Wheeled Migration participants did an amazing thing. We navigated our bicycles hundreds of miles in the span of ten days in order to come to a UC/CSU/CCC Sustanibility Conference. As with most experiences, the journey has been more rewarding, at least to me, than the destination. Especially our journey. We slowed our world down to cycling speed and not only did we gain a great workout but more importantle we gained an invaluable perspective to an otherwise mundane activity.
And all of a sudden that world we created came to a halt as we reintegrated ourselves to the world of sustainability within California's university system. We still have yet to go back into society. Let me tell you what: I am not ready for such a feat. Experiencing what I have here has taken a toll on my paradigms regarding this sustainability phenom. I don't think that I will ever return to this conference as an attendee. The ideas floating about are awesome, yet the set-up, rules, and general attitude about real change within the conference are lacking in a huge way. I saw food being wasted today by the conference folks. That made me feel very bad. One of the major principles for me in sustainability is simply not wasting any resource. I of course asked the staff about this and as usual I recieved the flowery bureaucratic, "well the rules are this and this" and I wonder to myself whether or not there is any foresight put into planning things.
I am sorry for complaining, but I see a lot of things to question, and I think that I am affected by things and it makes me feel terrible. I don't really talk about my feelings that much, so I figured I would write some of them: on the inside, there is a spring that is so tightly coiled that I do not know what to do, and it will not uncoil, it only gets tighter and tigher. But that is why I am fortunate to have participated in Wheeled Migration, as it was an experience that, with some fine-tuning, is an excellent example for working towards a better world, and helped me ease the coils.
In closing, I am comfortable with no comfort zone. And thanks to each and every participant and outside entity/person who helped us along the way. Much love.
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