Climate Ride Live

Rider Profile: Amanda Eaken

2011-11-01T20:05:18Z

Climate Ride is the perfect marriage of my passion for creating sustainable communities to help fight climate change and my love of bicycles.

Amanda Eaken is Deputy Director for Sustainable Communities with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). In 2008, Amanda led the campaign to pass SB 375: California’s Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act, the nation’s first law to enlist communities in the fight against climate change. The first plan to implement this landmark law will bring an unprecedented $2.6 billion for safe bicycling, as well as $53 billion for transit, to San Diego. Amanda saw Climate Ride as an opportunity to further promote sustainable transportation and captained the eleven member Team NRDC during the 5 day, 320 mile adventure down the California coast.

“Climate Ride is the perfect marriage of my passion for creating sustainable communities to help fight climate change and my love of bicycles. The weather tried to throw us a curveball, but these 120 riders were undeterred. The unwavering resolve I saw from Climate Riders determined to reach their goals, in spite of pouring rain and very tough terrain, is exactly the same type of intensity that we need, and what we are indeed creating through events like this, in the fight against climate change.”

Amanda is an alumna of Dartmouth College and U.C. Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning. She is also a Category 1 competitive cyclist and was California’s Elite Road Racing Champion in 2008. Amanda grew up in New York City in a car-free household and her earliest memories are riding on the back of her father’s bicycle to preschool.

Check out Amanda's blog for her personal Climate Ride recap!

Rider Profile: Bridget Erlikh

2011-10-22T17:03:45Z

When asked what her primary fundraising strategy was, Bridget replies with a grin: “Desperation. Desperation and panic.”

It’s a strategy that seems to have worked, as Bridget raised the necessary funds to do Climate Ride California in less than a month.

“I signed up for the California ride right after the New York to DC ride,” she says. “They had a special one day promotion in early summer. I didn’t really start my fundraising though until September 2nd.”

Bridget, Compliance Coordinator of Conferences for IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology), says the primary impetus for doing her second Climate Ride in a year was to combat despondency.

“I really want to do something to address the global problems of pollution, extinction, overpopulation, and so on. It’s hard not to be despondent sometimes. Climate Ride gives me a great chance to feel like I’m making a difference. It’s galvanizing.”

We couldn’t agree more, Bridget.

Beneficiary Profile: 350.org

2011-10-21T14:34:18Z

Here's Jamie Henn, 350.org's Co-founder and Communications Director, talking about his organization and Climate Ride experience:

Beneficiary Profile: 1% for the Planet

2011-10-08T07:04:10Z

Here's Brodie O'Brien, 1% for the Planet's Membership Marshall, talking about his organization and Climate Ride experience:

Rider Profile: Deb Janes

2011-10-06T06:22:55Z

For Deb Janes, rider #320, Climate Ride California 2010 was a life-changing experience that brought her back for more on the 2011 California ride.

A professional fundraiser and professional vegetarian chef, Deb found that Climate Ride was just what she needed to make a lot of changes in her life: "The Climate Ride changed my life last year," she says. "I lost thirty pounds, renewed a love of cycling, got inspired by other riders' activism, and gained new friends."

Deb says she’s riding for three reasons:

The number one reason is selfish and for pure joy: I love to ride my bike, particularly with a bunch of other like-minded people.
The second is for political activism: my fundraising for and riding in the Climate Ride has been an impetus to talk with friends, family and colleagues about the climate crisis. The more we talk about it, the more people hopefully will be galvanized to call for the drastic changes on the political and corporate fronts that are necessary.
The third is appreciation: I passionately appreciate the work of beneficiary nonprofits that tirelessly promote bicycle advocacy and solutions to the climate crisis.

Deb has felt strongly about protecting forests since she was a kid but realizes that the climate crisis is the overarching environmental issue that trumps all others because of its scope and potential for calamity. “I am disheartened by climate discussions," she says. "From experts like Bill McKibben to popular media, there is little or nothing said about the contribution that meat production and consumption play in the climate crisis. They actually generate more greenhouse gasses than all the world's vehicles.”

You can't miss Deb's presence on a ride and if by day two you haven't yet met her it is only a matter of time...and you will be all the richer for it.

Beneficiary Profile: Solar Living Institute

2011-10-05T23:55:45Z

by Tim Frick

On the way up to Fortuna the day before Climate Ride we all stopped at the Solar Living Institute for a spot-on vegetarian lunch and an informative chat with executive director Ross Beck. The Solar Living Institute is a Climate Ride beneficiary and (according to their website) the organization is "a non-profit solar training organization that promotes sustainable living through inspirational environmental education. SLI's solar training courses are taught by experienced practitioners who bring years of real-world knowledge to the classroom with a focus on helping students prepare for jobs, start businesses and live more sustainably. The Institute also manages the Solar Living Center, a 12-acre renewable energy and sustainable living demonstration site that is visited by 200,000 people annually."

During our time at the institute I got a chance to interview Ross about his organization. Here's what he had to say:

Rider Profile: Lulu Waks and Her New Ride

2011-10-05T20:04:15Z

Lulu Waks, a Stewardship Technician for the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, rode out of the Climate Ride day three wrap-up meeting last night on a brand spanking new two-wheeled cruiser courtesy of the fine folks at New Belgium Brewing. Lulu raised $4,700.00 during the time period in August when Climate Ride’s fundraising contest occurred. The bike is a collector’s item available this year only as part of New Belgium Brewing’s 20-year anniversary.

Lulu heard about Climate Ride from two friends who were already registered. “The route, the fact that it was supported, the mission, the camping every night, everything about it was a fit for me,” she says. “I work for a conservation agency, so environmental issues are at the forefront of my consciousness. Combining my interest in biking and passion for the environment made this ride a no-brainer.”

Here’s Lulu accepting her prize:

Lulu is supporting Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition and the Climate Protection Campaign for her ride. Congratulations Lulu!

Beneficiary Profile: Active Transportation Alliance

2011-10-05T19:24:14Z

Climate Ride supports Active Transportation Alliance's (Active Trans) Neighborhood Bikeways Campaign which advocates for the creation of a 100-mile network of protected bikeways that will reduce crashes and increase ridership while connecting Chicago neighborhoods.

Active Trans is a coalition of bicyclists, pedestrians and transit riders who want safer and more convenient ways to get around. As Chicagoland’s voice for better biking, walking and transit, they help pass legislation to make streets safer, get more bike lanes and trails built and help young people walk and bike to school safely. Active Trans supports Mayor Rahn Emmanuel's goal of making Chicago the 'Nation's most bike-friendly city.'

Active Trans is supported on Climate Ride by Chicago's Team Mightybytes:

Team Mightybytes is excited to advocate for the unrepresented midwest. The Climate Ride's beneficiaries and riders are leaders in the sustainability movement and connecting Active Trans with these leaders will allow Active Trans and organizations like the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, East Bay Bicycle Coalition, and other organizations to connect and share ideas that will make more cities better for bicycling, walking, and transit.

Riding Through the Avenue of the Giants

2011-10-03T21:06:25Z

by Carolyn Szczepanski

When I left Washington, DC, I admitted to my partner I was worried about the first day of the ride. It wasn’t the mileage or even the fact that I’m pedaling 320 miles on my beater commuter after the bike I expected to use was suddenly out of commission (long story).

It was the Redwoods.

When I was five years old, my family moved to Sacramento. My parents are outdoor enthusiasts, and our vacation always involved some communing with nature, whether collecting sea shells in Monterey or hiking in Squaw Valley. But nothing stands out in my memory like the redwoods. My middle school mind was blown by the smell, the stillness, the towering elegance and grace of the incredible giants.

Standing in the presence of redwoods, little human creations like houses and automobiles and even the Chicago Bulls (my childhood obsession) seemed silly and insignificant in comparison.

Years later, I read about Julia Butterfly Hill, the California activist who lived on a tiny platform in a redwood she called Luna to protect the incredible old-growth tree from being cut down. I was awed by her courage and conviction, but I could understand immediately why someone would go to such lengths to protect a habitat so unique and unbelievably beautiful. When I was a camp counselor in high school and college, I read my rambunctious campers Hill’s book, The Legacy of Luna, hoping to instill some of that environmental inspiration (and, yes, to get them to pipe the heck down and go to sleep).

Coming back to California and seeing the redwoods again, I was worried my jaded 30-year-old self wouldn’t feel that sense of 10-year-old wonder.

Boy, was I wrong.

Riding through the redwoods, made me feel small again — in more ways than one. I pedaled past deep maroon trunks bigger than my first studio apartment in Des Moines, Iowa. I stared up at the branches fuzzy with moss and watched the canopy sway almost imperceptibly in the wind. And I felt that same sense of being in the presence of something that trumps cities and work plans and our day-to-day human busy-ness.

It reminded me of the idealism I felt as a kid, too. Back then, I couldn’t imagine such a magical place not existing (just like I couldn’t image the Bulls not beating the Lakers). I couldn’t imagine people like Julia Butterfly Hill not taking a stand to protect the redwoods. I know I’m not just speaking for myself when I say that’s why I’m riding.

Yes, it’s difficult some days (maybe most days), but I have to believe that we’ll soon wake up to the imperative of a clean energy future, that we we’ll see the logic and joy of bicycling as mainstream transportation.

We just have to keep pedaling — and looking up in awe at all that’s worth protecting.

Rider Profile: Joy Burke (Team Mightybytes)

2011-10-02T14:04:41Z

An Exercise in Extreme Fundraising Pays Off.

A late night epiphany caused Team Mightybytes rider Joy Burke to enlist for her second Climate Ride of 2011, no small challenge considering said epiphany occurred mere weeks before the California ride. “I can do this,” she told her teammates with confidence and set forth raising Climate Ride’s requisite $2,400.00 fundraising minimum. Two weeks later to the day she hit the $3,000.00 mark.

Joy’s Approach

For California, Joy took a different fundraising approach from past efforts (she also rode the NY-DC Climate Ride in May). She put her design skills to work and created a screen printed poster that she offered to anyone who donated at least $50.00.

The completed top half of the poster features illustrations drawn from her experience on the New York to Washington, DC Climate Ride. Upon her return from the California ride, she will complete the bottom half and send it off to donors. Copies are of course still available to anyone who wants one. All you have to do is donate to her ride.

Joy participated in the Climate Ride NYC to DC 2010 ride (where she raised $2,600.00) and had such a great experience on her first ride that she decided to ride again. She says, “If you ask me, we should all be doing what we can while we’re able to. I’m biking the Climate Ride California because I believe in the power we can have to impact the world when we all come together....We can do this!”