Pete Rognli: Hi, I'm Pete.
Judith Rognli: My name is Judith, and I am Pete's co-parent. We moved here together in 2016 when our kiddo was six months old.
Pete Rognli: I'm just very proud that we moved with so few things.
Judith Rognli: Yeah!
Pete Rognli: I saw the picture the other day.
Judith Rognli: And it was taken, I think, in ...
Pete Rognli: ... Minneapolis, right before we went through big doors that are like, now you're officially in America, a little six month old baby Felix strapped to you and a couple of suitcases and a backpack.
Judith Rognli: And one of the suitcases was carrying all my academic papers. So do you remember coming here and deciding to navigate life by bike?
Pete Rognli: I had been very selective about towns that I lived in America for their specific bike friendliness, and I had a job in the outdoor industry and taking people out on tours. But it was different with a kid, and more complicated.
Judith Rognli: Yeah, I feel like a lot of staying here was Felix. Because at first, we found a really nice daycare for him that we loved. Then we moved downtown because we wanted to be in an area that is walkable and bikeable and we could take him to school with a cargo bike.
Pete Rognli: And now we probably talk about leaving every few months, right?
Judith Rognli: We do. But at the same time staying here was me starting to work with the St. George Bicycle Collective. And then I just really realized that something that I've always done in northern Germany by default, which is riding my bike, is so vital. We were giving people bikes who don't have transportation and who couldn't get to their jobs or services. And I realized how important mobility is and how important transportation planning is for communities.
Pete Rognli: I was just angry about areas that were just built around vehicles instead of humans. I just saw it as like this massive tragedy from a quality life standpoint, and then also from a carbon emissions standpoint. So I've switched into the solar industry, and as other countries industrialize that they're seeing this model for having prosperity —
Judith Rognli: — while using renewable energy, yeah.
Pete Rognli: Yeah, so the entire economy here is building around vehicles, and the vehicles keep getting bigger, so the houses have to keep getting bigger, and the driveways get bigger and the garages get bigger, and they're more spread out that there isn't a way to continue building and continue that boom without just mowing down the desert.
Judith Rognli: Right. We came here because the desert is so beautiful, and then seeing all that beauty, how it gets developed. Fast forward, we're co-living and co-parenting in St. George, Utah. Felix is a very, very thoughtful and sensitive child. And you know, we raised him biking him everywhere. He experienced his environment on the back of our cargo bike or walking. And there's such a different way of experiencing your environment at walking or bike speed. So my hope is that that shaped him in ways that he's curious about his environment, not fearful.
Pete Rognli: David Wallace-Wells has this quote, "Degrees of warming are like cancer diagnoses." Regardless, it's going to be bad, it's actually hopeless. But that's okay, and it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do your best in a hopeless situation. That's it. And how can I look my kid in the eyes in 20 years?
Judith Rognli: We were doing our best; the work is never done. It really isn't. It's not about solutions. We will always do this work, and we'll always have to do this work, and that that's okay. That's humanity.
