Üzeyir is an agricultural engineer living in Üzümlü, Turkey. We spoke when I visited in August of this year. “In our work, we’re always discussing how the climate is changing. I had lessons on that in school, and this is one of the biggest issues in the world. But in our work, we deal most with … Continue reading Humans of Climate Change: The Farm Engineer
Oltu, Turkey to Göreme/Cappadocia, Turkey– 836 km this section (Total Mileage: 10,852 km/40,075 km) My route cycling west across Turkey. I entered Turkey ten days after July’s failed coup attempt. Earlier this year, when I first announced plans to pass through Turkey, I received messages from relatives and followers concerned about the risk of terror attacks and kidnapping. At … Continue reading The Long Summer Ahead: 17 Photos from the Road
During an idle moment at a laboratory bench three years ago, Forrest first mentioned to me the idea of traveling to Asia and riding his bike home – to Oregon. The mindfulness of his subsequent work was exactly what I had come to expect of my friend and lab partner. A year into following his writing and photography, I was eager to turn the lens on Forrest. How does the narrator of 10,000 km of climate change stories describe what he is doing, and how is he holding up? Continue reading On Tour: 12 Questions for Forrest Watkins, 360 By Bike Founder
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 … Continue reading Milestones.
Baku, Azerbaijan/Bakı, Azərbaycan to Tbilisi, Georgia/თბილისი, საქართველო – 635 km this section (Total Mileage: 9,426 km/40,075 km) Tracing the name Azerbaijan back through history, one arrives at the Old Iranian word Āturpātākān, meaning The Land of Fire. In these lands, oil and gas deposits were known to turn earth to flame. Hindu and Zoroastrian worshipers used oil in sacred rites and channeled gas … Continue reading Azerbaijan, The Land of Fire: 19 Photos From the Road
Bishkek/Бишкéк, Kyrgyzstan to Shymkent/Шымкент, Kazakhstan–540 km this section (Total Mileage: 8156 km/40,075 km) Heatstroke to freezing rain in 48 hours. The last six days have driven into my skull, with force and repetition, the importance of water in a water-scarce region. Academics and politicians are fond of saying that water is Kyrgystan’s only natural resource. In reality, … Continue reading Summer in the Valleys of Kyrgyzstan: 13 Photos from the Road
Spurred by a chance to go to Morocco on a Sustain.us delegation to the next UN climate Conference, I’ve been pushing myself to write more and to be more opinionated in my writing. This is one of the op-eds I wrote, recounting my entry into activism as an introvert and attempting to understand our culture’s extroverted mythology … Continue reading Quiet Activism: Cycling the Globe in Search of Climate Stories
Ürümqi /乌鲁木齐, China to Bishkek / Бишкéк, Kyrgyzstan–779 km this section (Total Mileage: 7616 km/40,075 km) I’ve been on and off the road for the past few weeks, writing op-eds and letters for my application to join the Sustain.us delegation to the next UN climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco. In the time since I last posted photos, I’ve also had two border … Continue reading Poppies on the Great Grass Sea: 16 Photos From My Ride Through Xinjiang and Kazakhstan
I wrote an op-ed for Common Dreams discussing the challenges of Hope and Burnout in the context of climate change. It’s one of a few that I’ve written in the past few weeks as part of my application to the Sustain.us delegation to this year’s UN Climate Conference in Morocco. Take a look: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/26/hope-and-burnout-anthropocene Header … Continue reading Hope and Burnout in the Anthropocene
Michelle Ignacio Macamay, 32, and her daughter Janrexelle, stand outside their house in the “No-Build Zone” in Tacloban, Eastern Visayas, Philippines. She told me her story at a neighbor’s dining table, with her husband and Janrexelle sitting nearby. This is the fourth of four “Humans of Climate Change” stories from Tacloban, the Philippines. Tacloban was one of … Continue reading Humans of Climate Change: Michelle Ignacio, Tacloban, the Philippines
360 by bike 