The 1000km Challenge

Objective | Rationale | Theology | Personal Story | The Challenge
Virtual Bike Ride Update


Objective

To collectively reduce the use of our cars by a minimum of 41,000k per year - the distance of the circumference of the earth – through the committed action of at least 41 people pledged to personal reductions of 1000k each.

Rationale

Research shows that if we are serious about reducing our carbon emissions and ecological footprint the single most effective area to change our lifestyle is in transport. By using our cars less we will make an important contribution towards achieving solutions to climate change. 44% of NZ carbon dioxide emissions are transport-based. Road transport contributes 40% of this sector’s emissions. In NZ one-third of all trips in a motor-car are for journeys of less than 2 kilometers. NZ’s total emissions continue to grow. We need to turn this trend around. Reducing carbon emissions protects our climate from serious long-lasting damage.

Theology

Jesus told a parable of two house-builders, the story of a wise man and a foolish man. It speaks powerfully to the heart of the unfolding climate crisis that we find ourselves in. The image of a house with poor foundations crumbling into the surging waters of a catastrophic flood seems starkly relevant. If nothing else, the story should motivate us to engage deeply in a process of exploring the respective foundations of these houses. On foundation provides a future, the other does not!

The houses represent both personal lifestyles, and whole societies. Jesus is saying through the story that our personal lifestyles and societies need to be built on sound foundations. If they are not they will collapse.

Climate change is the result of our decision to build on sand rather than rock. We are violating the ecological fabric of the earth, maybe irreparably. We are seeking to live in unsustainable ways. We are behaving as if our planet is a commodity item that can be replaced. We are living as if we are not subject to any natural laws.

In a brief period of two hundred years we have begun to alter the delicate chemical balance of the atmosphere through the uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gasses. With its present chemical structure it creates the optimal environment for life. It is made up of 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and 0.04% carbon dioxide. We need that small amount of carbon dioxide to keep the earth’s temperature at an inhabitable level. Without it we would not be cushioned from the deep cold of space, but with too much the temperature at surface level would become stiflingly hot. In other words God has created the perfect formula for abundant life in how the Earth’s atmosphere is made.

However the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through human activity is compromising it’s integrity and putting at risk this abundant life. Unless we radically change our lifestyles this degradation of the atmosphere will become the “flood” in Jesus’ parable.

Sallie McFague, in her excellent book “A New Climate for Theology: God, the World and Global Warming” (2008), reminds us that well-off Christians must live differently. She says “we must live a life of limitation, of “enoughness’, indeed, of sacrifice. Discipleship for well-off contemporary Christians means cruciform living: living in solidarity with those who are oppressed and suffering”.

Walking, taking to our bikes, using the public transport that is available to us is surely part of this cruciform living. Using our motor vehicles as a treat rather than our staple form of transport is a crucial part of this sacrificial change. Making ourselves smaller so that there is more space for the rest of creation to live. Preaching good news to all creation through our daily lives. Isn’t this what Jesus meant when he spoke of taking up our cross?

The paradox of the cross is that those who are greedy and hog life will lose it, and those who reduce themselves to enhance life for others will receive it. The age of climate change brings new meaning to Jesus beatitude that “Blessed are the humble for they will inherit the earth”. These are the wise ones who build on rock.

From the perspective of an incarnational faith we can say that when creation suffers so does God. At heart the issue of climate change is a spiritual and theological one. “Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me” says Jesus. “The least of these” are those that we marginalize and deny life to - the hungry, the homeless, the sick. We could also include all life-forms and the systems that make them possible.

Eastern Orthodox leader His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew understands this incarnational perspective on creation when he affirms “we should not be blindfolded by personal interests, but be sensitive to the sacredness of every peninsula and every island, every river and every stream, every basin and every landscape”. I am sure he wouldn’t hesitate to include “the atmosphere”.

Climate justice is also about loving our neighbour who is on the front-line of climate change. The impact of climate change is often disproportionate and those who are least responsible for carbon emissions are the ones who suffer the most. In this way choosing a softer form of transport becomes a way of loving our neighbour. It is a way of giving contemporary meaning to the prophetic coda to “do justice, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God”.

Personal Story

On my return home to Christchurch after Walk for the Planet ended on Easter Day 2009 I set myself the challenge of biking the Bluff to Picton distance again (965k) in my regular day to day travel by the time of Methodist Conference in November. This was not recreational cycling but around the city travelling that I would normally have done in a car. Therefore my virtual journey through this period would represent a 965k reduction in my motor car usage.

I achieved my goal, and have set a new one of carrying on with my journey from south to north and reaching Cape Reinga by Easter 2010 - a new target of nearly 1100kms. My chosen route north is via the Whanganui River road and on the 15th December I reached Hiruharama (Jerusalem). If successful in reaching my goal it will mean I have reduced my car usage in one year by the length of the country or just over 2000kms.

The Challenge

The 1000k challenge will not officially start until at least 41 people have pledged to take it on. But my hope is that it will begin on Easter Day 2010 (April 4). Since first publicising the Challenge feedback from interested people has suggested that just limiting the focus to cycling or walking as car-substitutes will make it difficult for them to participate. Some urban and rural areas are considered dangerous for these softer forms of transportation. Other people consider that they are “past” cycling. Taking all of this into consideration the original concept has been expanded so as to be more inclusive and to encourage greater participation.

The object of the Challenge however has not changed. A reduction in the use of motor vehicles is the intention, and the first preference is that people achieve this through cycling and walking for journeys in their town, suburb or immediate district.

There are however a range of options as to how people can participate:

  1. As an individual aiming to achieve the target of a 1000k reduction in motor vehicle usage by choosing alternative forms of transport such as walking, cycling and public transport in every day movements.
  2. As a congregation, collectively reducing car usage by 1000k through car-pooling. e.g. Two or three households decide to carpool to church each Sunday, and/or for regular meetings. At present the total number of car kms. Across the households might be 24k. By carpooling this might reduce it to 12k. A gross reduction of 12k per Sunday. But because extra travelling of 4k was required to make this possible – to pick up some people on route – the net saving is 8k. If a number of other households were involved in a similar way the reduction target could easily be achieved.
  3. By practicing the “staying put” principle - a form of fasting or abstinence. Intentionally not using the car when the first thought is to continue that habit. Much use of our cars is impulsive or based on poor management and if we are honest with ourselves is not always necessary. An example would be jumping in the car to go to the nearest dairy for a “treat”. By resisting the temptation to go we could reward ourselves with the kms saved and these would go into the 1000k challenge “bank”. Poor management often means we end up going to the supermarket or shopping mall a few times each week when once would be possible. These kinds of savings could also be banked for the challenge. Another way of practicing the staying put principle would be by conducting our daily affairs in an alternative way e.g. instead of driving to the bank to do our business switching to electronic or telebanking.
  4. A one-off decision to make a long-distance journey by bus or rail instead of in the car. e.g. Someone in Hamilton takes a return rail journey to Wellington, instead of their car – a total of 1064k.

There will also be other ways of reducing our collective car kms. Please let us know your ideas so that they can be shared with others. Some people may prefer to mix and match a selection of the four options outlined above. Let us know how you are taking up the challenge.

It is a challenge because it requires:

  • us to think carefully about our transport options
  • to plan our movements
  • discipline and self-sacrifice
  • lifestyle change
  • if carpooling, working collectively
  • constant honesty and self-assessment
  • counter-cultural behaviour

Mark's Virtual Bike Ride - Where am I up to?

On April 29 I finally completed my journey from Bluff to Te Reinga. A total of 2010km.

I am now starting a virtual bikeride from East to West across the widest part of New Zealand - from East Cape to Cape Egmont. The shortest route by road is around 700km.