Saturday, May 8, 2010

WT: Vyacheslav Stoyanov REcycle Expedition 2010 Around the Mediterranean











Vyacheslav Stoyanov REcycle:
Hello my friend,
Many thanks for your activities in my blog. I made you administrator in CYCLE MEDITERRANEAN 2010 cycling relay-race around the Mediterranean Sea group. You can use my group like yours. :) Slav
Brian 브라이안 Perich May 9 at 9:26am
Cool Slav, thanks for extending this invitation! I hope we can partner in the future on another expedition too. I am working on planning for the PanAmerican in 2012. Your campaign experience is definitely great to see in action. Already you have met many people from different cultures, languages, but all connected through the Mediterranean Sea. Environmental focus is key to moving people towards a healthier world, what better way to promote this, than on a bicycle! Well Done! Keep it up!!!!

Vyacheslav Stoyanov: [excerpt from his website, please visit & donate to the 2010 campaign] (:
"Islands of plastic garbage grow at such a rate that they threaten to become plastic continents. Plastic refuse is found not only on the surface, but also on the bottom of water basins. There isn’t a place on Earth, unaffected by disposable plastic packaging ...We need to act now, in order to save ourselves, our children and ensure continuation of life and Nature as we know it ..."
Are we going to give Nature a chance?

Everyone can help. Here's how:
  • If we plant a tree or other vegetation.
  • If we help a plant or an animal survive.
  • If we use water wisely and keep water sources clean, if we do not pollute the soil and keep the air we breathe clean.
  • If we reduce our garbage output and dispose of it in appropriate way.
  • If we educate ourselves on contributing for better quality of life to all people.
  • If we change our attitude towards our natural habitat.
  • If we help others learn how to take care of their habitat.
  • If we draw at least one follower to the cause of preserving the Earth clean for her children.
Reading Vyacheslav's blog updates and seeing the expedition unfold
through his groups on Facebook has really shown the possibilities that one individual can have to impact the environment in which we live. It starts with raising social awareness
about ecological and environmental issues happening around us, and by us. Taking the necessary steps to practice the 3 R's, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is a step in the right direction. Also, it's important to consider the packaging when shopping for consumable products, such as water -now popularized as the 'clean, safe' alternative to drinking tap water.

Unknowingly, we feed on an industry producing plastic, as Vyacheslav has so appropriately described as "Islands of plastic garbage" that are in fact, are visible in environmental pollution now seen around the world. The chemicals eventually leech into the water we drink, the air we breathe, the environment-which we depend on for our own survival and the sustainability of other living things which share a place on this Earth.

Desertification in some areas, rising sea levels in others, melting of the polar ice caps are leading to catastrophic changes in local, regional, and global ecosystems. The garbage produced by humans to package elements such as water, is purely disregarding the natural habitat that once flourished on Earth. In order to reverse the effects of environmental degradation, we should begin to look at the packaging of products that we consume each day, look at the weekly accumulation, and think about where all those plastic bottles and containers come from and where they end up going in the process.
The story of stuff covers this topic quite well. Have a look. Vyacheslav has completed an expedition of similar nature in 2009 around the Black Sea, and now in 2010 he is cycling around the Mediterranean Sea raising more social and environmental consciousness about the trash individuals, communities and entire countries continue to throw away.

Perhaps, the physical act of 'just throwing it away,' makes it all too easy to lose sight of where it was created in the first place.

I am considering it now [not to generalize, but to give a specific example], reflective of the dozens of "Gatorade" bottles I've consumed and recycled, but still contributed to this endless of cycle of producing and consuming products made of plastic that cannot be reused. The reality is that any material created must be destroyed while it is recycled - in that process, there is more pollution being created. Therefore, I have switched to the reusable bottles for cycling and stopped purchasing those products designed without the ecosystem in mind.
iTHINK!Foundation is supporting this sort of personal empowerment to make the right choice when considering the environment first when we buy consumable products. Can we reuse the packaging that this product comes in? Unlike clothing which we reuse for several years and recycle through second hand shops, food packaging isn't reused, it's definitely thrown away. So, when we throw it away, does the responsibility for protecting our Earth's environment go with it?

Is throwing the plastic into the
collections, or recycle actually enough to say, "I consciously did my part to help save the Earth." Perhaps, it's a step in the right direction, however, there is much more to that "story of stuff" we commonly overlook.

Well, living and cycling in South Korea has made me quite reflective of the damage and abuse the Earth endures through human development and urbanization in replacement of the natural environment.

My dream today is of cycling without a mask, enjoying clear skies free from pollutants and other harmful chemicals...but it's tough to find these days in this part of the world, and that pattern is expanding with global developments, it's not necessarily a good thing to change nature, we should learn to follow it, preserve it, and make our footprints -lighter and leave no trace we were here.

The story of stuff is a worthy video intro to environmental issues and production of consumable goods that are often disregarded as commonplace, it's time to say, iTHINK! and start actively doing something for the Earth our children will inherit.

In what ways have my 'consumer' habits changed since seeing the iTHINK! campaign? Here's a few examples:
  • I am using reusable water bottles for cycling and refilling at public places now (no more commercial gatorade bottles to throw away senselessly)
  • I am using fresh fruits and vegetables as fuel on cycling expedition training in South Korea.
  • Using less electricity/gas in lighting/heating the apartment
  • Using fans instead of air conditioners in hot summer climate
  • Using water sparingly for washing dishes, wear more clothes indoors and turn down/off the heat required without it.
  • Stop buying food products in non-reusable packaging.
(: And now, here's the story of stuff...iTHINK! you will enjoy!!!!


Thanks Vyacheslav - Great initiative that works!

No comments:

Please share the free inspiration and adventure cookbook with all your friends and families (:

Ted Simon Foundation

About the Korean-World Author

Brian Perich was an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturer for a decade, father, and adventure cyclist based in South Korea.

Previously, Brian has led Canoe adventures in Quetico Provincial Park, Atikokan, Ontario, Canada (1993/1999); led Grand American camping adventures (2000); lived at Paramahansa Yogananda's SRF Ashram for 5 months (see the film "AWAKE"), formerly worked in titanium welding at Agilent Technologies, formerly worked in Winery industry in Marin County with Kendall Jackson in California; Surfing and Meditation continued for several years in California, British Columbia, South Korea, Yoga training in California 1999-2000.

Between 1994-1998 - Brian completed his own adventures with motorcycles. His motorcycling marathons took him across the United States and central/western Canada, while traveling solo over an astounding 24,000km in 60 days! Brian endured 900 mile/1300km average days in the motorcycle saddle and apparently loved every minute of those adventures.

Today, he has given up motorcycle adventures altogether, but finds an outlet for his enthusiasm in outdoor recreation while bicycle touring and micro-blogging about those experiences on his mountain bikes.

While employed as an English teacher in South Korea, Brian has became an advocate for bicycle touring on his mountain bikes. The Korean-World blog originated from those small adventures in Korea, now expanded to cover his recent trek down the TransMongolian highway to the Gobi Desert, cycling 900km east through the Khentii grasslands and in 2012 crossing Mongolia in 45 days, 2500 kilometers 1553 miles. HimalayasX expedition Brian previously cycled across western China, the Taklamakan Desert, the northern Himalayas of East Turkestan Xinjiang/Uyghur Autonomous Region, the corrugated back roads and mountains of Kham Tibet. Brian successfully completed his 2011 mountain bike expedition with 3200 kilometers / 1988 miles unsupported, on/off road MTB adventure cycling.
Brian has completed his second mountain bike journey, MongoliaX expedition - Crossing Mongolia 2012, an unsupported mountain bike MTB expedition across 2500km of Outer Mongolia from Ulanbaatar to Altai Taven-Bogd National Park bordering China, Russia and Mongolia.


In 2013, as a sequel to a trilogy of cycle tours, Brian enjoyed a more leisure bicycle tour onboard his Koga-Miyata World Traveller seeing the northern tier of the United States and western Canada covering 3400 kilometers / 2000 miles in 30 days. This North American cycle tour was called Totherocktour. Enjoying the adventure of bicycle travel and every great conversation started while traveling on the road - has refueled his inspirations to cycle around the Earth. In 2013, while he cycled solo from the Great Lake State of Michigan, United States to Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He weaved through local communities and reconnected with friends, family and community after spending almost a decade in Asia.


Brian is now supporting several non-profit foundations through expeditions: IDEAS Foundation of Canada IDEAS is the acronym for Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society which supports the IBD community, those suffering from IBD-inflammatory bowel disease, also known as Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis.


The second non-profit foundation is ETE.ORG - Education Through Expeditions, UK which supports educational outreach programs inside schools around the world. ETE connects explorers with students in the classroom, through an interactive online program in development (Beta).


Brian is researching support for a 18000 kilometer bicycle expedition across the Americas: North, Central and South America - ONE -Arctic to Argentina
Please contact him if you are interested in helping out.

Twitter: Cycleagain
Location: Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea or southern Ontario, Canada.

Thanks for visiting my Journal from Asia

I hope you enjoy the updates!

This site is best viewed in Google Chrome

Brian's friends have also been...Cycling in Korea!

Brian's friends have also been...Cycling in Korea!

Cycling in Korea, Warning: always wear a helmet! (I gave mine to my friend)

Cycling in Korea, Warning: always wear a helmet! (I gave mine to my friend)

Popular Posts

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...