I used to ride dirt bikes (offroad motorcycles) on trails North of Los Angeles with my buddies. I just had my last ride. It is one of a long string of activities that I've traded out of to improve my footprint. Below is an email sent to a riding friend.
I was thinking about our riding conversation. I agree that the riding doesn't have a huge impact. The thought is that if we all rode ... it would be a problem. I'm doing a life experiment to see if my quality of life goes down each time I cut my emissions. It hasn't yet. I do more volleyball and sailing when I don't ride or waterski. And I have a problem writing about sailing and ignoring the CO2 impact on the oceans. Google ocean acidification if you're interested. Man made CO2 is making permanent changes to ocean ecosystems. It contradicts the cruiser's "Leave a place better than you found it" ethic.
The concept is that as soon as our renewable infrastructure replaces the old burn-stuff-for-energy infrastructure, we can all go back to using as much as we like. It could take 40 years though. I drove the Nissan Leaf, all electric. It was fun. The car was like mine but quiet and more roomy. I see most people could be very happy with two cars. An electric for town (<100miles) and keep their gas car for long trips, until the batteries get better. No gas stations, oil changes or fumes appeals to me. As much as I drive I could put a solar panel on the roof in the parking lot and never plug in.
I got off subject. The electric dirt bikes are getting better. Again, batteries have to improve to do the kind of riding we do. It's just a matter of time.
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