FlickrBlog has reminded me that today is Earth Day, with a post including a precious quote:
“May there only be peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful Spaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life.” United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, March 21, 1971
Today is a nice sunny day in Barcelona. This morning I played a Go game on KGS (a huge win) and then I took my bike to do some riding around Montjuïc mountain (the complete route). I started going down on the Paral·lel’s bike path, arriving to Columbus’ statue, and later turning “up” to the mountain. I discovered the city council swimming pool, with a really nice view of the city, which was used as the background for the Barcelona’92 olympic games diving competition: I remember images of the athletes twisting in the air with the Sagrada Familia as the background. I continued my route, crossing the mountain… feeling happy.
Using a bike is a really ecological option, fun, healthy and clean. I use it most days, for going to the office (the other days I go by bus). Some people dislike riding a bike, thinking they are too old or too lazy. Come on, I’ve seen elderly people riding (better than me!), and it’s a really straightforward vehicle to make city displacements, faster than car and more relaxed (because you don’t need to go fast, you can just enjoy the trip).
Use energy-saver light bulbs. There are some deal packs at Ikea. And do some recycling, which means not only waste dividing. Reuse old things. Don’t throw them away: try to have a second thought, and put some creativity on it. With a little DIY you can reinvent old things (like the table in the picture).
Finally, if you have to install an O.S. in your computer, choose Ubuntu. It installs quicker and easier than any other O.S. (including Windows), and is really reliable… with the energy savings it means. [Here I must confess my fault: I’m trying to install Debian, with the problems of having a Firewire DVD reader, which means days working on it, and it’s still not operative :-/]