With only a bike to call his home, Mike Kahn is on a
mission this summer. He wants to educate children about nature and
the environment – while he pedals almost 4,000 miles from
California to Maine.
Kahn is the former office
manager for Environmental Volunteers, a nonprofit group based in
Palo Alto, Calif., and dedicated to environmental education. Riding
from coast to coast began as a personal challenge, but it soon
morphed into an opportunity to do outreach across the country, he
says.
Using a laptop computer, a solar panel and
a digital camera, Kahn is documenting his experiences on the Web
and corresponding with students in a year-round elementary school.
He replies to their questions about the natural world with pictures
and stories from his trip. A group of second-graders asked Kahn
what native plants he would see in the San Francisco Bay area. He
responded with photos of mugwort (Artemisia douglasiana),
explaining how to identify the plant and how to use it to treat
poison oak and stinging nettle exposure.
“I am
using the latest technology and solar energy for this project to
demonstrate that sustainability is an important aspect of
stewardship,” he says. “Technology is great, but we need to look at
how we use it in order to help benefit society, not just to make
money.”
To track Kahn’s progress, visit the
Coast to Coast Discovery Ride on the Web at
www.EVols.org/discover.htm.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Environmental education takes a ride.
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