Last week we had the pleasure of working with a group of youth with an endless amount of energy.
GrassRoutes is a group of youth spending the summer cycling from Vancouver to Inuvik. Their idea is to build a dialogue about environmental issues between northern and southern parts of Canada, all the while spending their days pedaling northwards under the summer sun.
The GrassRoutes team emailed us in February, asking if BYTE would be interested in partnering with them. They explained that they are a group of university students who believe in bike touring as a means of instigating personal growth and social change. We thought that sounded pretty darn good.
After much back and forth, we worked out a plan so our Whitehorse Outreach Coordinator, Allison, could cycle up to Dawson with the crew and help deliver the youth climate change workshops on the way.
We were honoured to meet the GrassRoutes team as they arrived into Whitehorse last week. They brought with them passion, knowledge and energy; it reminded us how social change takes root in positive role modeling. The team reiterated that they are wary of bringing their “southern†ideas about the environment and climate change to a northern context. On Saturday BYTE and GrassRoutes hosted a climate change workshop at the Rah Rah Gallery. The team explained what they were doing and brought to the table issues like youth engagement and how climate change has affected them, but seemed equally happy to sit back and listen to what long time Yukoners had to say about our changing environment in the North.
On Sunday morning GrassRoutes cycled out of Whitehorse towards Pelly Crossing where they will deliver their first workshop. After that they’ll cycle up to Dawson and up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik.  We wish them luck all the luck in the world as they pedal their way towards the Arctic, chasing the last days of summer.
Thank you for sharing with us your spark – we’ll hold onto it for a long time coming.
