Challenges

These are the train tracks I was going to take to Washington for the bike tour.

The Coast Starlight Amtrak train has been cancelled until at least September because a wildfire severely damaged tracks over a bridge in Northern California. This is my first tour since making a self pledge to avoid using cars and airplanes for touring…and I am forced to immediately break my commitment. I’ll get my bike and myself up there somehow.

So: emissions largely caused by cars and airplanes have contributed to a climate crisis which has resulted in conditions that make massive wildfires probable and destroy transit, forcing continued dependency on cars and airplanes.

I recommend reading this interview. It has had a profound effect on me. I was struck when I first read it, but it keeps resonating and my thinking continues to evolve in surprising ways. It is a catalyst for a massive paradigm shift.

I love traveling and playing songs for people, but at what cost? It is human supremacist of me to insist that I must fly up there and back to do my bike tour and shows, but in this instance I am going to so because I have made commitments to many people and places and I have a job to do. Isn’t that always the way with us humans? “Just doing my job.” I will tell you: this experience is radicalizing me further. During my travel the next three months I will be thinking critically about how to avoid contributing further to this epidemic of human supremacist behavior that is destroying so much life.

This work in progress continues. Combining multiple modes of transit with the bicycle (train+bike, bus+bike) is a consistent source of stress and unpredictability. There is so much work to do to reduce car dependency. I want to ride my bike.