Mike Vandeman said:Wed, 24 Aug 2005:
Subject: Wow!
Dear Michael,
What a truly spontaneous, honest and gutsy website. A breath of fresh air and a
kick in the butt to boot! I am moved by your passion and fearless commitment.
and blatantly obvious insanity...
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With your permission I would like to feature your website (with a link along
with my recommendations) on my website and next newsletter.
It'll be too cool. Two environmental nuts feeding one another's
delusions. We'll be unstoppable. We can spread the word, make everyone
love one another, save the environment, and force our opinions and
beliefs onto other people.
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I learned and am learning a lot from your website. My partner and I have been
sharing a car since our first car broke down.
And before it broke down it was so badly maintained that it had been
spewing clouds of inefficiently burnt hydrocarbons into the atmossphere.
Quoted message said:I had been reluctant to get
another - due to the obvious environmental. impact, and now I am even more
inspired that I did not.
Now we just drive the inefficient and badly tuned second car (the one
that we didn't really need in the first place) instead of really
practicing what we are preaching and using public transport. I dumped
the first one over a bank because, as a greenie, I'm saving the planet
by refusing to give in to capitalist greed and making enough money to be
able to afford to dispose of it correctly - or to buy a new
fuel-efficent car.
Quoted message said:Instead both he and I got bought bicycles to ride
around town. I was already aware of the horrors and damage of mt. bikes to
nature - I would love to send you some photos of hillsides torn to shreds just
north of Santa Fe. If I can get out that way, I will take some photos. I could
post them on my website and if you want any I could send them along.
If I can get out that way and ride those trails on my bike, I'll take
some photos of the damage caused by people riding their bikes on those
trails. It's disgusting to see the damage on and amongst those
'naturally' eroded walking tracks, nice housing developments, bulldozer
tracks, fencelines, power pylons, cellphone towers, introduced weed
species, toxic tarmac covered-roads, illegal garbage dumps and wrecked
car bodies. If we're lucky, we might see some native wildlife if the
introduced predators haven't eaten them yet.
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It was great to read the detailed info. on your site. I've seen the erosion
here in the Mts. of Santa Fe, just from treaded shoes/hiking boots.
Disgusting how tramping can cause serious damage, isn't it?
Quoted message said:I went
barefoot for years in the jungles of Australia,
where no sane person had gone before. I saw many species of animals
that had never seen humans before. Many tried to bite my bare feet but
I kept on forging ahead; tramping and camping for miles into their
territory. But of course you can't expect a redback spider or a snake
to do anything else as a foot comes down upon it - bare or shod.
Quoted message said:and now while hiking, I wear
only a thin moccasin to avoid the dreaded and disgusting dog [censored] on the trails
- that people don't pick up.
After-all, I wouldn't want to help minimise the impact on the well used
tramping trails by avoiding those over-used trails entirely. Nor would
I actually pick up the rubbish and [censored] left behind by others - after
all, caring for the environment is their responsibilty in the first
place, not mine to clean up after them. You'll be pleased to know that
the cow doesn't need it's skin anymore and cow-hide is the best material
for [censored]-shedding moccasins.
What reduction in impact does removing one sheep from the flock have?
Very little of course, so I may as well continue to use the already
over-used trails and follow the flock....
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I was interested in your info on rafting and am going to read more as to how it
affects the environment. I have only ever been on two raft trips and I see the
obvious - invasion (camping and all of it's ramifications) of humans driving
wildlife from their habitat. But I will read more to learn what else you have
to say about it.
I was fascinated to read that activities I repeatedly indulge in are
damaging to the environment. It was obvious to me from the start that
these rafting trips caused severe environmental damage - but I went on a
second one anyway. I won't say that I'll never go rafting again either.
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I am excited about your work and what I can learn from your website.
I am quite insane.
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Thank you Michael,
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