On September 26, sophomore Erik Karwatowski and junior Annie Bigwood will embark on a five day, 300-mile journey from New York City to Washington, D.C. on bicycles, in an effort to promote the desperate need to combat climate change. Climate Ride, a “climate conference on wheels,” provides a diverse group of so-called ‘climate riders’ the chance to meet and ride with leaders and speakers focused on issues of climate change, renewable energy and environmental causes.
Karwatowski and Bigwood are Connecticut College student leaders from the Renewable Energy Club (REC). Both are global citizens dedicated to promoting and practicing environmental initiatives.
Bigwood has been an active member of REC since her freshman year and cites Power Shift — a Washington, D.C. conference to which Connecticut College sent over 130 students last spring — as one of the main factors that compelled her to join Climate Ride.
Alumni Tyler Dunham ’09 and Mike Seager ’09 completed the ride last year and had a very positive experience.
Bigwood views Climate Ride as “a way [she] can create awareness in a different way.” She said, “what better way to prove a point than to practice what you preach by biking instead of driving?”
What road did Bigwood and Karwatowski take to be just days away from the ride of a lifetime? Firstly, all Climate Riders are required to raise a minimum of $2,400 to support the cause.
Thus far, fundraising this sum has been the biggest challenge of the process. Bigwood started fundraising this past July. She went door-to-door explaining the cause, asked parents’ friends and friends’ parents, wrote letters, wrote reminder letters, sent e-mails and sent reminder e-mails.
But by the time they arrived to Conn this fall, Bigwood and Karwatowski were still short of the $2,400 requirement.
On Saturday, September 12, New London’s Wings ‘n’ Pies hosted a benefit supporting the Climate Ride Team. Avi Ozkan, owner of Wings ‘n’ Pies, was “absolutely wonderful and eager to help out,” and agreed to donate 10 percent of that nights’ profits — $125 — to the cause.
Next, Bigwood went door-to-door in Larrabee and Katharine Blunt to fund the rest of her trip.
It was “cool to see the enthusiasm and support through Conn,” and raise $200, she said.
Finally, every member of REC sent e-mails to family and friends to support Karwatowski and Bigwood’s team.
Ultimately, Bigwood raised $3,000 for Climate Ride.
Now that Bigwood and Karwatowski have raised enough money,
they look forward to joining over 150 people, including an Olympic skier, a masseuse and owners of small sustainable businesses, in the journey from New York City to Washington, D.C.
Along the way, the Climate Riders will stop at Princeton University, Phoenixville, Pa., Holtwood, Pa., and Reisterstown, Md. to hear speakers including Dr. Ben Strauss, the Associate Director at Climate Central, Colin Beavan, a man who lived one year with zero carbon impact and Denmark’s Ambassador to the US. The host of the COP15 UN Climate Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December, 2009.
Junior Emily Conrad, an environmental studies major, prospective film studies minor and president of REC will ride in a car throughout the journey to film footage for news stations, film two to four minute promotion pieces for the Climate Ride organization and work on her biggest project, a forty-minute documentary film on Climate Ride, focusing on “the power and social responsibility of the individual as far as environmental initiatives.”
Emily was compelled to make a documentary about Climate Ride and environmental initiatives in general because it is “important to, in vein with some of the very basic overarching goals of the ride, both educate the riders on various climate issues and promote what the Climate Riders believe in but also as a discussion forum. . .It is a way for the riders to coordinate and communicate on different issues. Making a film will allow us to open this forum to a much wider audience.”
Emily hopes to open up a dialogue to a national audience by entering her completed documentary into film festivals all over the country.
To Emily, it is crucial to “spread awareness and opportunities to people who don’t know about [Climate Ride] and give them the exposure.”
So what does this all have to do with Connecticut College?
Not only was Connecticut College the first college to join the Environmental Protection Agency and the college with the oldest environmental studies program in the country, but Conn also composts and recycles, and has funded and sent students to Power Shift in the last several years.
The college also hosts environmentally-focused events like Black Out night, Bromalia and Earth Fest.
New research shows that if present trends continue, “the total cost of climate change will be as high as 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
According to Climate Ride website statistics, four global warming impacts along – hurricane damage, real estate losses, energy costs and water costs – will come with a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP, or almost $1.9 trillion annually (in today’s dollars) by 2100.”
Emily reminds readers that, in the spirit of Climate Ride, “no matter where you come from, what your resources are, there are ways you can contribute and make a difference. We can’t do it alone. Bringing this big of a group together can really make a difference.”
