Cool women walking, rowing and jumping off cliffs for the climate

Wednesday, 09 December 2009 09:22

“If you aim for Jupiter and make it as far as the moon, you have still done pretty well. This is what we should say to the delegates in Copenhagen - aim as high as you possibly can,” says ocean rower and environmentalist Roz Savage.

Friday December 4, Roz Savage and her team of four friends arrived in Brussels after having walked for 15 days, all the way from Big Ben in London. Our Cool Planet team was there in the rain, ready to welcome them and talk to them about their trip and their motivation to do these extreme things for our climate.

Their project - BB2B (Big Ben to Brussels) – took them 200 miles by foot with the aim of sending a strong message to the Copenhagen Conference, expressing their desire for immediate action on climate change.

All it takes is one person

We met five very happy women at the corner of Rue Royale and Rue de la Loi in Brussels, and apart from a little limping, the fact that they had been walking for 15 consecutive days did not show at all. Therefore, when Roz started our conversation by saying that “saving the world can be fun,” we definitely believed her.

Being an ocean rower, Roz normally embarks on her adventures alone, so being with a group of five women was a new experience.

- Which do you prefer, rowing the oceans alone or working with a group of women?

"It is two very different things. Ocean rowing has become my thing, but this was definitely more fun plus the beds and the food are much better than when you are alone on the ocean for more than 100 days at a time!"

- What motivates you to keep going when things get tough?

"It might just take one person – one brave leader or one incident to change the direction of things for the better. I feel we all have to do our bit, and who knows, maybe one of the campaigns we start may just hit the right person on the right day with the right message. I’m not saying that I can save the world, of cause I can’t, but I will do my best. We all have a responsibility to do our best. I want to be able to look back at that crucial moment in 2009 and know that I did everything I could to make a difference in Copenhagen."

Jumping off cliffs

One of the women walking with Roz was Alison Gannett - World Champion Extreme Skier and founder of the Save Our Snow Foundation.

- How did you become engaged with climate change?

 

"I have been working with climate change for the past 20 years. 10 years ago I started documenting the loss of snow through photos. I felt that people were loosing their connection to climate change, because it was simply too hard to understand. But when I start my presentations with me jumping of cliffs - which is what I actually do for a living – people pay attention. People feel more passionate about things they are connected to, like skiing. Climate change is really boring, but this way you grab people’s attention," according to Alison.

- For somebody who jumps of cliffs for a living, shouldn’t walking 200 miles be a piece of cake?

"When you do something you know it’s easier. And I believe this is very symbolic of Copenhagen. We all have a difficult task ahead of us and all the world leaders need to come together as a team just like we did on our walk."

- So you fight for people still being able to ski in 50 years?

"More important than skiing, snow and ice represent almost half the worlds’ drinking water, which is symbolic of the large problems our whole planet is facing."

Saturday morning December 5, Roz and Alison both joined the United Nations Climate Express to Copenhagen where they will - no doubt - be doing everything within their power to make politicians seal an ambitious and effective deal on climate change.