Why Canada should think a third time about oil

It's no secret that Alberta has oil. It's also not a secret that oil makes people rich, really rich. So why the cause for concern? Imagine for a second that the price of oil dropped sharply and it no longer became profitable to sell oil exports. Would Saudi Arabia suffer? What about Alberta?

Now think about how dependent we are on oil in Canada. How dependent is the government on the income? Are we putting our money away into a $400 billion dollar endowment like Norway is? No. Are we diversifying our economy or depending more on resources? Resources.

This post goes into some good depth on some of the challenges we face in Canada. Let's BikeUp this mess while we still can.

Big change happens in small steps

I've said this before: Big change happens in small steps. Society does not shift as fast as you may think. For instance: the traditional music industry has been dying a slow death. Musicians are adapting; "Indie" is now popular, and the days of multi-platinum are nearly gone. So what does this have to do with BikingUpTheMess?

If you think the threat to B.C.'s coast is not urgent, think again. I bet most did not even know of the pipeline that currently runs from Alberta through B.C and ships oil from Vancouver. Guess what, little by little tanker traffic is being increased. Why? Small changes are hard to spot, and once you have 10 tankers a day, 11 ain't so bad.

There is some major cause for concern. The following video highlights some of the issues that could arise in B.C. We would lose Tourism, Fishing, Port traffic and more. All over just a single spill, let's ask the people of the Gulf Coast if it's worth it. Here is a link highlighting some issues in Vancouver.

We were on T.V.

This is just a short posting. I wanted to share this link with those of you who don't have us on Facebook. A Channel and Check News will both be covering us more in the future as we prepare for our journey to New Orleans. Look for us in the Times Colonist on Sunday August 29th.

75% of the Gulf Oil Spill is gone?

The U.S. government is now claiming that 75% of the oil that escaped during the Gulf Oil Spill is now cleaned up or dispersed. I am not here to refute this fact, or even challenge it. There are many places you can read about it: here or here or even here.

What I would like to highlight is the following: The claim that 74% of the oil is gone still leaves us with 26%. The 26% left is still larger then FOUR times the Exxon Valdez spill. The Valdez tanker leaked approx. 11 million gallons. The BP spill in the Gulf, closer to 200 million gallons. I hate to be a cynic but lets be real for a second. This is what this journey is all about. The media may have been searching for something positive, but let's be honest with ourselves.

The second issue I would like to highlight is the "dispersed" oil. First and foremost chemical dispersants have terribly harmful effects on the environment. Second the oil is not gone. It may still make it's way into the ecosystem in many ways. Who wants to eat some Louisiana Shrimp? Fish? Something tells me the market is going to be pretty small.

Check out this photo and judge for yourself:



You be the judge. Should we back down? Were we over reacting when 200 million gallons got spilled. Is it all better now?

Car Wash!

Hey everyone,

Today we had a car wash at Peninsula Co-op. We have to admit again our expectations were surpassed. People were generous beyond our belief.




Things were a bit rushed in the morning since Eddie was in Vancouver for the weekend. Jordan and myself pretty much ran this event. Has anyone else done a car wash before? It's a fair bit of work no? I would recommend for next time more then two people. The line-up can start to get long :). We were lucky that Jordie's girlfriend Maria and friend Ashley helped us out a ton! Thanks guys!




The wash started around 10 since I was late getting of the water from rowing at Elk Lake at 7:30. We were set up for not nearly 5 minutes before cars started to roll in.





We washed some pretty dirty cars today and did our part to help people clean-up their cars. Jordie and I both spoke after and were quite happy with the financial results of the car wash. For us this trip is not about money. So while we enjoyed the car wash we didn't have time to talk and tell people about our cause as much as we would have liked. We really did just wash and wash and wash. On the positive side we hit the 600$ mark for total fund-raising! This is substantial and we would love to get to the thousand mark before we order more shirts.

We have a new order of shirts coming in Monday so if you would like one drop me a line:
erik@bikingupthemess.com

Sidney Summer Market

Wow! We had a great time. Speaking on behalf of Jordie, Eddie and myself (Erik) we would like to say Thank You! We we're a tad nervous setting our mission loose into the universe but we we're welcomed with open arms.

We managed to sell 20+ tshirts and raise nearly 150$ on top of the price of the t-shirts. Best of all, we still have some left for the car wash on Sunday at Peninsula Co-op.





From a personal perspective I was very amazed at the reception. We met some great people who we're very supportive. That's what this trip is all about, support, change and enthusiasm. We are all in this together. Jordie, Eddie and myself are going to Louisiana with or without donations, but after tonight it's so nice to know that others care the way we do.





My apologies for not getting more names but here are some thank you's we would like to shout out: Doris, Kerry, Kyle, Terry and several other nice ladies and gentlemen. The nice fellow who was helping us with the fit of the bikes, thanks! Thanks goes out to the couple on the bikes who suggested talking to Jim at Trek in Victoria. Thanks to the chocolate lady, who decided to donate her chocolate money to us, we appreciate it :). To the lovely soul who came back for a second round of donations after already helping us out. Thanks to the nice lady from the Ministry of Environment who took some of our cards to pass around. Thank you to all the other donors!

It was great time and we shall see you on Sunday!
BikinUpTheMess