11000
Kilometers
After more than 8.000 km walking through 17 different countries of Europe, talking to a variety of people about climate change you may think the Climate Walk is done wandering, at least for a while. But on the contrary, it inspired other people to start another project! But this time by bike and it’s all about Biodiversity! We’re happy to present:
The “other people”, who got inspired to do this project are in this particular case: me, your lovely author of this post and organist of “Biodiversity Ride”. So, who am I and what the hell am I going to do on this “Ride”?
My name is Alexandra, I’m from Vienna and I studied spatial planning with a focus on conservation and energy planning. I’m a member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network Austria and the Austrian Butterfly Conservation. Since I was little, I was fascinated with nature and all different kinds of animals and plants and how they are connected and how the whole ecosystem is intertwined and depends on all its creatures. All of this is the diversity of life on Earth – the entire number of habitats, species and of genes – described as “Biodiversity”.
During my studies I noticed that people have a very different understanding and perception of the term “nature”, how it is supposed to look and what role it plays in human life. The sad fact is:
Next to the human-made Climate Crises, we are currently living in the midst of the sixth global mass extinction in the history of Earth. Fortunately, climate change is now at least perceived as a global crisis. Unfortunately, the decline of biodiversity has received far less media and political attention in recent decades. Overcoming both crises will, as drastic as this may sound to you, determine the survival of human society or even humankind itself in the decades to come.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the loss of biodiversity is intensifying in Europe and globally, and its consequences for humanity will be dramatic. Still, implementing further concrete nature conservation measures is often not very well received, especially by politicians.
A very recent example is the EU Nature Restoration Law, which would oblige member states to restore ecosystems on 20% of their territory. Unfortunately, it is currently questionable whether it will be passed.
The Climate walk inspired me to plan “Biodiversity Ride” to learn and explore how this complex issue is perceived and understood by people and if and how it is impacting different regions in Europe. To do that I want to engage with people I happen to meet on the way and listen to their perception of nature and if and how they notice any changes in the natural environment. I will visit local conservation projects on my route and talk to experts to see what changes in biodiversity can be noticed in the different regions.
For one, it’s my home and of course, it’s “close by” but Europe is also one of the most intensively used continents on Earth. It has the highest percentage of land used for agriculture, forestry, and infrastructure. This puts the environment under a lot of pressure. According to the EU, about 80% of its habitats are in poor condition. If we would invest and restore at least some of these habitats there is a lot of potential to restore Europe’s Biodiversity.
Other than the team of the Climate Walk I sadly don’t have as much time for this project as I’d like, but I wanted to see as many different regions as possible in the limited time I have. So, I switched the hiking boots for a bike. With this trusty steed and trains, I will visit four selected regions of Europe in the North, West, South and East. In each region, I will travel about 250km by bike in one week to get a little feel of the land and meet people in the area.
More details on the route will follow. On the 28th of May, so very soon, I will already be on my way!
In this blog, I plan on posting a travel diary every week and giving you a summary of my impressions of every region. Of course, I’m also on social media on Instagram and Facebook, if you want to see more frequent updates of my journey! For now, I will leave you with a quote from the Song “This Wandering Day” from Bear McCreary which feels very fitting for my mood at the moment:
“I trade all I’ve known for the unknown ahead.”
Alexandra
