Malkolm is cycling on! He is now cycling from Alaska to Washington DC, and then continuing on to the UN Climate Change conference in Cancun in December.
It all started with Bird Year, Malkolm and his parents' year-long, fossil-fuel-free journey in search of birds. Cycling a total of 13,133 miles (21,144 km), they identified 548 different bird species and raised more than $25,000 for bird conservation. Bird Year turned them into confirmed cyclists and taught them that climate change was more serious than they had thought.
In 2009, Malkolm biked from Whitehorse to Ottawa as a part of Pedal for the Planet: the project called for the Canadian Government to become a leader in the struggle to come to grips with climate change. The Harper Government did not even meet with the young cyclists.
Malkolm is now 18 and just finished high school. On August 24, he dipped his foot in the Pacific Ocean in Skagway, Alaska. Then headed up and over the White Pass to the Alaska Highway on his journey to Washington and on to Cancun.



Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Pine Bark Beetles and Coal Trains - Wendy


We are in Vanderhoof, the geographical center of BC, and have cycled over 1100 km. We could have driven this distance in two days, but not once have I had that yucky feeling I get with long distance driving. Malkolm's bird count is at 115 species.
The Stewart-Cassiar Highway had so little traffic that I felt as though we were on our own private bike path. Highway 16 is not like that. I am on high alert as transport trucks, campers and pickups towing huge pleasure boats whiz by.
We camped in a gravel pit the other night.On the forested hillside across the valley most of trees were reddish brown. They were lodgepole pines, killed by pine bark beetle. Many factors caused this epidemic, one of which is climate change. The winters are not cold enough to kill the larvae. Right below our camp was a railway line. A locomotive roared past, pulling 100 cars filled with coal. The BC government says they are concerned about climate change, and yet coal mining goes on.

No comments: