Events in California

Life has been busy for the last couple of weeks as we toil away on pre-expedition preparations. A month from now we will be on standby to depart from St John’s, Newfoundland, and we are entering the crucial final phase of the countdown. More news on that in a future blog (hopefully this week, time permitting) but meanwhile I wanted to let you know about a few upcoming events. In reverse chronological order…..

23rd April: Tickets are now on sale for the Best of British Launch, the official send off for the OAR from San Francisco. Bojangles will form a centrepiece of the event, and will leave that very night to start her long journey across the country to Newfoundland. Please come along, and/or help spread the word to any friends or family in the Bay Area. The more, the merrier!

21st April: Just before our launch – and assuming that I am not tied up with last-minute packing – I plan to be at an Earth Day clean up at Point Molate Beach being organised by Sustainable Point Molate in conjunction with the Watershed Project. Please plan to join us to help clean up and restore the beach for future use. Gloves and garbage bags will be provided and a free BBQ will be on the agenda along with free Point Molate buttons. More info to come, or RSVP to David Helvarg of Blue Frontier Campaign if you are interested in coming along.

13th April: Later this week I will be speaking at the EG Conference in Monterey. Described as the “premiere gathering of and for innovators in media, technology, entertainment and education”, the conference explores our most creative enterprises by engaging a gifted mix of people — from rising stars to living national treasures. I will be appearing in the same session as Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame on Friday morning. You can join us in cyberspace by joining EG Everywhere. The first 100 people to click here and sign up will get 50% off the usual price of $200 for an annual subscription. The conference runs from 12th-14th April. I will be there – and so will one of the oars that I used for the Atlantic crossing, many times broken and many times repaired. It makes me feel quite emotional to hold it – blood, sweat and tears were shed over those 10 feet of carbon fibre.

11th April: This Wednesday I will be joining one of my personal heroines, Julia Butterfly Hill, for the Spring of Sustainability. I was given Julia’s book, The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods, by Ralph Nader a couple of years ago, and devoured this story of a powerful personal commitment to conservation that culminated with Julia spending two years living in a redwood tree to prevent it from being cut down. If you care about the future, and about the Earth, you’ll want to check out the Spring of Sustainability. The season of online events includes some of the biggest names in thought leadership, including Bill McKibben, Van Jones, Thom Hartmann, Joanna Macy, Randy Hayes, Alec Loorz, Hunter Lovins, Andrew Harvey, and Satish Kumar. And, ahem, me, at noon PDT on Wednesday.

 

So I hope to see you soon – either in person or in cyberspace!