::Leilani Munter.com::

This is a place for me to express my thoughts on racing, the environment, science, politics, and whatever else might cross my wandering mind. It will be an overflow of random ideas, reflections, notes and quotes to be enjoyed by those of you who take the time to read it. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you down the road...

Peace,

11.21.07 turn the tables on global warming

Check out what my friends at the National Wildlife Federation are doing, click the image below and take the pledge!

11.15.07 the beauty of chris mccandless

While traveling home from Pittsburgh a couple days ago (I was giving a speech) I stopped in the airport book store and bought a book I couldn't put down. I don't know why it caught my eye, but I picked up a book called Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It is the story of Chris McCandless, a handsome 24 year old college graduate from an affluent family in Washington D.C. who seemed to be just like any other kid until he did something very peculiar after graduation. With a mind full of Jack London and Henry David Thoreau, he cut all ties from his family, gave all his money away to charity, abandoned his possessions including his car, and set out on an adventure. He traveled all over North America and chronicled his story in a journal and photos. His story ends tragicly in Alaska, where after 113 days in the wilderness he ultimately died of starvation.

Chris's story was first told by Jon Krakauer in The Death of an Innocent, a 9000 word story printed in September 1993's Outside Magazine. After writing that article, Jon Krakauer became obsessed with Chris's story and spent years retracing his steps and interviewing the many people that lives changed because of Chris. The end result is his bestselling book Into the Wild and now Chris' story has captured the hearts of millions. Sean Penn recently made the book into a movie starring Emile Hirsch (Leonardo DiCaprio was orginally cast but the filming was postponed). I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am really glad I read the book and I hope the movie does it justice.

A lot of people (especially experienced outdoorsman) argue that the world is glorifying a guy who was woefully unprepared for the wilderness and underestimated nature to the point of causing his own death. They think he was a fool and scoff at those who hike up to that remote and lonely bus where he died to bid him goodbye. But I think what people admire in Chris has nothing to do with how he died, it was how he lived. It was because of his death that people learned about his story. But it was what he did in his short life and the way he LIVED that they are glorifying.

One of the people Chris encountered on his travels in 1992 was an 80 year old man named Ronald Franz. He received a letter from Chris as he was about to embark on his final journey to Alaska, here are some bits and pieces that I thought were important:

Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times we spent together. It may be a very long time before we see each other again. But providing that I get through this Alaskan Deal in one piece you will be hearing from me again in the future. I'd like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on Earth, the Grand Canyon, something every American should see at least once in his life. But for some reason incomprehensible to me you wanted nothing but to bolt for home as quickly as possible, right back to the same situation which you see day after day after day. Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You will see things and meet people and there is so much to learn from them. Don't hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it.

You see Chris was not just some wandering hobo. He was intelligent and lived his life with great conviction for adventure and a life free of materialism. He was dedicated to it. He had good grades, a college degree and he came from a family with money. He seemed to have everything and he gave it all away to experience the world in what he saw as a more pure way of being in the world. Without possessions. Just for the experience and adventure of it. Something about Chris touches people deeply. Perhaps because he was braver than most of us. Because he was free. Because he didn't need material things. Because he didn't need the comforts of civilization so many of us are dependent on. Because he woke up in the morning and had an adventure while most of us have our days programmed from beginning to end with a routine. Because he didn't need the security that many of us strive for. Because sometimes security is filled with boredom. Because he embraced life in a way that we hope to, but often fall short. Because we wish we had the courage to do what he did. Perhaps it is because there is a bit of a "Alex Supertramp" (Chris's pseudonym) in all of us. Someone that yearns for adventure and longs to leave behind the trappings of society.

One of my favorite quotes is by Kurt Vonnegut: We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down. We admire Chris because wasn't afraid to jump off that cliff, while many of us look and long to take the leap, but instead just cling to the edge and never let go.

This photo is a self portrait Chris took in front of the bus he died in. On the last legs of his life, he took another self portrait of himself-- he was standing under the great Alaskan sky and with a smile he was waving goodbye to the world with one arm, holding up a sign in the other that said:

"I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!"

He was at peace and was bidding the world farewell.

Thanks you Chris, for being an inspiration to the rest of us. I might have to take a hike up to Alaska and pay my respects at Fairbanks Bus #142.

If you are interested in learning more about Chris, I recommend reading Jon's book Into the Wild and these articles:

New York Times: Adventures of Alexander Supertramp
Men's Journal: The Cult of Chris McCandless
Outside Magazine: The Death of an Innocent
Terra Incognita Films: Into the Wild
Anchorage Press: I Want to Ride the Bus Chris Died In

11.12.07 my blog at 11th hour action

Click here to view my latest blog at 11thHourAction.com

Have you seen the movie yet? Click on the image to view the trailer.

11.11.07 an open letter to brian france

Dear Mr. France,

NASCAR needs to make the move to biofuels. I know it. You know it. We all know it. The public pressure on NASCAR as an organization is going to increase as more and more people become aware of the health of our planet. Many companies like Timberland and Patagonia are leading the way in going carbon neutral and calling on others to do the same. As a driver I have spoken to many of these companies about sponsorship and I know first hand their reluctance to become involved with a sport that is not attempting to balance out their environmental impact. But I don't want you to do it for sponsors. Or public pressure. Or marketing value. But instead, just because it's the right thing. Show that NASCAR has the integrity and leadership and responsibility for future generations by getting our sport off of foreign oil. Prove to the naysayers that NASCAR is not living in the stone age. Prove them wrong and shock everyone by making NASCAR green. Be a leader. Bring NASCAR into the 21st century, it will do wonders for our sport.

Sincerely,

Leilani Münter
Indy Pro Series driver

10.31.07 what are we doing?

The United States of America has not signed the Kyoto Protocol. The United States is only 5% of the population on Earth, yet we are the number ONE contributer of CO2 emmissions into the Earth's atmosphere, accounting for nearly 25%. Read details about the Kyoto Protocol here. The United States should be setting a good example but instead the current administration keeps blocking firm targets on carbon emmissions. Can someone please explain to me why we have not signed this? I don't understand. But then a lot of the things our current administration does confuses me. I'll save the rest for another day.

Want to hear more? Visit Leonardo DiCaprio's eco site for a blow by blow of what the current administration has done for our planet over the last six years. I know I am not playing by they rules when I talk about important things like politics. But decisions that are being made today will determine the health of our planet and all its inhabitants for future generations. In this recent USA Today article several NASCAR drivers say that they don't think they should make their political beliefs public. In my opinion, NASCAR drivers are suppose to be role models for young children and that means standing up for what you believe in. That's what I'm going to do anyway.

By the way, here are my three favorite responses on a NASCAR forum about my rainforest effort:

"I click on a website link everyday, by clicking on it I am guaranteed 1 small animal on the endangered species list is snuffed out."

"I vow right now, that for every acre this panty waste buys, I'll burn trash at my place every day for every acre he buys..what a moron."

and last but not least:

"I have some used motor oil at the house, instead of hauling it to the dump and putting it in their recyclable tank, I'm going to burn it this weekend.."

I am at a loss for words to respond to this today.

10.23.07 revel for the rainforest

I just got back from San Francisco, I was up there for my brother in law Bobby Weir's 60th birthday party and also for Rainforest Action Network's über cool annual fundraiser REVEL. It was a fantastic event, music was by Ratdog, Tea Leaf Green and Paul Simon's son Harper Simon and John Lennon's son Sean Lennon joined in the fun. I met some fantastic people while I was there including Charlize Theron was there with her boyfriend Stuart Townsend, who received RAN's Art in Activism Award. She was super cool and I am even more of a fan of hers than I was before I met her. I also met a producer of the 11th Hour, a new film narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, check out the trailer here. Also, Paintjam artist Dan Dunn (of youtube fame) was there and he painted Bobby to his song, Sugar Magnolia. The painting was auctioned off to raise money to protect the rainforest. It was a fantastic event with incredible people and I can't wait to go again next year.

I am working on being able to go visit the rainforest with some of the people that organize these land trusts. They have local workers that live there and work with the local people to protect the land. They are also working with the locals to teach them ways they can make money on tourism rather than cutting down their rainforest - self sustaining ecotourism lodges, etc. There are several very reputable companies that have been doing this for many years - I work with World Land Trust in addition to Rainforest Action Network.

The rainforest is not only the lungs of our earth (more than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest) but also a treasure of biodiversity where many medicines have been discovered. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells and 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest. Twenty-five percent of the active ingredients in today's cancer-fighting drugs come from organisms found only in the rainforest. More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. Just imagine what we could be losing in the one and a half acres of rainforest lost every second.

If you would like to read more facts on the rainforest, Rain Tree is a great site with lots of information. You could also find more in my Earth Watch links page.

And if you'd like to purchase your own acre of rainforest, click here.

Peace,
Leilani

PS. This has nothing to do with anything, but I still think it's a very important story brought to you by The Onion, America's finest news source.