The Life Cycle Biodiversity Bike Ride

In 2017/18, Kate Rawles aka @CarbonCycleKate rode the length of South America on ‘Woody’, a bicycle made of bamboo that she built herself at the London-based Bamboo Bicycle Club from bamboo grown at Cornwall’s Eden Project. From Colombia to Cape Horn (or as close as you can get to it on a bike), Kate and Woody travelled for 8288 miles following the spine of the Andes through an astonishing variety of landscapes and ecosystems. The aim was to explore biodiversity: what it is, what’s happening to it, why that matters, and above all, what can and is being done to protect it – and then to use the adventure story to help raise awareness and inspire action on this hugely important but relatively neglected environmental challenge.

En route, Kate visited a wide range of projects and met some truly inspiring people: a school whose entire curriculum was based on turtles; a group of young people standing up against one of the largest gold corporations in the world; an organisation protecting endangered monkeys by showing local people how to earn money by turning waste plastic into high-fashion handbags rather than by catching monkeys for the illegal wildlife pet trade; and many more. Arriving back in the UK by cargo ship just in time for Global Futures, Kate will share pictures and stories of her adventure, the highs and lows, the challenges, the people and places and of course, the bamboo bike.

Kate’s previous “adventure plus” journey, a ride from Texas to Alaska exploring climate change, lead to the book The Carbon Cycle: Crossing the Great Divide, which was shortlisted for the Banff (Canada) Mountain Festival Adventure Travel Book Award.

Agenda: Talk (around 1 hour) Q &A Wine and cheese

Those who want to will regroup, glass in hand, to explore the implications of Kate’s talk for Lancaster and the University, and any actions that any of us might want to pursue.

The event will bring together people from across the university, the city and the local area, so that the issues can be explored from fresh angles in a lively but relaxed setting.