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A New Year’s resolution to save the planet: Try cycling instead of driving
Another year is arriving and I’ve been pondering about ways to make next year better? In past years, my New Year’s resolutions have focused on me: Diets and exercise plans to make me healthier, budgets to improve my bank account, new systems to help me get more organized. But over the past year, I have become acutely and humbly aware of how very much my life is interconnected with everyone and everything else on this planet. While I may feel insignificant sometimes, I have realized that my actions during this pandemic—even seemingly small irrelevant choices like whether to go to the store, or take a plane trip, or spend a holiday with those I love—could have enormous and even deadly consequences for everyone around me.
So this year, I’m making a different resolution—one focused on helping our planet and my community (as well as my waistline)—by cycling more and driving less. And I would be delighted to have some company.
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Clean air, cycling and the gift of the coronavirus
I don’t suppose there is a person on this planet that is not exhausted, frustrated and stressed about our world’s battle with the coronavirus. Eight months into this pandemic and counting, most of us are tired of quarantining, of giving up our favorite activities and social distancing from the people we love. It has become almost normal to feel depressed, anxious and hopeless as we are barraged with alarming news and statistics about the virus on a daily basis.
But what if—in between the news reports and videos of angry unmasked protesters, exhausted doctors on ICU units, and shuttered businesses—there is another story? What if underneath the suffering and pain, there is a silver lining—a ray of hope for a new, better world that will emerge when all of this is over? Continue reading “Clean air, cycling and the gift of the coronavirus”
Selecting a bike route your kids will love
“My favorite part was the ice-cream place,” five year old Anya beamed. “And the lady who gave me a new bubblegum ice-cream after the cone fell down.” My husband, Lorenz, and I grinned at each other remembering our family’s stop at the Tillamook ice-cream factory on our two week family bicycle tour down the Oregon coast.
“I liked the airplane museum best. And the view from the top of Yaquina Head after that steep climb,” Lorenz added matter-of-factly. Our family was waiting for our fish fry dinner in a little shack perched over the ocean in Florence, Oregon. It was the last night of our 250 mile cycling tour down the coast; and the four of us were sharing our favorite memories of the trip.
Continue reading “Selecting a bike route your kids will love”
