back and hope that they or anyone else will be successful. It is simply too large a risk to take.

So what does that look like? Well, you are looking at a start. Is a web site enough? Is bike sharing enough? I suspect not. Hey, but who knows. Not trying is the only way to ensure failure.

What I promise is that my efforts going forward my efforts and commitment will match the scale of the challenge.

The Relentless March of Inevitability

2010 will mark a turning point. The people of Vancouver will be able to celebrate accomplishment of Olympic proportions. The calling of our age. A legacy ensuring hope for the future. It won’t be celabrated by the lighting of a flame, the raising of a flag or the playing of a national anthem. Instead it will be marked by the routine chime of a SkyTrain door, the chirp of a pedestrian button, the squeak of a chain or a simple “No thanks, I’ll take the bus.”

Late in the morning of Thursday February 11, 2010, a coffee mug will be placed in a holder and an engine will sputter to like marking the last time ever that the majority of the people of Vancouver will take a car to work. The next day, someone will make the choice to walk, cycle, or take transit thus culminating the relentless march of inevitability that began with the defeat of the freeways in the early 70’s.

The automobile will join transit, walking and cycling as alternate transportation. A choice for some, a necessity for a few, but no longer dominant.

With streets still jammed with traffic, this may seem unlikely. However, the 2006 Census reported the total being a mere 51.5% of people drive to work. Chances are that high gas prices have already reduced that to under half. Still another 6% are passengers so a bit over half still commute by car so still over half get to work by car. Many of the steps of inevitability are already in motion. The high price of gas, the higher price of housing, climate change, the Central Valley Greenway, South East False Creek, wider sidewalks on Burrard Bridge. In the end, it will likely be the Canada Line that will make the final difference. The much maligned little mini metro that could can and will likely be the nudge that pushes the automobile over the cliff of eternal minority status.

As the auto follows the horse to pasture, we still will fondly reminisce the summer drive on the open road. On the weekend we may even take the country train to enjoy a cruise down memory lane. The new hobby horse.

Worshiped and loved. The heart and soul of the twentieth century. Or was it. In reflection, the age of the automobile will appear as the illusion it was. Never an option for the majority of the people in the world. Never the dominate form of transportation in the world.

A strange love at that. A love proclaimed but not with patience. In reality, a tool of convenience, the less time spent with the better, lest one explodes with rage with the least of unintended provocation. We deserve better love than that.

Never before in history has a creation burned so bright, rose so high so fast, burned out so fast and fell to the ground so hard. It soared but never flew. So much for hydrogen and hybrids, the hyped, hapless, hopeless harbingers of non-change. Automotive margarine. In the end, it simply just ran out of gas. It lasted only a hundred years. A mere blip in human history. Will it even be remembered in the passage of time, our age of strip malls, cul-du-sacs and drive-ins.

Vancouver is ahead but Burnaby and New West are not far behind. Vancouver will be the first city in Canada and on the west coast to relegate the automobile to minority status. We follow in the footsteps of New York City and Washington DC. One by one, the rest will fall, the bastions of Buick, Benz and BMW under the boots of the relentless march of inevitability. The driving beat marking the end of the age of the automobile.

Only A Year and a Half in the Making

Welcome everyone. Finally, I've got this site up. Seems like it took me forever . I've been sitting on the domain for over a year. This site had the gestation period almost as long as an elephant. So much for sense of urgency.

Internal debates on using blogger or wordpress or something else. Wanting to get every pixel right. I guess I have a perfectionist streak. Blah, blah, blah. Lame excuses. I'll be more focused from now on. That said, I suspect my new found energy for this site is in reality a lamer distraction from the Bike Sharing business plan I should be writing or perhaps, more precisely ,unwriting, as it is approaching a portly 80 pages.

Unfortunately, a lack of urgency seems to be a popular disease. Procrastination loves company, I guess. If we used a fraction of the creativity we use to think of excuses why things can't be done to instead create solutions, we would be well on our way to solving the big problems we have.

Climate change, for instance. The "We don't do anything until China and India agree to reduce emissions." talking point is especially annoying. It is just an excuse to delay or avoid action. Leadership is required now. Sure, everyone must reduce emissions but expecting people that are using a fraction of the fossil fuels we are using to agree to limit their emissions before we show any commitment to reduce ours is ridiculous.

Instead of "Drill Now", how about "Stop Driving Now" for a campaign slogan. Now that would show real guts for a politician.

Reduce gas prices, energy independence, few greenhouse gas emissions, less congestion, fewer deaths. Sounds like a winning solution now.