Concerned about climate change?
Cycle from Edinburgh to Paris to lobby world leaders at the UN COP21 Conference
A small group of friends concerned about climate change have decided to cycle from Edinburgh to Paris, to lobby world leaders at the UN Climate Change conference (COP21) in December this year. Through the ride we hope to raise public awareness of the UN conference and the importance of the world leaders reaching an agreement on actions to mitigate climate change. We will do this through the media and talks to local groups before the ride and at stopovers during the ride.
Our final target is to join more than a million activists at the Tour Eiffel on 12/12/15.
We think that we are the only group cycling from Scotland and are looking for other cyclists to join us, hence the publicity drive over the past two weeks.
Our page http://edinburgh2paris.org
We are in touch and liaising with charities which are campaigning on Climate Change, and have offers of support in one way or another. They are organising groups to travel to Paris using public transport. We are going ahead as an independent group because the charities are wary of organising a ride "for health and safety reasons", understandably a lot of hassle.
The distance is around 750 miles, plus a bit for diversions to accommodation.
WE aim to leave Edinburgh on 28/11, to arrive in Paris on 10/12, a ride of 13 days.
We are hoping to organise a back-up vehicle and that an organisation might help us with this.
We have decided to cycle down the west rather than east side of the country and are now looking for accommodation to fit in with our target of 60-70 miles per day.
We are contacting friends who might put us up or, if the group gets bigger, arrange sleepovers in church halls, whatever.
We may link up with other rides as we progress south, as long as the logistics do not get too complicated!
But we have decided to feed in to the London-Paris ride, because they will make block bookings for the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry, and accommodation in France, one less hassle for us. http://www.timetocycle.org/
We have not started fund-raising for the ride as the current riders are able to support themselves. But if prospective riders cannot cover basic costs, the group can look for help from charities who have shown an interest in the ride.
There will be various activities to organise and share among cyclists who join the ride..
We can also make use of non-riding helpers in different ways, in particular to publicise the Paris summit and all its aspirations.
Contact martyn.edelsten@ed.ac.uk or mobile 07972896839
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