1,000 Paper Cranes for a Better Future

As the Ride for the Future team bikes from New Orleans to Houston, we are also making 1000 paper cranes for a better future. According to Japanese legend, anyone who creates 1000 paper cranes can make one wish. Our wish is to take part in the healing of our world by pushing for a transition beyond fossil fuels towards an ecologically just future for all. As we travel to these Gulf Coast communities to be active listeners of their stories and learn from them, we are also asking people to write their stories on small sheets of paper, so that we can share this art installation with everyone we meet. Therefore, we invite you to share your story, your vision of a better future. We want this to be a creative and powerful way for people to come together to amplify their stories and make their voices heard.

Ride for the Future 2013!

7 intrepid young leaders from across the country are traveling exclusively by bicycle from New Orleans, LA to Houston, TX to draw attention to climate change. In order to push for the transition beyond coal, oil, and gas, they will highlight the stories of local communities affected by the fossil fuel industry.

 

Follow their journey on the blog, facebook, and twitter as they help build a movement to shift society beyond fossil fuels and climate disaster to a better future with healthier, safer, and stronger communities.

Our Philosophy

Our consumption of fossil fuels has helped humanity in countless ways and saved countless lives. Fossil fuels heat our buildings, power our hospitals, and every day carry our children to school and our workers to their jobs and back home. But they also have deep costs that are not reflected in their price – pollution that leads to sickness and death, the oppression of human rights in dictatorships that thrive on oil money, corrupting democracies, and perhaps most worryingly, fundamentally altering our weather systems in ways that will make it harder for our farmers to grow enough food to feed the people on our planet.

We need to responsibly transition to benign forms of energy that do not require casualties.  Because fossil fuel companies have shown an ability to shape our government’s policy decisions, we are appealing directly to the fossil fuel companies to help the Gulf Coast communities that are most harmed by their activities and invest in the necessary transition to a safer, healthier, and more just world.

 

Why Now?

Storms. Heat waves. Droughts. Floods. Record-breaking temperatures. Melting Arctic glaciers.  Massive crop failures.

Climate change is real, happening now, and demands an urgent response.

At the same time, communities that are host to fossil fuel facilities continue to carry a heavy burden on behalf of all who consume the energy produced there, paying the price through sickness, lower quality of life, and premature death.

It is clear that the longer we stay on our current path, the higher the human and financial cost will be. The time could not be more ripe for companies to recognize their role in a just transition and begin making the investments we need to ensure a better future for us all.