Man rides to keep the Earth green

By Phyllis Lehrer
Staff Writer

Published on May 18, 2007

Like a latter day Paul Revere, David Kroodsma left Boston.

He is using a bike instead of a horse and is going beyond the state to spread the word about global warming.

"It's all about global warming and how it effects places anywhere in the world," said Kroodsma, who wants to encourage action and promote solutions.

Kroodsma, 28, left on across country bike trip, Ride for Climate USA, April 21.

At a stop in Amherst at the home of his parents, Donald and Melissa Kroodsma, he spoke about the trip, his other long distance bike rides and the message he will impart. He said there are many solutions available to develop clean and safe energy, to become more energy efficient and to create good jobs and a healthy environment.

The message and options will be disseminated from Boston to San Francisco at schools, libraries, churches and civic groups. He said he will issue press releases to generate media coverage.

The suggestions include: switching to fluorescent light bulbs, having an energy audit and biking if possible to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases.

Kroodsma also said people need to demand better standards. New energy efficient buildings can be designed and built. "We have the technology and it shouldn't be more expensive," said Kroodsma, who has degrees in physics and environmental science from Stanford University and worked in a lab studying carbon dioxide.

This is Kroodsma's third long-distance bike ride. Several years ago his father suggested a cross-country trip. David agreed with a caveat: "You have to buy me a bike."

Just weeks before the Ride for Climate USA trip, Kroodsma returned from a 15,000-mile, 17-month trip from California to the tip of South America where he traveled through 16 countries. The journey started in Nov. 2005 and he returned this March.

Kroodsma, who speaks Spanish and lived in Chile, went with the same message about global warming speaking to students, groups and scientists. His accommodations included a tent, spending the night at 40 fire stations and with families. With such contact, riding solo was not an issue, and an MP3 player kept him company. "The only time I'm lonely is when I stay in a hotel."

On a good day he said he could ride 60 miles on his touring bike outfitted with four panniers weighing 70 pounds. He had no accidents or spills on the roads, and the only reminder of the trip was a splinter from a bush.

The best part of that journey: Camping next to family house in the country side. The worst: flying home.

"The issue of global warming has exploded in the media. It's big now. Not so when I left in November 2005," said Kroodsma, who graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 1997. While in Amherst, he spoke about global warming and the South American trip at the First Congregational Church, which also served as a fund-raiser.

Since he is not employed, Kroodsma has to raise money for the trip. "That's the hardest part, asking for money," he said. But health insurance is a must and expensive, as is Internet access for the pictures and comments posted on the Web site.

He said he needs to raise $4,000. Donations, payable to him, can be sent to 36 Kettle Pond Road, Amherst, his parent's home.

He has modest sponsors. Chaco supplied the sandals, he said.

While he cycled solo on the South America trip, this time he is traveling with Bill Bradlee, an environmental scientist.

Residents can follow his travels via the Web site www.rideforclimate.com. On day 17 they had biked 473 miles and were in Gettysburg, Pa. And the message was spread to students at Yale University, New York University and at a school in Harlem, as well as to a family they spent the night with in Connecticut.

Kroodsma was also interviewed on the Spanish-language station, Telemundo, in New York and for a program to air on Univision that will have 40 million viewers.

"I believe the project is worthwhile. I'll be good at it. It's a story I can tell with knowledge," he said.