Monday, 3 October, 2011 - When you live in the Pacific Northwest, you come across your share of tree huggers and granola crunchers. They certainly serve a purpose. Without them, there would be a huge backlog of granola on store shelves making it near impossible to find the Fruit Loops and Captain Crunch. In Vancouver, prior to last year's Winter Olympics, the road between Vancouver and Whistler was in desperate need of an upgrade. In order to make the road safer and decrease fatalities, the road needed to be widened and many of the hard mountain road turns needed some de-turning. This did mean that some trees needed to go. Alas, the above mentioned tree huggers decided that the trees carried more importance than the lives of safety of human beings, and chained themselves to the doomed logs with leaves. This is beyond a little tree hugging and seemed to get right in to a little tree S&M. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me"1.
So what about all the trucks, SUVs and monster cars that grace our roads? I know there is the North American bigger is better mentality at work, but many of these large vehicle drivers also have a little granola crunching in them. Look around at any of the campsites and you'll see most campsites adorned with Tahoe's, Escalades, and F150's. It is doubt the woman strapped to the tree cycles to work, and as a guess, her partner was likely bringing her her granola in a vehicle. Today is Alternative Fuel Day. This isn't a preaching for the conversion of your Escalade to alternative fuel, after all, the Escalade driver offers much to the economy. Nor is this a suggestion that you hold off on buying an SUV if it makes sense because the world is going to pot. Drive your vehicles. Jack up the price of fuel, convert your vehicle, strap yourself to a tree, chew on twigs and leaves, or drag race down the I5. Everyone helps contribute to the economy, and likewise to our environment. For every little old lady who gets inappropriate with a tree, there are thousands of SUV's driving the road to Whistler a little safer. If you can do that drive and have a smaller impact on the environment, perhaps its worth considering. If the trees get cut, mulch them down to an alternate fuel.
