Ever since I heard about it, I’ve been wanting to do this for years: From September 8 through 12, I’ll be hitting the road on my bike, riding 390 miles from Bar Harbor ME to Boston, to raise funds and awareness for a few organizations fighting climate change. It’s called the Climate Ride — modeled after successful fundraisers like the Pan-Mass Challenge and so forth. They coordinate rides and hikes all over the country — California, NYC to DC, etc.
They let you designate your beneficiary organizations, so I chose two local groups and two national ones. Locally I’m supporting the Better Future Project (which includes 350Mass) and the Boston Cyclists Union. For national groups I’ve chosen 350.org and the Union of Concerned Scientists. This follows my sense that since climate change is such a massive issue, there isn’t one single way to go about fighting it. We need in-the-streets rabble-rousing, insider lobbying, science, lifestyle/culture changes — the whole lot.
So for the last several months I’ve been raising money through my social networks — Facebook is hugely helpful for this kind of thing — and I’ve actually blown through my goal of $3500. But I am greedy! You can help break the thermometer by donating here.
And if you can, come to the arrival rally at the Boston Common on Monday 9/12 — around 3pm. And as this is an awareness-raising endeavor, I’ll be splatting all the social media with pictures and tales of the ride.