Life is all about balance

As an eco-friendly consumer and an eco-conscious person I find that living this lifestyle is all about balance. When someone asks me what they can do to help lower their carbon footprint, I can talk about changing habits, lowering energy usuable, buying sustainable products but the fact is that sometimes we cannot change certain things without sacrificing the person we are inside. For example, I use recycled products where possible, I strive to reduce, reuse and recycle, we’re a vegetarian family, we conserve energy, compost, grow our own food and yet people are shocked when we tell them that we dirtbike as a hobby. After all dirtbiking damages the environment, it pollutes, uses energy and you need equipment like protective clothing etc doesn’t that go against everything I am trying to achieve in my eco-friendly life? Well yes, but we’re not perfect, our family wouldn’t be the same without the dirtbikes, we get to spend time outdoors together with friends in the wilderness of the the Southern California mountains. I’d no more give up my dirtbike than I would go back to eating meat, driving a big SUV, using plastic bags, or buying clothes from a chain store.

Environmental impact of hobbies
Lets look though for a minute at the environmental impact of our “eco-evil” hobby. There is the production and upkeep of the bikes, gasoline/oil to use the bikes, protective gear and usually another vehicle required to transport the bikes to their location (it’s illegal to use dirtbikes on regular roads) and probably many other things I’m overlooking. But lets face it if my hobby was photography (something else I also enjoy) I’d still be impacting the earth in a negative way, camera’s still need manufacturing, film or memory cards to store the photo’s, cables, and perhaps the printing process. Everything we do has an impact on the earth, simply living in our own homes impacts the earth, so we have to pick and choose our ‘battles’.

Benefits of hobbies
One of the things about dirtbiking is that you cannot ride wherever you like, you have to ride on specific area’s and trails usually governed by the US Forest Service. Most of these area’s are only available for use when you purchase a pass for each highway vehicle entering the facility. Each local area has it’s own pass, so this may mean purchasing multiple passes for separate areas you wish to ride on (we have two for the areas we ride in Southern California). These fees help to conserve, protect, and restore natural and heritage resources
and also enhance the visitor experiences by improving recreation opportunities and service. So whilst my hobby is poluting the environment, on the flipside it’s also helping preserve it.

Find balance
I cannot think of any hobby that has no environmental impact we simply have to weigh up our options. Personally being out riding in the mountains, breathing air free of the Los Angele’s smog, stopping for a picnic overlooking the reservoir, and seeing wildlife up close and personal has made me MORE aware of the impact we humans have on this planet and made me want to protect the mountains and the environment more than ever. There will be things you simply cannot or will not change, sure I can switch from paper napkins to cloth, but don’t ask me to give up my bike!

Whatever your hobby or your eco-sin, simply try to find balance.

dalgal | My Bio & Articles