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It's all in the cyclist's legs Environmental concerns drive cycling group
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, September 5, 2013
INUVIK
A group of cyclists finishing their trip in Inuvik said the Dempster was the toughest road they've ever travelled.
Graham May of the GrassRoutes organization spoke to a group of children at the Inuvik Youth Centre Aug. 28. May and three friends were part of a group that rode bicycles from Vancouver to Inuvik. Looking on is Dwayne Raddi. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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Led by Vancouver resident Graham May, four cyclists associated with the GrassRoutes organization arrived in town Aug. 24. GrassRoutes is a charity group dedicated to highlighting environmental and social concerns among youth, May said.
"A lot of us have some connections to the Arctic," he said. "I did a trip on an icebreaker a few years ago and that's how I learned about climate change. That's what got me inspired in the first place about environmental issues. The North has always been an inspirational place for me."
He and his colleagues conducted a workshop at the Inuvik Youth Centre Aug. 28 that detailed their adventures and provided a forum to discuss issues such as climate change.
May said the group battled through everything from a snowstorm in the Richardson Mountains to heavy mud. In between, they endured raids on their campsites by wandering grizzly bears.
The youngsters at the centre giggled, particularly at the vivid description about how May decided to finish off the provisions left behind by the bears, even though it was drenched in "bear slobber."
The trip from Vancouver to Inuvik took a month of tough slogging, he said.
"It was a lot more challenging than what we're used to," he said. "The North is larger than life in a lot of ways."
"There are challenges here that you just don't face anywhere else. We had all of our food with us, so that added to the weight. We had grizzly bears taking food right in front of our eyes. We had mud so deep the bikes would get stuck in it. There were challenges that you'd have no conception of unless you'd been in the North. But we've had incredible support as well."
Dwayne Raddi was one of the youths participating in the workshop. He said he enjoyed listening to the tales of the group and discussing issues he could relate to.
"It was really good," he said.
"I really appreciate them coming to us and explaining these issues to the kids," added Doris Marshall, the interim executive director of the centre.
May, a 21-year-old resident of Powell River, BC, said he's cycled across Canada and Turkey with GrassRoutes, but never saw anything like the NWT and Yukon.
"It's an organization that does bike rides across countries and leads workshops about social change and personal growth and environmental issues," he said. "Last summer we biked across Canada for three months."
"A big part of the project is also about the bikers themselves and the experiences they have along the way," May continued.
In the North, he and his colleagues were concentrating primarily on climate change issues.
"Not only on the bad things," he said, "since you have to leave people with a little bit of hope. But a lot of the time the perspectives are about fear and a little bit of frustration with what's happening. They think a lot of these changes are being caused in the south but felt in the North."
During the workshop May and his fellow cyclists engaged in a conversation with a group of about 10 youngsters about what steps could be taken to control greenhouse gases locally.
Some were obvious, such as walking and biking more, instead of using motorized transportation. Those were ideas the kids enthusiastically embraced.
Others, such as car-pooling, left the children obviously a bit bewildered.
"What's that?" one puzzled boy asked.
May and the cyclists also discussed food issues and prices, and encouraged the children to consider going back to gathering from the land instead of buying food that had to be trucked or flown in, increasing the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases.
"Instead of buying a banana, gather berries and eat moose," he told the children. "The effects of climate change on the North are much, much stronger than what's faced in the south, and is happening faster."
May did note, though, the effects aren't necessarily all bad. There's an increasing number of business opportunities popping up, he said.
"I want to make sure that happens in an appropriate way. This journey is all about hearing the perspectives of Northerners, talking to youth like this and finding out what they think about climate change. Second, it's about sharing some of what we know with the youth. It's a two-way educational street."
May and his group were spending a bit of time sightseeing around Inuvik before they flew out.
"We're buying carbon offsets," he was quick to add.
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