I had an exhilarating swoop into the heart of the diamond-cut life Saturday night when I bicycled all the way home from my mother-in-law’s house. (For newcomers to this blog– welcome! — the diamond-cut life is happiness chiseled down to its essence, with excess consumption stripped away).
I felt free and strong as an eagle bicycling from far Northeast Portland back to my house on Mount Tabor, my pedal-strokes as powerful as a raptor’s wing-strokes. My bike and I also created the same carbon emissions that an eagle’s flight would have: zero pounds. Oh, we soared above the realm of PZEV (PZEV stands for partial zero emissions vehicle, a designation earned by hybrid vehicles and the Ford Focus, for example.) My body, my bike and the cool summer evening were one during that ride.
When I got home at dusk I was glowing with energy and well-being, a state I have never experienced upon disembarking from any car, whether PZEV, SUV or BMW. I happily practiced music and watered plants, after calling my mother-in-law as she’d requested to tell her I was home safe and sound.
What got me to finally bike instead of drive this frequent 13 mile round trip to Joan’s house? Well, I’d locked my keys in the trunk of our Honda hybrid on Friday, so the car spent the weekend in Salem, awaiting my return today (Monday) with the spare key. So I stumbled into my joyful zero-emissions trip by accident. Or actually, since I am one of those rare progressives who wholeheartedly believes in God, I would say a divine hand shaped my experience.
Net zero emissions for a human endeavor is a state that green architects, for example, struggle and struggle to achieve when designing buildings. (There are about three such homes in Oregon, two of which I’ve visited, one built by my friend Nathan Good and the other by my friend Tom Kelly.) And to my knowledge there is no such thing as a car with net zero carbon emissions, though electric vehicles reduce emissions depending on the source of the electricity.
Yet if our civilization is going to survive global warming, we have to make a great many of our endeavors into net zero emissions animals, especially our transportation. I’m humbled to report that in a few hours I’ll commute 50 miles to my job in Salem. Even carpooling with three others I’ll create about 25 pounds of carbon emissions — a far cry from the exhilarating net zero bicycle ride of Saturday night. Next time I shouldn’t wait til I lock my keys in the car to bicycle the 13 miles to see my mother-in-law.
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