On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 09:23:10 -0700, "Jeff Strickland"
<crwlr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>"Mike Vandeman" <mjvande@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>news:m8fa94tic93qmahfbppab6jtn2ch3jrrmq@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> August 11,
>> 1997
>> Juan Antonio Samaranch
>> President, International Olympic Committee
>> Chateau de Vidy
>> 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
>>
>> Katia Mascagni Stivachtis, Chief, Section of Environmental Affairs
>> Department of International Cooperation and Public Information
>> International Olympic Committee
>> Chateau de Vidy
>> 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
>>
>> Gentlepersons:
>>
>> I was delighted to learn (from your web page) that protection
>> of the environment (after s****ts and culture) is now one of the main
>> goals of the Olympics. The visibility and prestige of the Olympics
>> give you enormous responsibility, especially toward young people, who
>> will be strongly influenced by what they see. As you well know,
>> nonverbal learning is very powerful, and is for many people (e.g.
>> preliterate children) the primary means by which the Olympics teaches
>> them about s****ts, culture, and the environment. People, especially
>> children, assume that what they see on television, especially in the
>> Olympics, is proper.
>>
>> Therefore, I was shocked, saddened, and embarrassed when I
>> discovered that mountain biking has been accepted as an Olympic s****t.
>> I am enclosing several papers in which I explain in detail the harm
>> that mountain biking inflicts on wildlife. But I will try to summarize
>> that information here.
>>
>> We are in the midst of a worldwide extinction crisis.
>> According to the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of
>> Nature and Natural Resources), one fourth of all of the world's
>> animals are threatened with extinction. The primary threat is loss of
>> habitat. Such loss includes obvious, outright destruction, such as
>> clearcutting and open-pit mining, but also the excessive presence of
>> humans, which often causes wildlife to abandon their preferred
>> habitat. In either case, the wildlife lose access to im****tant
>> resources, such as certain food sources and potential mates. When
>> judging effects on wildlife, it is essential to look at the situation
>> from their point of view, not ours. If they abandon an area, the
>> habitat is effectively destroyed for them, regardless of what we
>> think.
>>
>> The primary reason why mountain biking is harmful to wildlife,
>> thus, is that it makes it much easier for people to get into wildlife
>> habitat. Mountain bikers don't just show up at the Olympics to race.
>> They have to spend many hours training. And where do they prefer to
>> ride? In wilderness (wildlife habitat). And what kind of trail do they
>> prefer to ride on? "Single-track" trails, which are primarily in
>> wilderness, or at least the most natural part of any area. That is
>> also, of course, the area preferred by wildlife. The Olympics are a
>> powerful motivator. When people see a s****t in the Olympics, they
>> identify with the athletes and want to participate in the s****t. Thus,
>> by simply including mountain biking in the Olympics, you unleash a
>> tidal wave of people buying mountain bikes, flooding parks and
>> wilderness areas, and participating in races. As is usual when there
>> is an increase in recreation, wildlife lose more and more of their
>> (already dangerously dwindling) habitat.
>>
>> The bicycle is a wonderful tool, but like any technological
>> aid, it can be used for good (e.g. to replace auto travel) or evil
>> (e.g. to expand man's domination of wildlife habitat). Similar damage
>> arises from the use of the use of other technologies, such as climbing
>> aids (extending man's reach onto cliffs), rafts (giving people access
>> to the entire length of a river), night-vision goggles (making
>> night-time access to habitat easier), etc. Throughout our evolution,
>> technological aids (e.g. guns, the internal combustion engine, etc.)
>> have given us vastly more power than any other species, and the more
>> we have wielded them, the more damage we have done. You had the right
>> idea when you banned s****ts that "depend essentially on mechanical
>> propulsion". Technological aids have no place (or at most a minor
>> place) in Olympic s****ts, which are based on simple physical
>> activities like walking and swimming that measure the physical (e.g.
>> strength and health) and spiritual (e.g. s****tsman****p) dimensions of
>> a human being, not of his or her tools.
>>
>> Many mountain bikers also lack s****tsman****p. They insist on
>> riding even when their enjoyment conflicts with that of wildlife and
>> other people. Elderly hikers are being driven off of hiking trails
>> they have enjoyed all their lives. Threatened species have been killed
>> by bikers, who then try to pretend that it didn't happen or was
>> insignificant. Anyone who speaks out against mountain biking is
>> attacked viciously, as I have been and continue to be. My physical
>> safety and that of my family have been threatened, for simply telling
>> the truth about the effects of mountain biking on wildlife. Many
>> mountain bikers seem to see their goal as conquering anything and
>> anyone in their path. I haven't seen such a lack of s****tsman****p in
>> any other s****t (with the exception of professional wrestling and one
>> infamous instance in ice skating).
>>
>> Mountain biking also destroys vast numbers of organisms that
>> live in and on soil, creating devastating erosion. One Olympic
>> hopeful, for example, trained in Brown's Woods, DesMoines, Iowa, where
>> habitat destruction was so bad that the county was forced to close the
>> park to bikes. The knobby tires used by virtually all mountain bikers
>> are perfectly designed to rip up the soil and kill the plants and
>> animals that live there. They insist on using those tires even though
>> they don't need that much traction unless they are traveling at
>> excessive speed, or riding on steep slopes or wet ground where biking
>> is inappropriate.
>>
>> The Earth's environmental problems are so huge that they will
>> not be solved without all of us doing our part. I appreciate that you
>> are striving to do your part, and are re-examining the Olympics with
>> the environment in mind. I hope you will consider dropping mountain
>> biking as an Olympic s****t, and take another look at all the other
>> s****ts (e.g. canoeing, which also intrudes into im****tant wildlife
>> habitat) from the point of view of wildlife.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Michael J.
>> Vandeman, Ph.D.
>>
>> P.S. A larger issue, of course, is whether an activity that requires
>> the long-distance travel of thousands of people can ever be
>> sustainable. I suggest that you recognize that the Earth's oil
>> supplies will soon be exhausted (estimated by the experts at about
>> 2040), and create a committee to begin planning for it. (E.g., how do
>> we want to make use of the oil that is left? Burn it up?!). Every
>> organization should have such a committee!
>>
>> References:
>>
>> Ehrlich, Paul and Anne, Extinction: The Causes and Consequences of the
>> Disappearance of Species. c.1981.
>>
>> Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and
>> Recreationists. Covelo, California: Island Press, c.1995.
>>
>> Phillips, Kathryn, Tracking the Vani****ng Frogs: An Ecological
>> Mystery. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.
>>
>> Stebbins, Robert, personal communication.
>>
>> Vandeman, Michael J., Ph.D.
>> http://www.imaja.com/change/environment/mvarticles/
>> --
>> I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
>> humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
>> years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
>>
>> Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you
are
>> fond of!
>>
>> http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
You finally started making sense!
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are
fond of!
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
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