Launch, Lunch and Luxurious Transportation

I biked up today for Shifting Gears’ launch at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

The weather was lovely, the traffic forgiving — it always makes things more interesting to be cycling in traffic with a 3′ trailer filled with posters and prizes behind you. Drivers tend to make more space to get a good look at the man-on-bike-with-trailer phenomenon.

The launch was well-attended with an assortment of hospital representatives, Green-Up staff, Wild Rock Outfitters, and some other cheery onlookers.

I did a few interviews afterwards with local papers, and always appreciate the opportunity to hone my general “sustainable transportation is just…good” feeling into points more coherent and cogent. News media doesn’t necessarily have to simplify causes — it just demands the interviewee be expressly clear and knowledgeable in the delivery of printable soundbites.

That being said, I’d like to leave you (and my first entry) with something that, I hope, will colour the perspective I’m trying to bring to Shifting Gears; in this blog, in the work that I do, and in the way I try to orient myself towards the world.

Shifting Gears is not just a throwaway environmental project. With the widespread ‘greening’ initiatives being taken on by all sorts of agencies, I think some of us find our ears dulled to the echoing requests to ’save our environment’. Shifting Gears isn’t asking you to save the environment. What it is asking you, however, is to become part of the environment.

Every mode of transportation that we support – walking, cycling, transit, carpooling – are all about reconnecting with our community, developing a sense of engagement with the people, community and landscape around us. In order to even begin caring about the environment that we’re being asked to save, we have to know what we’re supporting, why we’re supporting it, and most importantly, what we’ll lose if we don’t change habits.

I think Shifting Gears gives people a great opportunity to develop a relationship with their environment, contributing to the establishment of strong foundation of a healthier, happier community with a bright future.

Good luck this month!