Beyond the Bike Tour

Three weeks of cycling through California have given the volunteer educators from the Sustainable Living Bike Tour an amazing opportunity to reach a diverse audience of community members.

We have been able to return to schools and see changes each year that promote environmental stewardship. For example the compost bins we built in 2006 at Crane are continuing to flourish and provide rich compost soil for their garden, and at FHSA an empty field and big plans have given way to a beautiful emerging garden. The young adults of the Poseidon Academy shared innovative ideas on how they could continue to green not only their school, but their community as well. Young minds at Bridges Academy shared ideas of uranium powered cars and exercise machines in gyms that put electricity back into the power grid. Some of these ideas may seem farfetched, but history has shown that many such ideas subsequently changed the course of our civilization. By no means are we able to take credit for the changes schools have made to lessen their ecological footprint, but we are proud to be educational partners with these institutions as we share ideas and learn from each other.

In addition to students we chatted with farmers, community leaders, people on the street, business men and women, the hosts of our home stays, and many others while we were riding. The most inspiring part of these interactions was the positive attitudes towards sustainable practices and the goals of our trip. It brings the meaning of what we’re doing to a new level when you reach people that you never expected.

These are just a few examples from a collection of the incredible things we saw and heard on our trip. The little things that you don’t always see such as picking up a piece of trash or buying your food at the local farmer’s market are what really add up to make a big difference in the scheme of things. It is hard to calculate the exact impact we had on those we worked with along the way, and this is what is so amazing about education. Some may get it right away, for others it may take weeks or even years for the substance of a message to impact an individual. We were fortunate to see so many examples of how planting a seed, physically or ideologically, can spark growth in a community.