I’ve been a cyclist for 54 years. And when I think back on it, I’ve been a cycle commuter, when it was possible, for all that time as well. Sure, I ride my bike mostly for enjoyment, but it’s always been a utilitarian item for me as well. The week after I learned to ride, I was riding my bicycle to school. All through my school years, right up to university and even grad school, whenever it was practical I rode my bike to classes.
I mostly, (but not always, as there is a thrill in putting a heavy treaded bike track through fresh snow), eschewed winter riding until I got involved with Velo Cape Breton’s 52 Week Bike Challenge. The first year, I was just a participant. And then for the next 8 years, I was the leader!
I’ve always used my bike and left my car at home when it was possible. Just like I’ve always (since the early 1980s, I’m talking about) made an effort to buy local, to support sustainable, to support Fair Trade initiatives. To reduce, reuse, recycle, make my own . . . .
Yet just recently, my adult daughter - a multi-talented, intelligent, hardworking, energetic, multi and diversely skilled person - turned to me and said “You’ve been doing this all your life. Why is the world still on a headlong course for destruction?” Of course the answer is that I am only one person, although one of many. Just not one of enough.
Young people are struggling. They struggle to find good employment, struggle to pay off student debt, struggle to afford the basics of life (like housing and now food!). They struggle to make decisions about their future and what kind of person to be. With climate change very much upon us, and large, uncontrollable weather events becoming common, no wonder young people are not optimistic.
Over the past 40 years, I’ve written scores of letters to publications, politicians, organizations. I’ve signed petitions, walked in protests, chosen local, reduced, reused, recycled. So have the majority of my friends and associates, many of whom have a lot more political, social, and financial influence than I will ever have. Yet the world is still on a headlong course for destruction.
We are the wrong people doing the right thing. The people who can’t afford to choose the Farmers’ Market food, home goods, toiletries - and I was one of those people for significant periods of my life - are the ones who need to realize their influence. Their power. Our power. We feed the capitalist machine that is driving the world toward destruction, because we have been convinced we don’t have choices, that there is no other way. We buy cheap food and fast fashion, cheap appliances and single use plastic. We are exhausted by the growing amount of work hours we have to put in just to survive and not lose what little we have.
And we, those people who don’t have many choices, who are working long hours, who are paying outrageous rents - are the ones who will be most affected by climate change. Most likely to die, most likely to lose their homes, most likely to suffer ill health or even death from extreme heat, wildfires, floods. And it’s not just people here in Canada. It’s around the world. A lot of people. Within them is intelligence, resourcefulness, and anger. The billionaires of the earth think they are pretty safe. They may even think they are loved and respected.
So did Louis XVI.