CYCLISTS from the cities of Butuan and Cagayan de Oro are eagerly anticipating the coming of Sunday, as they once more take up the challenge and ride their bikes in support of a fossil-free future.
Here in the city, some 160 cyclists have registered to join the bike action for climate justice. Local organizers said they are expecting more participants to enlist on the day of the event. Cagayan de Oro riders will have the option to choose two routes: Adventure, which will take them from Iponan to the hills of Camarahan, Pagatpat, and Pahiron, Lumbia; and Quest, which will take participants from Iponan to San Simon, and back.
Butuan City bikers will be first-time participants of the PPP bike activity, and despite only a week’s notice, has already gathered 157 participants as of this writing. Their route will take them on a loop around JC Aquino, the city’s main thoroughfare, to the diversion road and the rotunda, in a call to the city government to provide the necessary road and traffic infrastructure to support biking as a sustainable form of transportation.
The 4th and final leg of the 2022 Pedal for People and Planet (PPP) simultaneous bike activity will be happening this November 6, simultaneously with nine countries and several participating cities in the Philippines.
Organized to bring into prominent focus the issues brought about by climate change and the impending climate emergency the planet is facing, the organizers hope that the everyday, commonplace bicycle will encourage people to take up a more sustainable lifestyle.
The first leg was held on Earth Day, April 24, with the call to join the global movement for climate justice. The route took the bikers to the Steag State Power coal-fired plant which was the first one established in Mindanao, which brought to stark focus the detrimental effects of dirty and costly sources of electricity in Mindanao.
The 2nd leg was held on World Environment Day on June 5, which took the participants to the seaside mangrove forest plantation projects of the Municipalities of Alubijid and Laguindingan, highlighting the plight of 60% of the Philippine population who are in imminent danger of sea level rise brought upon by first- world countries’ major contribution to global warming and pollution.
The third leg was held on October 2, which is a radical change of the usual biking activities that called for inclusiveness of all bikers, inviting bikers of all ages with different types of bikes-BMX, step-through “Dutch bikes,” mountain, and road bikes- on a route around Cagayan de Oro City’s major downtown streets in a bid to highlight the need to improve the city’s street infrastructure to better accommodate biking as a sustainable form of transportation.
“We hope to culminate this year’s bike activities with a route that will further the Kagay-anons’ awareness of the destructive practice of quarrying in the city’s rural barangays which causes environmental damage in the form of destruction of Cagayan River’s tributaries and is a major cause of flooding in the city,” said Lemuel Parantar, partner-volunteer of PPP-CDO.
“We aim to combine the participants’ love of biking as recreation with the awareness and renewed calls for climate justice and the attainment of the goal of fossil fuel-free by 2050,” he added.
In Davao City, an environmental group has listed 135 cyclists as of Tuesday who will join the bicycle event to call on rich countries contributing largely to carbon emissions to pay reparation to nations suffering from the impact of the climate crisis.
Ruel Kenneth Felices, digital campaigner of the Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability, Inc. said that organizers are still open to accepting more interested bikers who want to participate in the event titled “Climate Finance Now! Reparation for Climate Debt!”
The event will be the last leg of the “Pedal for People and Planet,” a series of bicycling events to advocate for solutions to problems that worsen climate change.
Environmental groups held the first bike ride with the theme “Climate Emergency! Join the global movement for Climate Justice!” on April 24 and another similar event on June 5 focusing on “Fossil Fuel Free before 2050!”
“This time, we aim to highlight our demand for developed countries to pay their climate debt, and urgently deliver additional, non-debt-creating climate finance as reparations for their historical role in causing the climate crisis. As COP27 is just around the corner, we must take this opportunity to raise our calls, push our demands, and compel governments, global institutions, and corporations to take urgent and necessary actions for people’s survival,” Felices said. (With reports from MindaNews)
