Earth Day, 2020

Speaking of Earth Day.

I learned about the video, "Planet of the Humans" by Jeffrey Gibbs and Michael Moore, and reviewed here in the Guardian, yesterday and watched it last night via Youtube. I'm not making any editorial comments pro or con since I don't know if anyone has fact checked all of the assertions, but it gives pause to how we think about the "environmental movement" today.

Link to the movie here. Warning, it is an hour and forty minutes long but since we are all home bound...it moves right along. Warning number two: you might want to have a stiff drink handy towards the end of the show.

So Happy Earth Day everyone, if that is in keeping with the present situation. I was around for the first one in 1970 (I was in tenth grade) when we permanently stained the water line on our little family 12 foot fishing boat from the toxic stew floating on the Buffalo River, and when soap suds floated prominently in Ellicott Creek near my parent's house east of Buffalo, NY. Being old gives one perspective on how much we have accomplished, but also how much we have ignored. The heavy pall of pollution from primitive gasoline driven cars and heavy industry is gone, but some of that is gone because like jobs, we have outsourced our dirty side of the house to other nations while ensuring cleaner air and water here with legal constraints and better technology. Now we worry about the invisible threat: CO2 and global warming. But as the movie makes clear, greenhouse gases are the tip of the (melting) iceberg. Rampant human growth and its resulting resource consumption are the elephants in the room.

 I'll embed the movie, as long as I am not violating anything and assuming the Youtube lawyers do not object (in which case I'll just leave the links). But the link above is a larger screen back at the source.

Acknowledgements to Jeff Gibbs, Michael Moore, and Youtube for giving us something serious to think about as we pat ourselves on the asses for being forced into not driving or being able to buy tons of stuff on this fiftieth Earth Day. Maybe that is the solution.

Time, Distance, and Shielding: Its Not Just for Radiation Workers Any More

I worked for sixteen years in a so-called nuclear facility. So-called because we worked with radioactive nuclear material in sufficient quantities to require us to undergo serious levels of training and use the well-understood Holy Trinity of time, distance, and shielding to protect ourselves from harmful levels of exposure. That thinking applies easily to COVID-19.

Time matters. In radioactivity, unstable elements decay at a constant rate, i.e., the half life; at least for isotopes having half lives in months to millenia, the longer you are near a radioactive source, the more radiation you are going to absorb in a roughly linear time frame, all other things being equal. Think of it like lying out in the sun and eventually absorbing a sunburn. In the case of a virus, the source may be intermittent such as by virtue of a cough, sneeze, or wheeze, but the longer one is near a source, the more chances of being in the range of that sneeze.

Distance matters. Radiation falls off as distance squared (for most geometries) so getting twice as far from a point source such as a test tube decreases your rate of exposure by a factor of four. In the case of a virus emanating from an infected person, I don't know if distance squared strictly applies, but distance matters as the sneeze or cough will be diluted by the greater air volume (distance squared) and eventually fall to the ground if not wafted by winds. Six feet seems to be a rule of thumb for standing around in a checkout line. I would stay much farther than this from other bicyclists or runners rather than be drafting them and pick up their potentially lethal cooties. Especially in this time of rampant allergies. I rode through a countryside of pinon pine and juniper today and my nose did not like it. Fortunately as you can see below, no one was around to complain.

Plenty of distance out here

Shielding in a nuclear facility can be anything from a pair of gloves to stop easily stopped particles and bodily contamination to lead or hydrogenous barriers to diminish gamma radiation or neutrons. Shielding from COVID means masks and gloves. A simple mask may catch most of one's own sneeze. A HEPA or N95 mask will protect from other people's particles but these are in short supply and should be reserved for first responders. Kitchen gloves can work and if you can find or make a simple mask, that is important.

So time, distance, and shielding are your friends. Keep your exposure time to a minimum if people other than you and your loved ones are around. Go get your fresh air where there are few people around. If you have to interact, use a mask. If you have to use an urban trail, avoid peak hours of its use. Above all, ride prudently. This is not the time for a visit to the ER due to a careless endo, "hold my beer" stunt, besting your buddy's Strava on a descent, or texting while riding. Keep your situational awareness radar on 10/10.

I took an 18 mile ride west and north of town today. Passed nine walkers. Seven were on the other side facing traffic and two way off on a dirt shoulder. Passed seven cyclists headed in the oncoming direction on the other side of the street and had one turn from a side street about fifty yards ahead of me. He was a little slower than I, so I stopped to take the picture below, by which time he was long gone. That's less than one interaction per mile and all at distance.

We will muddle through this but the more people think about what they are doing, the less damage will be done.

That is a bicyclist way out in front of me. I kept him there. 
The two walker are on the opposite side of the street.

Goodbye...

John Prine sings with the angels.

During this Corona Virus Crisis, Don't Forget to Say Hello In There

John Prine is in the fight for his life against the Corona virus. Think good thoughts.

66 Minutes and Happy Birthday to O'Grady

Patrick O'Grady turned 66 this past week, thus joining me in Social Security territory. He recently broke an ankle, thus riding 66 km was out of the question. So in honor of the Mad Dog's lap around the sun, here is a 66 minute ride on La Tierra Trails for him. And for me of course. One has to stay sane in these troubled times.

All told, in about an hour, I interacted with seven hikers and two other cyclists. Was a quiet day for those who wanted to get out and get some normalcy to do so at socially distant conditions.

Stay sane out there. And healthy. This COVID stuff is serious shit.

Happy 66th, Patrick

a quiet day on the trails

Why Is Bicycle Transportation Not Essential?

3/30 Addenum from the League of American Bicyclists

On March 28^th the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) updated its guidance on the essential workforce to include:

• "Employees supporting personal and commercial transportation services – including taxis, delivery services, vehicle rental services, bicycle maintenance and car-sharing services, and transportation network providers;" and
• "Employees who repair and maintain vehicles, aircraft, rail equipment, marine vessels, bicycles, and the equipment and infrastructure that enables operations that encompass movement of cargo and passengers."

When the Governor and her health secretary issued an emergency executive order in response to COVID-19, they protected automobile servicing, repairs, and the part supply chain explicitly, making these services essential. Meanwhile, bicycle transportation was omitted; with New Mexico being one of only two states to not acknowledge that bicycle servicing is essential. Thus bicycle shops have closed down to protect their legal interests, have been visited by the state police, or been advised by the governor's office to shutter as non-essential. Those who depend on bicycling as essential transportation are left to their own devices. This is occurring even as Santa Fe and Albuquerque limit their mass transit resources.

"Currently New Mexico and Michigan appear to be the only states that have strict orders in place that do not provide an exception for bike shops. Local bike groups, PeopleForBikes, and others are working to create essential status in those states." Bicycle Industry and Retailer News

 As an advocate who has worked statewide and with Santa Fe and Los Alamos to establish bicycling as a transportation option equal to the family car, I have made numerous requests to the Governor's Office and the Health Secretary that bicycle repair shops and parts supply chains be considered as essential as auto maintenance. In return I have received nameless,faceless, anonymous emails from the "Joint Information Center" to the effect that the die has been cast and bicycling is not essential.

Whether intentionally or by accidental omission, the state of New Mexico is telegraphing that it does not consider bicycling to be an  essential transportation element. This should be noted by those who advocate for alternative transportation, indigent rights, public health, or green solutions to our climate problems. Indeed, as an article in the Monday Santa Fe New Mexican makes clear, preexisting comorbidities, especially those affecting cardiovascular or immunological health, can critically affect how successfully one fights the virus.

Until Governor Lujan Grisham and Health Secretary Kunkel acknowledge that bicycling is a transportation option equal to the family car and thus provide bicyclists needing mechanical assistance with the same protections given motorists during this crisis, we cannot assume that New Mexico takes bicycling as transportation or a public health resource seriously or that those who come to depend on the bicycle as an essential, affordable, and green transportation element find their needs even considered, not to mention protected.