Hello Everybody,


Edit: there is an interesting conversation going on in a previous blog post in the comments section worth checkin out.  Here is the link: http://pedalacrosstheamericas.blogspot.com/2011/02/global-climate-change-solutions.html.  Please Check it out, as well as this latest blog update.


I returned recently from my 10 day hiatus from the Pedal project, during which I completed a Vipassana meditation course in North Fork, California.


Before the meditation, I was working at Magic on a work-exchange arrangement.  In addition to fixing community bikes as I mentioned in a previous post,  I also contributed to community work by preparing food for the collective meal, which happens each night, painting the living room, and laying brick for the new driveway, built from salvaged brick and wood.  The photo below is of me angle-grinding a piece of rebar (not salvaged) used as a support for the new driveway.

I also had the chance to interview David Schrom while at Magic, who has been involved with Magic since it's inception in the 1970s.  However, I`m still looking into how to make this audio recording available through our blog, so please hold your horses on this one!

Also, amidst the painting at Magic that I mentioned,  our video camera charger mysteriously vanished, so I am unable to take pictures for the time being,  and have no more photos to share at this time.  Sorry about that.  

I`m staying in Oakland right now, with a friend of a friend (Thanks Sam!).  Although Oakland reflects some of the upscale feel of it`s fancy sister city, San Francisco, Oakland people are also faced with homelessness, street crime, unemployment, and the lack of access to proper medical care.  To address some of these challenges, community-based initiatives in urban food cultivation have sprung to life, and in their essence marry environmental and social justice work.  Thanks to Adam Prince, who I met at Fancyland and provided me with contact information for these incredible and inspiring initiatives.

Here are a couple to check out:

http://www.plantingjustice.org/programs

http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/index.php?topic=aboutus

The significance of these initiatives has become visceral for me since walking around Oakland, talking with people from the city, and witnessing first-hand the hardship that some people in the city are facing.

Thanks to everyone for your support, and blog comments, and thanks to Lucas for the blog entries!  I`m planning on being in Oakland for a little longer to plan out the next section of the journey.

Peace!

Steve

How Big is Our Island?

Hi Folks, Lucas here, interesting quick read here for everyone.
Please give it a read and a think, Take Care, The Pedal Team.

Here is the Direct Link:

http://www.recombinantrecords.net/2011/02/09/st-matthew-island/

Global Climate Change Solutions

Hi Everyone, Lucas here.  I wanted to share with you an interesting video on possible Global Climate Change Solutions.  It is a very interesting video, that also presents a very interesting moral dilemma, namely if we have solutions to Global Climate Change, will that only lead populations to believe they have less need to reduce their emissions.  Check it out and let me know what you think... lets discuss this in the comments thread,

Take Care out there, Lucas and the PEDAL Team.

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_keith_s_surprising_ideas_on_climate_change.html 

Update From Lucas

Hi Everyone, Lucas here.  Hope everything is going well wherever you happen to be reading this at.

I have been going to physiotherapy for the last two months, working to get my knee better.  I think most know by my earlier posts that this means I am back in Canada, in Rossland, BC, taking the time to remedy this.

My condition in my knee is called Patellar Tendonitis in my right knee, with my left being sore, but not as bad.

Initially I had hoped it would take maybe a month or so to get better, and then I would be back on the tour.  In a recent visit to the doctor I have been informed that it is more likely to be a year, possibly even two (with, fingers crossed, it possibly getting better much quicker).

Unfortunately this most likely means, that my biking career is finished for the near future.  I have talked a little with the group about possibilities of joining, ie.  perhaps hitchiking, or buying a scooter/motorbike, and what not.

For right now it means I am struggling to bike for 15 minutes a day.  It is sometimes frustrating to think I went from biking 9 or 10 hours a day to 9 or 10 minutes, but those are the cards that I have been dealt for right now.

Anyways, I hope everyone else out there is doing great, and I hope the team is starting to enjoy the longer days, and warmer weather as the trip gets farther and farther south.

Take Care out there, and happy riding, Lucas.

Sorry for the void of blog entries recently.  I've been busy working at Magic,  and will write about it soon.  For now however,  I am embarking on a 10-day hiatus from working at sustainable communities and bike travelling.

Take care!

Steve