Pt.2 Opportunity for mountain biking within our socio-environmental crises
What’s on! This is a follow up to a Part.1 piece about the responsibility of us mountain bikers (and all other outdoor fun) in addressing the socio-environmental crises of our time ((https://stantownsend.medium.com/pt1-in-conversation-with-the-mountain-bike-community-a5e8b0b48564).
This is about the OPPORTUNITY for us mountain bikers.
I capitalise opportunity, as mountain biking and the big challenges of today, like climate change, aren’t often in the same sentence. If they are, it’s normally about the changes needed TO the community and industry (like pt.1 our our impacts on planet earth and future generations). But what if we, without forgetting the vital work of limiting our footprints, also thought about the changes possible THROUGH mountain biking? aka the potential for positive impact.
Mountain biking intersects with many issues critical to our future longevity on planet earth, for example:
- land use, ownership and environmental stewardship
- access to ‘green’ spaces
- physical and mental health & wellbeing
- environmental awareness and education
But to me, it feels like I’ve us mountain bikers have for the most part been living in a vacuum from these issues. We seem to be stuck behind this escapism story of “just going mountain biking to switch off”, seperate from the places around us. I get desire to escape from the challenges of our ever chaos and complex world. But do we actually escape from them? Aren’t we just separating ourselves from the issues and hiding from the opportunity?
What if we stepped up and recognised our our opportunities to play a role in these intersecting issues? What if we:
- thought of ourselves as and acted like stewards of the places we ride?
- worked to increase greater access to ‘green’ spaces, to a more diverse group of humans?
- championed mountain biking as a route to better physical and mental health & wellbeing, instead of an ego trip?
- used mountain biking as a tool to foster environmental awareness and education?
If we can bridge these links with the wider world and organise around them, we as a community have the potential to regenerate natural places and regenerate our relationship with the natural world. This is already being lived by some, like:
- Trash Free Trails TrashMob: https://www.trashfreetrails.org/trashmob-academy#:~:text=The%20Trash%20Mob%20Academy%20is,overall%20wellbeing%20in%20young%20people.
- Aneela McKenna : https://www.itv.com/news/border/2021-03-11/iwd2021-aneela-mckenna-the-borders-mountain-biker-blazing-a-trail-for-diversity-in-the-sport
- Pisgah mountain bike community: https://www.patagonia.com/stories/the-pisgah-paradox/story-115753.html?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-patagonia_mtb&utm_content=later-25782995&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio
- Happy Trails: https://www.instagram.com/ridehappytrails/?hl=en-gb
There was a bullet missing from the first list, its:
- nature connection
For me nature connection is the golden thread and opportunity for us mountain bikers and ‘outdoor people’ to make change. We’re connected to nature, without realising it, through our time spent in ‘outside’. Nature via it’s 3.8Bn years on Planet Earth, not toxifying itself (unlike humans) but continually creating the conditions for life to grow, has a lot to teach us. What if instead of ‘switching off’ when outside, we noticed that we we are actually going inside ourselves and switching on to the way nature operates, hence why that time in the forest, in the sea, on a hillside or a beach makes you feel good. But, what if instead of just noticing that connection, we sought to deepen the connection and seek lessons from nature?:https://stantownsend.medium.com/reimagining-outside-95574dc82d71
