Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tim's Reduce, Reuse, No Cycle!

My brother was driving past Bowmanville this morning on his way to business in the Big Smoke.
Was I interested in having a coffee at Tim Horton's at the 401? I decided to ride my bicycle, this being Earth Day and all. Well, the line-up of idling vehicles was as long as ever and I discovered that Tim's has no use for cyclists. There was nothing to attach my bicycle to, although I considered the drive-through pillar as an act of green protest. I ended up locking my bike to a tree in the back corner of the lot, next to the garbage bin. Nice. I might have been better off on horseback.

If you want to "read green" today go the the New York Times website and ponder the excellent series of articles in the magazine section from Sunday. Or check out the Dot Earth blog, also at the NY Times, one of the most informative around in my estimation. It's in the Science section. The Globe and Mail today has a section called Report on Green Solutions. Add to this the Green Week articles at the Washington Post website. And if you have kids, show them the Google artwork for the day.

Then again, maybe you will get out for a walk or a cycle and savour the goodness of creation and Creator.
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4 comments:

  1. IanD11:49 AM

    Hi David,

    As someone keenly interested in the links between declining fitness levels, obesity, rising preventable health risks, sedentary behavior and the like ... I wonder if we'd see improvements in the above AND the environment if more people biked to Tim's for their morning Joe? Biked period?

    Just a thought.
    Ian

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  2. David Mundy3:11 PM

    Thanks Ian. I don't know what it's like where you are, but around this community few adults cycle and car is king (or queen.) Adult cyclists are an oddity, as are walkers for that matter. I read an article on Copenhagen recently and it seems that a huge number of people use bicycles for commuting and the infrastructure is there to make it safe. Of course we aren't going to puff the 75 km to Toronto, but I agree with you that we could do this a lot more.

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  3. Deborah Laforet3:23 PM

    I find riding a bike or walking also makes me think about what I bring with me or what I buy. If I don't have a car to throw all of my "stuff" into, then I need to have less, which I think is a very big lesson to learn in today's society.

    Deb

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  4. David Mundy4:18 PM

    I spoke with the manager at the Tim Horton's and he will contact head office with the suggestion of a bike rack. How hard can this be?

    You're right Deb about the "cause for pause" factor. Now if they could put on snow tires and install a heater...

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