What can I say about Greenpeace? To quote Arundhati Roy, ‘I have so many things to say’, unfortunately I have only a little space to say them in.

When I was first made aware of the bombing, and sinking, of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour in 1985 I was stunned. What the story did for me was put Greenpeace firmly on my radar, and I read voraciously about their various environmental campaigns around the world. This had a profound affect on a young me, and helped to formulate and shape my strong feelings for the environment.

As part of the journey I now find myself on, I am raising money for Greenpeace because without them, I’m not sure we would be so aware of the environmental devastation that is being reaped on planet Earth. My contribution to this is tiny, but for my own sanity I have to do  something in order to help remediate the catastrophic damage that we as a species are doing to the very planet that nurtures us. As Greenpeace activist Anthony Perrett said on being released from a Russian prison ‘there are no constituents for the planet’.

I am cycling 3000 miles solo and unsupported across America, starting in San Diego (California) on the West coast and finishing in St. Augustine (Florida), on the East coast. This is a self-financed trip, so all donated money will go to Greenpeace. I have set myself a target of £3000 to raise, which I know from experience is ridiculously high. To be honest I don’t really know why I have done this other than to set myself a challenge within a challenge. And raising a £1 a mile kind of makes sense to me.

I reckon the journey will take upwards of 65 days and I will be camping on the way and blogging, just to let everyone know what is happening on a daily basis. I have no doubt this will be hard but that’s why I’m doing it. To test my own resilience whilst achieving a positive tangible outcome.

With the plethora of charity challenges and fundraising currently doing the rounds, I completely understand why you might not want to engage with this. I would kindly ask that you visit their website and marvel at the myriad of environmental struggles that Greenpeace are engaged with https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/.

Thank you

gX