Mike Vandeman wrote:
> 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!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Look at the thread title, Mike.
--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She ****pped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”
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