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Milestones.

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From an email I sent out to followers a few days ago, a short retrospective of the past 5 months on the road:

 

Just over a year ago, I took the first pedal strokes of a journey that will eventually cover six continents. I set out to understand what climate change means to people around the world and what everyday people are doing to revolutionize their relationship with carbon fuels.

My route through Asia.

This week, I made it to Georgia, and I realized that I had special cause to celebrate. I’m incredibly grateful to be where I am right now, surrounded every day by new language and stories. On top of that, Georgia feels distinctly European, or at least distinctly nonAsian, so while I’m sad to leave Asia having visited only a small fraction of its countries, it is nice to feel the transition coming, to feel that I’ve really covered a distance.

Finally, five days from now, I turn 24. I’ve never been one for occasions, but I’ve decided I want two things for my birthday.

1) To cycle my 10,000th kilometer (or one quarter of my goal of one earth circumference): Right now I’m 524 km short of 10k km , and I’m going to try to get there on my birthday.

2) To pass the $5,000 mark in fundraising for 350.org. Last year, we put together $4,002 in donations ranging from $5 to $800, out of this project’s eventual goal of $10,000. 350.org does great work, supporting communities around the globe who are pushing for climate justice and uniting them in a global movement. If you enjoy the stories and the photos I publish, if you want to voice your support for climate justice and are able to do so, please consider using my donation page to donate to 350.org. (The CauseVox platform passes everything directly to 350.org, minus card processing fees.)

Finally, if you haven’t been following along, here are some highlights from the last 5 months (A look back at the previous leg can be found here):

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I began the spring in the gorgeous limestone gorges of central China, a landscape that explained perfectly the massive scale of China’s renewable (but not sustainable or entirely carbon neutral) hydropower.
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Northwestern China holds much of the fascinating paradox of climate change: even as solar and wind farms unfurl over its sunny, sparsely populated plains, its population (largely rural and composed of ethnic minorities that have often found themselves at odds with the national government) struggles with rising water stress and government policies that push heavily polluting industries into the region.
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When I passed through southeastern Kazakhstan, it was wildflower season, and it was stunning. While I was there, I wrote two climate-related op-eds, one on Hope in the Anthropocene and one on the role ofIntroverts in Activism, as well as an open letter to Kathleen Dean Moore, one of the writers who inspired me to embark on this journey.
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In the mountains and deserts of Kyrgyzstan and western Kazakhstan,I learned again and again how much water matters when you don’t have it. Cycling through the hot, dry climate forced me to consider what life might be like in a world wracked by water scarcity.
Aral Sea (25 of 35)
I traveled to the Aral Sea to learn about the community’s ongoing recovery from one of the greatest human-caused environmental crises the world has ever known. While walking through the dry seabed, I came upon this rusting carcass of a ship, which was covered with portraits of former fishermen, painted by French street artist Zoo Project.
Baku to Tbilisi (6 of 30)
In Azerbaijan, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, I saw a place marked from its earliest days by oil and gas. When the Khanates still reigned the country, Zoroastrians and Hindus built temples to honor the holy flames jetting forth from natural gas vents. Now, the national economy is closely tied to oil and gas extraction, and the rapid growth that the country experienced during the last decade is rapidly drawing to an end.

Please remember to donate to 350.org, if you can! All proceeds from the fundraising page go directly to the organization.

3 thoughts on “Milestones.”

  1. Congratulations, in advance, Forrest, on your 23rd birthday and your 10,000th kilometer! I’m making a donation to 350.0rg. Looking forward to more posts and photos — and to seeing you in September. Meanwhile, warm wishes for happiness, health, safety and ease.

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