John Tetz with his recumbent velo trike. From AutoSpeed.com.
More and more of us know this: We are now in an era of the awareness of excessive energy consumption, pollution and environmental degradation.
There are thousands of researchers looking at the air, soil, and water and seeing evidence of serious changes to our planet Earth due to human beings.
It’s not just the researchers but individuals who are also seeing changes. I have lived on a lake for 49 years surrounded by a fair amount of land that could and did support wildlife. When I first moved here there were many varieties of fish. Now we have only some bass and sun fish. In the evening when the lake became calm the fish would feed on the surface each making splash rings.
I used to see these rings appearing all over the lake – now this activity is essentially gone. There were hundreds and hundreds of small frogs, their throats bloating outward as they sang their songs in the evening. The noise level was incredibly loud and wonderful. All are gone now.
Where there used to be a dozen big bullfrogs croaking through the night, only a couple are left. There were many turtles, from painted to mud to snapping. Turtles have a history of being hearty and long lasting but there are only a few left. The same is the case for snakes. Dragon flies used to flit about. Only a few exist in recent years. Lake weeds have also stopped growing which mat seem to be an advantage but its indicating the lake is turning acid – a serious problem.
Song birds have also decreased in number. Years ago in an early summer morning around 5 am one bird would wake up make one chirp, then a second, added by another and another building into a cacophony of sound over a 15 minute period of time. Now it’s down to a few birds.
All this represents the Canary in the mine shaft kind of warning.
People living in apartments or on small plots in a development, or those who haven’t been in one place for a long time won’t necessarily see these local changes to the same degree that those of us who have lived in a more natural area over a period time see them.
We humans are at a disadvantage. We are a big animal. 95%of all animals are smaller than us. That means we require lots of food, water, generate waste, and convert oxygen to CO2. And our effects go well beyond our bodies. Our personnel shelters are huge, we invent large automobiles, trucks, buses, airplanes, big buildings, and have large population growths.
Maybe we’re learning the hard way, in the face of self-created catastrophe: Small is Beautiful. Less is More.
High consumption life styles may have been doable in the past, but given the present world’s population (and continued growth), all of us simply need to use much less of the Earths energy in our daily lives. Plastics was the advice given to the “Graduate” back in that popular 60s movie. Today the words of advice are “efficiency” and “sustainability,” and newer phrases like “eco-friendly” and having a “low eco-footprint.”
There is much press about needing new technologies to help our environment, but sometimes the hubris about ‘high tech’ inventions overshadows the readily available forms of transportation that are already within our reach, whatever our budget, and wherever we might live.
For example, we already have a human-powered transportation technology now in the form of a bicycle. Yet the bicycle has been pretty much seen by most people — though there are trail-blazers in some European cities and eco-trend-setting American cities like San Francisco and Portland.
Given the reliance on newer technologies, speeds, and suburban lifestyles, the concept of using human power like the bicycle and walking has become so foreign that it is eliminated from our community consciousness.
In contrast we have all kinds of “energy saving” devices such as leaf blowers, snow blowers, riding lawn mowers – and some drive their cars to the gym to work out to stay in shape. The list could go on and on forever. In consequence, our life style leads to obesity, high care costs, and a long list of ailments that riding a bike could help reduce or even negate.
Bike riding has been in my blood as a kid and continues today. I stopped riding after being drafted for the Korean War, finding a job, and starting a family. I re-started riding in the early 1980s. I met fellow workers who taught me how to properly ride a 10 speed and it changed my life.
I ride practically every day. Mostly short runs to do a variety of errands such as recycle center, library, hardware store, food shopping, restaurants, and visiting friends. It’s easy to do 10 miles on each run adding up to 3,000 miles a year. 3,000 less miles and pollution from a car (the money I save easily pays for the bike). And it does wonders for the health of my body, and in doing my part for the health of the Earth.
I also enjoy being out in the elements and experiencing the earth more fully is a big part of why I love riding bicycles. The bike gives me the leg and aerobic conditioning. For the upper body I shovel snow, rake leaves, dig in the garden and cut fire wood with hand tools – again simultaneous helping the Earth.
Nature’s rules (not mine or your family doctor) says you need to exercise at least 4 times a week. Nature has been around for a number of billions of years. We humans have only been around, give or take a few tens of thousands of years. We are the new kids on the block and have a lot to learn. It’s not wise to ignore Nature’s rules.
This post is from a series of articles John did for a local awareness campaign in his New Jersey region.
John Tetz and Human-Powered Transportation 