Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
CLIMBING THE DOME – GrassRoutes cyclists climb Philippe LeBlond's bicycle wheel dome in Riverdale Sunday, just prior to hitting the road to Dawson City. From left are Jessica Magonet, Gavin Rea, Allison Furniss, Graham May, and Saskia Vaisey. The cyclists are pedaling from Vancouver to Inuvik trying to build discussion on climate change.
A group of cyclists travelling from Vancouver to Inuvik discussing climate change and other environmental issues passed through Whitehorse this weekend.
A group of cyclists travelling from Vancouver to Inuvik discussing climate change and other environmental issues passed through Whitehorse this weekend.
The group of four spoke Saturday at the Rah Rah Gallery, before hitting the road again after a brief gathering at Philippe LeBlond's bicycle wheel dome Sunday morning.
Graham May, Gavin Rea, Jessica Magonet and Saskia Vaisey are the cyclists behind the group known as GrassRoutes.
Allison Furniss, BYTE's Whitehorse outreach co-ordinator, has joined the group on the ride to Dawson City. The GrassRoutes cyclists will also stop in Pelly Crossing to conduct a climate change workshop for youth.
"I'm really excited for the GrassRoutes group to spend some time learning about how climate change is affecting the North and our communities in the Yukon,” Furniss said. "I'm looking forward to spending some quality time on the road with such inspirational youth.”
May said the group's northern tour is intended to create a dialogue between youth in southern and northern Canada about climate change and how it affects communities in different ways.
"Climate change is an issue that affects all of Canada, but in different ways,” the 21-year-old from Powell River, B.C. explained.
"Climate change happens twice as quickly in the North, and that's not really a statistic that's known in the South.
Furthermore, it's not known how dramatically that affects a lot of the people in the North, people who live off the land for example.
"We're about making the South aware of how the North is being affected by a lot of issues that are being caused by the South,” May continued. "We're also hoping to bring our stories as southerners fighting climate change into the north.”
May said the group came to know each other through their passion to fight climate change.
"Being an active youth environmentalist in Canada is like living in a small village,” he chuckled. "We've all touched each other's lives on various occasions.”
The group left Vancouver Aug. 2 and hope to arrive in Inuvik by Aug. 28.
The group's goals are to raise money for BYTE's Purple Bikes Project, create dialogue between Canadians on climate change, and film a short video for use in classrooms.
For more information, visit http://www.grassroutesbiking.com.
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