Morgan Curtis was teaching Chewonki Semester School students about environmental issues during the 2014-2015 school year as Chewonki’s sustainability fellow. Now, Curtis and her partner, Garrett Blad, are traveling by bicycle on a slow journey to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015.
World leaders will converge at the conference with the hope of hammering out a legally binding agreement focused on limiting greenhouse gas emissions to prevent a rise in global temperature.
Curtis, 23, of London, and Blad, 23, of Illinois, will be there as well and they plan to bring with them the stories and experiences of environmental leaders and activists they meet on their “Climate Journey,” an approximate 6,213-mile bike ride that will take the pair through Maine, Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom.
According to Curtis, the blueprint for the Climate Journey was developed while she worked at Chewonki. “It really gave me the time to think about environmental activism and how to make the most of the skills and resources at my disposal,” she said.
Together with Blad, the idea to take a slow ride through multiple countries in the Northern Hemisphere and document the experiences of individuals whose work is contributing to a global movement to prevent climate change came to fruition.
“I am setting out on my bicycle because I feel complicit in the unjust systems that are driving climate change,” Blad said in a press release. “With the knowledge and questions I have, I cannot sit idle. During Climate Journey, we will highlight the voices of others who feel their interconnection with others on the planet and have decided to act.”
The couple traveled through Lincoln County in June and will be taking the stories of the people they met here with them. Andy Burt, of Edgecomb, is one of the leaders in the environment movement Curtis and Blad both named as an inspiration.
Burt, in her 70s, engages in the environmental movement on a personal and political level, Curtis and Blad said. She is committed to environmental sustainability as a lifestyle and has a “rap sheet” of arrests at environmental protests. Her story is one of many Curtis and Blad intend to present to highlight the work being done on the front lines of the battle against climate change.
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris is an opportunity to reinitiate a global agreement on climate change with a firm framework for countries to follow and the financial support to enable the agreement’s implementation, according to the United Nations Climate Change newsroom. A similar initiative in 1997, the Kyoto protocol, was never ratified by the United States.
However, the U.S. has already submitted documentation to the United Nations committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025. Curtis and Blad will be present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference as delegates from SustainUS, a national youth organization focused on sustainability.
In Paris, the couple will converge with activists throughout the international community, some of whom are taking similar journeys to raise awareness about climate change. According to Blad, individuals from Vietnam are also traveling through Asia to Paris on bikes to support ratification of the treaty and raise awareness on climate change.
In addition to using the stories of environmental activists to inspire others, Curtis and Blad hope their own journey will serve as inspiration for individuals to become involved in the environmental movement and take action in a meaningful way.
“There’s so much amazing work being done in these communities,” Curtis said. “Get involved. That’s our number one message.”
To follow Curtis and Blad on their journey to Paris, visit www.climatejourney.org.
