'Dreamers' and 'Doomers'

I was disappointed to see that Metro would perpetuate the tired claim that there's a rift between peak oil believers. The article falsely presents a conflict between Transitionists and those the author calls "Post Carbonistas" ("Bike to the Future," Cover Story, June 24).

I find it particularly disturbing that the article makes no mention of the fact that the Post Carbon Institute and the Transition Network have a very close and productive relationship. In fact, the PCI seed-funded Transition U.S., the national support organization here in the United States. I and Richard Heinberg, PCI Senior Fellow, both sit on the board of TUS. Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement, is also a Post Carbon Fellow.

This false dichotomy—between "doomers" and "dreamers"—is dangerous because it's not fair to your readers or others just discovering peak oil to think that they must somehow pick a side. There are no sides because everyone I know in the broad community who is aware of peak oil, including myself, sits in a place of simultaneous fear and hope.

It's going to take all of us to manage the transition to a post-carbon world, so please don't draw false lines in the sand.

Asher Miller, Executive Director,
Post Carbon Institute,
Sebastopol

Bank Shot

Playing pool at the Cinebar was always an adventure when I lived in San Jose back in the '90s ("Inside the Feltway," Club Scene, June 17). One night, my wife, Carrie, and I beat the "top dogs" of the table in front of a packed house. Bartender Ace fed us drinks and set up a table with chairs near the pool table for us to sit at—royal treatment!

Andy Nystrom
Seattle

Miner Notes

Nice article ("End of the Trail," MetroNews, June 24) that covers most of the important details, except this: Miners that worked in all of the mining operations at clear creek over the last century without respiratory protection were either immune to the "white death" that the EPA claims is killing us, or the EPA's test results are false. Common sense says that we are not in danger riding at Clear Creek.

Tom Keith
Redwood City

Ghost Writer

Thank you for printing this piece. We (dirtbikers) don't usually get a lot of press coverage. We are thought of as rogues, thugs and miscreants who terrorize the landscape.

We are not. We are mostly families with kids and grandkids who ride together, and a lot of us do a lot of volunteer work to keep our riding areas open and maintained. I have over 200 volunteer hours last year at Metcalf Park in San Jose as a trail watch volunteer fixing trails and patching up bodies. My club, Ghostriders Motorcycle Club (www.ghostridersmc.org) is a nonprofit which has donated thousands of dollars to many local non-motorcycle-related organizations in the area just because we could. Please continue to pursue this issue at Clear Creek, cuz we want to go to our "home away from home."

Barry 'Meat' Newman
San Jose