Cycle for Sustainability 2005

Cycle for Sustainability 2005, by Nick Towle

In July 2005 two DEA members, Nick Towle & Michelle Allen, left Brisbane on an epic 4000km cycle journey down the east coast of Australia which will culminate in mid December in Hobart. Here is their story.

There is no doubt that our current way of life is harming the planet and its inhabitants. However, indifference and pessimism will do nothing to remedy this.

Inspired by Gandhi’s philosophy of ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’ I (Nick) began developing Cycle for Sustainability in 2004. The intention was to create an inspiring education campaign to engage school groups and the broader community on issues and actions toward sustainability.

Now in October 2005 we have 5 core team members and have collectively created a range of educational resources to engage and educate children and young adults via school visits, and the broader community through public forums and information stalls.

The centrepiece of our education campaign is a comical skit called “An hour of choices” which involves two main characters, Careless Consumer and Thoughtful Thing going about their regular morning activities with narration by Mother Earth.
The skit presents the choices that we all make in the morning between waking up and getting to school or work, and allows us to explore issues of water scarcity, ethical clothing, healthy food choices and sustainable transport. At the time of writing we have presented to over 2500 students ranging from kindergarten to 1st year university level.

We are travelling without a support vehicle and so we are carrying everything that we need for 5 months. The weight we carry combined with cycling long distances (as much as 100km per day) presented us initially with a significant physical challenge. However, the first few weeks of tired, aching muscles and physical fatigue soon gave way to feeling much stronger, more robust, with a sense of having greater immunity to ill health.

In addition bicycle travel has enabled us to explore many spectacular parts of Australia and meet a range of very inspiring individuals and organisations. In respect to human health there are many seeking to protect the most fundamental needs of human existence: The Seed Savers Network working to ensure the continuation of vital cultural traditions of producing food; the Rainforest Information Centre working to sustain the integrity of many biodiverse forest ecosystems; many individuals applying permaculture as a means of redesigning our agricultural and urban landscapes; and medical students striving for more environmentally sound and socially aware practices on campus.

The educational element of Cycle for Sustainability extends to include our own practice. We have a mandate for living sustainably so wherever possible we seek to live by the values we are promoting. Riding bikes, eating organic wholefoods with minimal packaging, purchasing op-shop clothing for screen printing our own logo and using a range of recycled materials are among many empowering actions we have undertaken throughout our journey. These are some of the many simple actions that others can do to create a sustainable future.

The core message within all of our education activities is that our simple everyday actions have the power to change the world. We all have a role in creating an ecologically sustainable and socially harmonious future.

In reflecting on our journey, both Michelle and I feel the role of medical practitioners as advocates for a sustainable future is greatly needed, but the cultural changes that are most urgent will not occur until more individuals actively seek to be role models for healthy sustainable ways of living.
We need to celebrate such individuals and in the near future we hope to share the stories of colleagues who are taking small meaningful steps to creating a sustainable future. We invite you to share your stories of ‘being the change’.