Who's a New Patriot? Meet PJ Park
June 11, 2007 | Posted by Sharon Kasper in New Patriotism
For most Americans, biking to and from work is a tall ask. But, for PJ Park, the 11.2-mile round trip daily bike ride was only the warm up to something much, much bigger.
After starting a bike co-op in his home town to share biking tips and repair tools, PJ soon found himself entertaining a radical (some might say crazy) idea – combining his passion for fighting global warming with his passion for biking and his lifelong desire to move to Brazil.
What followed was a personal odyssey on two wheels. PJ set out last September to pedal from his home in suburban Maryland along the spine of the Americas to Brazil, proselytizing on the importance of global warming action along the way. He documented every leg of his journey on his blog, http://biketobrazil.blogspot.com/ – which could also be renamed The Bicycle Diaries. For more, read our interview with PJ.
Nice work, PJ. Your activism and dedication, not to mention your personal endurance, are inspirations for us all.
Now it's your turn. Do you know someone who similarly embodies the spirit of our New Patriotism campaign? If so, we'd love to hear about it.
Please share the Name, City, State and Story of a New Patriot you know in a comment below.
4 Responses
Comment from Anonymous
June 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
As a similar, though slightly longer, story, check out David Kroodsma's "Ride for Climate: The Americas" where he set out on his bike to spread the word about global warming all the way from California to the tip of South America (http://www.rideforclimate.com/americas/). He is now doing a similar trek across the US (http://www.rideforclimate.com/usa/).
Comment from Anonymous
June 15th, 2007 at 8:03 am
My 82-year-old mother, Christine Stadtmueller, is a tireless environmental advocate. A member of many conservation groups, she gives talks to area seniors on factory farming, pesticides, organic and local food,mountaintop-removal mining and energy, etc.; she got her garden club members to switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs in their homes; she volunteers at the Great Swamp, a major bird sanctuary in NJ, and stands on commuter train platforms at 6 am handing out campaign material for environmentally aware Democratic candidates (in a very republican area of NJ). She rocks!
Comment from Michele
July 4th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Hi, this is a great blog but you need to update it since you're going to be sending the Declaration of New Patriotism to Congress, right? Hey, how is that going, anyway? I posted a blogspot blog entry about the Declaration on my blog, TheAccidentalEnvironmentalist.blogspot.com
Check it out and let me know what's happening so I can update. This is exciting!
Comment from The Natural Patriot
July 10th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Hello New Patriots,
Seems that this idea's time has come. By coincidence, we held a similar contest for the "Natural Patriot of the Year" at the Natural Patriot website. Keep up the good work!
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