Earth Day

So today is Earth Day, and even though for folks like your beat bike bloggers, who love bikes, nature, public transportation, and all that good stuff, every day is Earth Day, still, the date should be recognized. But how?

Truth be told, I don't really get Earth Day. When I was in high school, we made an awesome mural, where each student made some small painting with a particular color or something, then somehow we put them all together like pixels and they made a picture of the earth, and we felt like that was good. Of course, in the process, we used a ton of paper and the paint was probably distilled from whale blood (so lustrous!), and basically our whole endeavor made sea levels rise and cows fart. Just so, the Bike Snob today points out that biking maybe isn't super envirolicious, given the carbon footprint of bike manufacturing and shipping and all that. So really, every time we try to do stuff that's earthy, we're just making Bambi and Thumper cry.

What we need are some real, innovative solutions for reducing emissions and wasste and all that good stuff. Here's my suggestion: COP CARS NEED TO EASE UP ON THE IDLING. Seriously. The other night I made one of my periodic rides to the airport to rent a car (environmentally friendly? not especially, but better than owning a car and driving it all the time, right? right? right) and was accompanied by Rich, another blogger affiliated with this very blog. On our way there, we had many interesting conversations (and interestingly, on the way back from dropping the car off the next day, I noticed that whenever I passed a particular spot on our route, I would suddenly recall what Rich and I had been discussing there, which was, given the high quality of our conversation, a particularly pleasant way to have a solo ride), one of which concerned a Windsor cop car we saw sitting in a gas station idling. The cop was drinking coffee, keeping his keen eyes on the lookout for ne'erdowells, but emphatically not going anywhere in a hurry. The night was warm and he had a window open. SO WHY HAVE THE CAR RUNNING, WINDSOR'S FINEST? DON'T YOU LOVE THE EARTH?!! DON'T YOU?!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I see cop cars idling all the time, and that must surely hurt the environment, to say nothing of the waste of money. Do they really think that having the engine running is going to make the difference when they're suddenly required to engage in a high-speed pursuit? Do they not know about the halfway turn you can do with the car key to listen to the radio with the engine off? Also, while I am asking questions about cops that no one will answer, why do all unmarked state troopers' license plates end with UTZ? (They really do. Look, I took a picture of one:)



Is this post aimless enough yet? Well, let me add this: I really need a nap.