more normal than not

(This is an old post….from about a year ago….that I never published….squirreled away in case I was too tired to write something new. Wellllllllll……I’m too tired…so, here it is….)

Hook a bunch of people up with electricity generating bicycles….at Burning Man….and what do you get?

You get a way to watch movies….powered by people on electricity generating bicycles.

That’s what you get.

At Burning Man.

Now, I have to wonder how “kid friendly” Burning Man would be.

I have to imagine that it probably is a little too “trippy” for little kids…but….maybe not.

Who would be as trippy as a little kid?

If you could keep them safe from the weirdos, it might be a fun environment for a little guy.

Memorable, for sure.

It sure is interesting to see how creative people can be when they come together with creativity in mind.

Creativity….and all these bicycles.

Why does creativity have a place for the bicycle?

Maybe because, for some reason, it’s an “alternative” in the world of getting around.

I don’t know how the car became the norm.

Maybe because it’s so easy to get around when all you have to do is flex your ankle and turn a wheel?

We say that not everybody can ride a bicycle….that some are physically incapable of riding a bike.

Maybe the car is crippling us?

Sitting all the time can’t be good for us.

It’s not very aerobic to turn an ignition key….not good exercise to push the gas pedal.

Maybe if we all rode bicycles…..we could all ride bicycles?

Burning Man and all the bicycles….what a sight that would be.

From Stewart Brand’s website called the Long Now Foundation (full article here….) …..a poem written by a woman dying in hospice.

Here’s a couple of films about Douglas Tompkins, who founded the North Face and the Esprit companies.

If that was as far as the history went, it would be a successful but boring story.

Who wants to learn about another businessman?

There’s more to the story, though.

Doug Tompkins took his money….and worked to affect the ecology of Chile (and the world) in a big way by saving large tracts of land and protecting them from development.

Here’s the description of this movie from YouTube:

Douglas Tompkins was a world-renowned adventurer, entrepreneur, and conservationist. Co-founder of The North Face and Esprit, Doug spent the first half of his life building successful, global brands, while simultaneously adventuring around the world, completing first descents of the world’s toughest rivers. In 1968 Doug embarked on a trip to Chile, driving with friends from California to the tip of Patagonia. Documented in the film Mountain of Storms, the trip solidified Doug’s place as rock climbing legend. In the early 1990s, Doug sold his part of Esprit and moved down to Chile to do conservation work full time with his wife, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, the former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. Together, over the last 25 years, Doug and Kris have protected 2.2 million acres, more land than any other individuals. The foundations under the Tompkins Conservation umbrella, along with their partners, have created five national parks in Chile and Argentina and are in the process of creating five more. A Wild Legacy tells the story of Doug’s incredible life, his lasting impact on the wild landscapes of Patagonia, and Kris and the Tompkins Conservation team’s efforts to continue his audacious mission.
Doug was tragically killed in a kayaking accident on Lago General Carrera, north of Patagonia Park, on December 8th, 2015. Douglas Tompkins: A Wild Legacy was presented to audiences at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival on May 24th, 2016 during the festival’s tribute to Doug.
“If anything can save the world, I’d put my money on beauty” – Douglas Tompkins
The work goes on at tompkinsconservation.org.

Film from Outside Television.

This second video is one from Tompkins Conservation….a tribute program….a eulogy.

This guy was an interesting character with an interesting life….and he had some good and interesting friends.

It’s long….but worth watching if you have a couple of free hours.

I guess that isolation can be good.

I guess.

I figure that it’s kind of nice to have some people around, though.

I don’t know that this is really all that “perfect”.

Maybe “good” in some ways, but not perfect.

That’s the tradeoff sometimes for living someplace this beautiful….the places that remain beautiful and unspoiled are hard to get to…and, if they’re hard to get to, the other people might be few and far between.

I don’t know if I’d put my kids through this, either.

That’s what makes the world go round….all these different kinds of people.

Round…and round, huh?

I listened to some talks that Yvon Chouinard gave a while back while I drove the mail around today.

Noble stuff….capitalism with good intentions.

I don’t involve myself with ecological activism much….

We’re too busy raising a family.

We recycle….grow organically….all the good stuff that is pretty easy once it becomes a habit…but we’re not radical environmentalists.

Our habits could be better, I suppose.

Whose habits couldn’t be a little better, though….right?

Here’s a short film about damage that’s happening to the environment….and possible solutions…..called “What If We Change?”

You can’t back up from things that have gone too far, though.

Some of the damage we do to the environment is hard to fix.

That’s depressing…unless knowing about any of this stuff becomes a motivator to make a change.

Action is the only thing that keeps bad environmental news from depressing the heck out of me.

I better get a move on.