Why the heck am I doing what I’m doing?  My mission statement:

Open Road into Imperial Valley

My mission is plain and simple, it’s to get you (if you haven’t already done so) to consider switching to a plant-based diet, or even better yet, a whole-food, plant-based diet. 

So, how will riding a bicycle thousands of miles going to get you to change your diet?  Well, I think by doing this it knocks down (actually, I think obliterates might be a better word) two significant misgivings, or barriers, that many people still harbor in regards to switching to a plant-based diet.

  1. It demonstrates, in a very visceral sort of way, that a plant-based diet can be more than sufficient to meet your caloric, nutritional, and energy needs!  If an “old fart” like me, in their mid to late sixties, is able to ride a bicycle a few thousand miles across an entire continent fueled by a plant-based diet, chances are pretty good it’s going to work out for you as well.
  2. Switching to and maintaining this diet just isn’t that difficult!  Heck, if I can do it riding a bicycle into a new city, town, or even camping out, every night, then you should be able to conquer the logistics of changing up your diet as well.  Now granted, there are people, unfortunately, that lack access to transportation or proximity to a grocery store, but otherwise, once you get used to it, this way of eating is not difficult at all.  In fact, my wife and I have largely adhered to a whole-food, plant-based diet for the past twelve years.  It’s really pretty easy!

So, why would I even want you to consider switching your diet?  There are four very profound, heartfelt, and I feel, convincing reasons why you should consider changing your diet.  As time goes on I’ll be posting links to various studies, articles, books, as well as my own musings, which will elaborate on why the food we eat is so important for ourselves and the world we inhabit.

  1. Health – Numerous long and short term studies have demonstrated over and over that a plant-based diet, and particularly a whole-food, plant-based diet, promotes longevity and optimal human health.  People just live longer and live healthier lives eating this way.  It’s actually pretty straightforward!
  2. The Environment and Climate Change – Animal agriculture is increasingly regarded as a significant contributor to climate change and the degradation of our environment.  There are more scientists and environmentalists beginning to sound the alarm regarding this issue.  I will be posting links to their work as time goes on.  Suffice it to say that if the majority of people in the world would switch to a plant-based diet, it would go a long way to repairing the damage animal agriculture has caused to our climate and our environment.
  3. Animal Ethics – Every year, around the globe, an estimated 80 billion (that’s right – billion!) land animals are slaughtered for human consumption.  The majority live vastly shortened lives often confined in cages where they can’t even turn around.  They often live in conditions that can only be described as something beyond horrific.  Science has shown that these animals, our fellow earthlings, have lives of enormous complexity, and even demonstrate a high degree of intelligence.  It just seems that they deserve better!
  4. Our Souls –This is the one that is most important for me and the one I have the greatest difficulty articulating.  Somehow, someway, I strongly feel that the food we consume has an enormous impact on our inner selves and consciousness – our spiritual essence, our souls.  I feel that this is true both for individuals and collectively, as a society.