There is nothing quite like a 300+ mile bike ride to remind someone that they can have a real impact. For Chantal Hardy, a Tufts alum and Tufts Eco-Ambassador from the English Department, the Climate Ride along the Northern California coast alongside 130 other bikers is an opportunity to challenge herself, bring awareness to environmental issues, and reeducate herself about the movement of today. It also enables others who are unable to ride with her in May to contribute to these educational and activist efforts through donations. Much like her responsibilities as an Eco-Ambassador, she sees this challenge as engaging a personal, practical ability to affect change.
Chantal has not been a distance biker for long. She first began casually biking at Oberlin College, where she majored in Environmental Studies. Since then, she has biked to her job at Tufts from Mission Hill, a more exercise intensive and shorter commute option than the T. Inspired by a friend, Chantal began trying out longer distance biking and has completed a few day-long biking events.
The Climate Ride’s participants fundraise for climate education and other causes they are passionate about; for Chantal, these are local Boston organizations. She is donating her fundraised proceeds to the Climate Ride, Jamaica Plains’ Bikes Not Bombs, which is a social justice, bike-advocacy program for youth empowerment that hosts international programs in developing nations, and the Boston Cyclist Union for its work in improving Boston’s bike infrastructure.
To learn more about the Climate Ride and Chantal’s journey, click on the box below:
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