"The Solutions Revolution: Here's a team that's spreading the most important number in the world-350-one mile at a time across the middle of the nation. The ride is waking up a country that needs waking up, because our Congress holds one of the keys to solving the climate conundrum!" - Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org

What makes an impact in a life? How does a small group of people help to build a people's movement towards positive actions in a world moving so quickly that at times no one seems to be listening? Is it possible to bike across a continent AND make a quality documentary film on local, innovative solutions to the climate crisis? With no experience in either?

I was amazed and intrigued at the vision created by Portland OR youth Katherine Ball and Alec Neal (both 26) that grew out of our brief meeting at COP 15 in Copenhagen in December 2009. I knew that my aging knees (62 years each) would scream bloody murder if asked to join their cross-country bike ride but with my passion for supporting youth and their families in taking action for a healthy climate it was easy to offer up my hybrid vehicle 'Millie' and myself as the sag wagon driver and support person for the 350 Solutions Revolution bike journey across the US.

350 Solutions Revolution (350 SR) was launched on Aug. 17, 2010 in Portland OR with the goal of shining a light on local, innovative solutions to the climate crisis and stressing the urgency of reducing CO2 to below 350 parts per million in the atmosphere. The team kicked off the 91 day journey to Washington DC with a group ride to Seattle WA, before heading east, biking 3,000 miles and traveling 50-75 miles per day, taking the northern route through Minnesota, arriving just in time for a local celebration for the 10/10/10 350 Global Work Party (www.350.org and mn350.org) in Minneapolis. The 350 Solutions Revolution bike route mimicks Amtrak's train routes, drawing attention to lower-carbon transportation options, and is culminating in participation in COP16, the U.N. Climate Conference going on right now in Cancun Mexico. Many thanks to the Will Steger Foundation for their support in COP16 accreditation for Alec, Katherine and myself!

Along the way, the team filmed a documentary - by bike! - stopping in small towns and large cities along the route to meet with community groups, environmental organizations, activists and policy makers. During interviews and site visits, we are recorded how climate change is affecting these people locally and what innovative solutions they are implementing to remediate climate change. Check out our videos at www.350solutionsrevolution.org

Back to the journey.... By the time 350 SR reached Minneapolis they had been joined by young Malkolm Boothroyd, an 18 year-old high school graduate from Whitehorse Alaska who stated his bicycle journey in Skagway AK. Malkolm pedaled 2,000 miles to join the SR team in Glacier National Park where, in one of the more than 70 interviews for the documentary that the team has filmed, a glaciologist shared that of the 150 glaciers originally found in the park, only 20 of these "water towers for the world" are remaining and that they are expected to be gone by 2020!

 

The journey from to Minnesota to Washington DC was all about the route, the interviews and the wonderful people we met and stayed with along the way. From our send-off at the Sculpture Garden in downtown Minneapolis, to our event in Red Wing with the "Bald Eagle Jazz Band" on the banks of the Mississippi River, to the 383 mile 'car free' GAP and C & O trails from Pittsburgh, to the Lincoln Memorial, the bikers amazed me day after day with their courage, strength and ability to support one another. Truly a testament to making things work and finding our own 'solutions' to overcoming roadblocks along the way.

After Red Wing MN, our route carried us through Winona MN, Viroqua WI, Madison WI, Milwaukee WI, Racine WI, Chicago IL (where we were joined by 67 year old Don "Peace Rider" Ross from Fairbanks AK), Sand Dunes State Park IN, South Bend IN, Ann Arbor MI, Detroit MI, Perrysburg OH, Milan OH, Cleveland OH, Pittsburgh PA and then 6 days on the GAP and C&O Trails into DC. Most of the stops were prearranged by our great 'stay at home' team headed up by Kate Faye, Joe Foss and Mindy Ahler-Olmstead, and others, from Katherine and Alec's roommate in Madison, my flying disc friends in Milwaukee, Will Steger Volunteers from COP 15 in Racine, Alec's parents (Craig and Pat Neal) friend in Chicago, Kate Faye's college connection in Ann Arbor, Katherine's relatives in Detroit, Paul and Sarah Strickland's 'last minute' save in Perrysburg, OH, and amazing new friends through bike connections in Cleveland and Pittsburgh who rode with us, showed us their home town and introduced us to their friends. We owe you all a tremendous and heartfelt thank you.

Making these connections also gave a new life to both the 350 SR ride team and the people we stayed with.  Whether we did an official presentation on our journey or just hung out and chatted with our hosts, had dinner with their families, a strong bond was created that will allow our work to continue and to build the community connections so badly needed to fuel the growing climate movement.

Because of YOU, we created this journey and because of you we know that the real solutions to the climate crisis lie within the grasp of our human ingenuity and creativity. Our journey across this continent is but a small effort for 4 bikers and an aging frisbee playing driver, but it signifies something bigger going on around the world, of people coming together to redefine what it means to be human and to answer the question, or perhaps just to ask, What Are We Doing Here?

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Paul Thompson is the founder of Cool Planet (coolplanetmn.wordpress.com) and a Volunteer Educator for the Will Steger Foundation's YEA! MN program.