Because of the extraordinary efforts of the record 600 Climate Riders, Runners, and Hikers in 2019, we are awarding over $800,000 in grants. This brings our total impact to more than $6 million since 2008. Our independent efforts to generate powerful grants have resulted in direct support to help fight legal battles for public lands and clean air. We’ve amplified diverse voices in sustainable transportation and provided funds for organizations building safer options for bicyclists and walkers. Our grants have led to renewable energy projects in national parks, relieving pollution in critically impacted ecosystems.

Together we’ve braced an environmental movement that needs new voices and an active citizenry willing to walk the walk and bike the bike.

2019 was a banner year for Climate Ride. We expanded our awards program, which provided unparalleled opportunities for young sustainability leaders to experience the enrichment and inspiration of a Climate Ride. Our inaugural Green Fondo Weekend event engaged a record 250 cyclists – 70% of whom were new to the Climate Ride cause.

We delivered 107 grants to beneficiaries working in sustainability, renewable energy, climate action, conservation, and public health. Below we’ve profiled a few of our Climate Ride grants in action.

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Glacier National Park Conservancy

Mission

The Glacier National Park Conservancy assures the Glacier National Park experience by providing support for preservation, education, and research through philanthropy and outreach.

2019 Climate Ride Grant: $74,877.32

Activities

Preservation | The Conservancy funds projects and programs that preserve Glacier’s heritage for future generations.

Education | The Conservancy funds education initiatives to engage current and future park stewards of all ages.

Research | The Conservancy supports world-class research and science exploring the park’s wildlife and alpine landscapes.

Successes

Making the Apgar Visitor Center net zero by installing solar panels
Running a Spring Hiker-Biker Shuttle on the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun road to reduce congestion from cars
Surveying wildlife populations in the park such as lynx, golden eagles, and the reintroduction of bison to the park

Find them here: www.glacier.org.

Earthjustice

Mission

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.

2019 Climate Ride Grant: $8,372.08

Activities

The Wild | Earthjustice uses the law to preserve a rich, sustainable and diverse natural heritage for current and future generations. They select cases that will protect endangered species, sensitive habitats and threatened wildlands, reduce human impacts on ecosystems, and hold accountable those who damage them.

Healthy Communities | Earthjustice has been at the forefront of safeguarding the fundamentals of human health—the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. They are fighting for a future where children can breathe clean air, no matter where they live, where the food we feed our families and the products we use in our homes are free of toxic chemicals, and where communities everywhere are safer, healthier places to live and work.

Climate and Energy | Earthjustice is committed to ending the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and working to secure a clean energy future. Climate change is the single greatest environmental threat facing the world today. At stake is nothing less than our children’s—and our planet’s—future.

Successes

Over 115 lawsuits against the Trump administration
Employing a staff of 130 lawyers who work to defend the planet
They secured the landmark 2014 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the EPA’s authority to limit carbon pollution

Find them here: www.earthjustice.org.

Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

Mission

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) is a membership-based nonprofit organization that works to make all communities in LA County healthy, safe, and fun places to ride a bike through advocacy, education, and outreach.

2019 Climate Ride Grant: $20,984.07

Activities

Operation Firefly | Operation Firefly (Operacíon Luciérnaga) is an education and bike light distribution program of LACBC intended to make sure people riding bikes in LA County are riding safely at night.

Active Streets LA | ASLA co-powers communities through participatory planning to create safe walking and bicycling routes to parks, schools, and local businesses along their neighborhood streets.

Bike + Ped Count | The LA City Bike+Ped Count is the largest source of data on the numbers of people that walk and bike on Los Angeles streets. The data collected demonstrates year-over-year increases in the numbers of people biking and walking, particularly where the city has installed new and improved infrastructure.

Blue Line First/Last Mile | This pilot project aims to improve safety and access to each Blue Line station by engaging community members early in the planning process.

Bicycle Friendly Businesses | Bikes mean business! LACBC has teamed up with Business Partners to support businesses that support bicycling. Current LACBC members can show their membership card and save at business partners!

Successes

12,000 bike lights distributed
L.A. streets are growing safer
Reporting on biker and pedestrians in order to push the government into planning safer routes

Find them here: la-bike.org.

Alliance For the Great Lakes

Mission

The Alliance for the Great Lakes works to protect the Great Lakes for today and tomorrow.

2019 Climate Ride Grant: $2,322.30

Activities

Adopt-a-Beach | For more than 25 years, Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach volunteers have worked to keep Great Lakes shorelines healthy, safe, and beautiful.

Saving Lake Erie | Massive, bright green toxic algal blooms cover large parts of Lake Erie each summer. This is an unacceptable threat to drinking water for more than 11 million people. The Alliance for the Great Lakes works to regulate runoff pollution from large farms that cause this bloom.

Fighting Plastic Pollution | As plastic pollution breaks down in the Great Lakes, microscopic pieces of plastic are found in the lakes and even treated drinking water. We’re fighting for plastic-free water.

Successes

Championed federal ban on microbeads in personal care products like face wash and toothpaste, preventing the tiny plastic particles from entering the Great Lakes
Won a historic cleanup goal for Lake Erie, which is plagued each year by toxic algal blooms, when the governors of Ohio and Michigan joined the premier of Ontario to commit to a 40% reduction in nutrients into the lake by 2025
Involved nearly 15,000 volunteers in the Adopt-a-Beach program in 2017, cleaning up beaches, collecting valuable data, and building pride in the Great Lakes

Find them here: greatlakes.org.

Citizens Climate Lobby

Mission

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change.

2018 Climate Ride Grant: $8,667.56

Activities

Engaging Citizens | With over 400 local chapters, CCL empowers everyday people to work together on climate change solutions. Together they are building support in Congress for a national bipartisan solution to climate change.

Climate Advocate Training and Education | CCL trains supporters how to make meaningful contributions every day that drive Climate Action forward, whether by building relationships with their members of Congress, local businesses, or media. CCL provides training and tools to help them maximize their skills.

Creating Political Will for Climate Action | Their consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering CCL supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, CCL works towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.

Successes

Researching and drafting effective legislation that has bipartisan appeal like H.R. 7173, a bill to drive down carbon pollution in the United States
Successfully lobbying for CCL’s carbon fee and dividend legislation to price carbon and emissions in Canada beginning in 2019
Raising climate awareness around the world by creating chapters, offering education, resources for lobbying, and channels to media

Find them here: citizensclimatelobby.org.

350.org

Climate Ride grant to 350.org

Mission

350.org is building the global grassroots climate movement that can hold our leaders accountable to science and justice.

2018 Climate Ride Grant: $28,280.92

Activities

Online Campaigns | 350.org distributes online resources in the form of organizing and training workshops and education, videos, education materials, memes, images, and other media to encourage people to: 1) keep carbon in the ground; 2) help build a new, more equitable low-carbon economy; and 3) pressure governments into limiting emissions.

Grassroots Organizing | 350.org has created local groups around the globe in over 188 countries who work in coordination with one another to create demonstrations and international days of action.

Mass Public Actions | 350.org acknowledges that world leaders are incapable of solving climate change on their own. They create opportunities for supporters to get out in the streets and make their voices heard — that is how they demonstrate our power as a movement, and that is how they force governments to make the right decisions.

Successes

Rallying thousands of people to stop one of Germany’s largest coal mines for a day
Shifting the conversation on climate change in the United States so that the conservative position is crowded out and liberal and radical solutions of divestment, clean energy subsidies, and alternative solutions become centered
Organizing the People’s Climate Match which brought together 200,000 people and created 7.6 million social media impressions

Find them here: 350.org.

BEYOND FISTULA

Mission

Beyond Fistula is a non-profit charity that helps women and girls in Africa who have recently undergone surgical repair for fistulas. Donating to our organization helps these women get an education and training in order reintegrate into society.

2019 Climate Ride Grant: $632.90

Activities

Scholarship Fund | A scholarship program that provides funds for young fistula survivors to return to primary or secondary school. Donations help these girls and women, who were previously outcasts, get an education and reconnect with others their age.

Vocational Program | Provides fistula survivors with vocational training in their choice of tailoring, hairdressing, catering, computer skills, farming, and business. These skills help them become financially stable or even financially independent in the future, hugely assisting them in reintegrating with their communities as respected and contributing citizens.

Production Program | Borne out of the tailoring vocational program, the production program provides fistula survivors the opportunity to learn a new skill, gain self-confidence, and earn a fair trade income by making and selling tote bags and other handmade items in an emotionally supported environment. Each woman is paid directly for her products, supporting a fair trade practice.

Permaculture Farm | We give women a farm skills seminar to teach sustainable farming techniques. These techniques show how to use the land to fertilize itself (chop and drop) and how to prevent erosion of nutrients by using ground cover. We teach improved planting techniques and skills to improve their crop yield.

Successes

Supporting dozens of women financially as they attended boarding school
Providing a fair trade market for handmade products by fistula survivors
Creating a permaculture farm where women can live and heal among other survivors while gaining valuable farming skills

Find them here: beyondfistula.org.

What our participants have to say

Climate Ride was up there with the most inspirational trips of my lifetime. A true bucket list experience, but not only that, it was life-changing. First, you’re blown away by the beauty of our state (CA), being out there on a bike..wow! Then, the quality of the people, their warmth, friendliness and their commitment to living a purposeful life….the experience has changed me. I will continually ask myself going forward…what can I do today.

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— Lesley Plachta, California Ride 2018

Biking for a cause is both the best way to see new parts of the country and be part of something larger than oneself. With climate change being one of the most pressing issues of our time, Climate Ride allows like-minded individuals to take part in an experience that benefits the cause, tests our limits, and promotes bicycle advocacy all in one. The people and organizations that benefit from Climate Ride are many and I am humbled to have been a part of it. I remain inspired by the people I rode with and all they are doing for the cause. My knowledge and resolve to combat climate change are better for having been a part of Climate Ride.

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— Jay Epelmen, California Ride 2018

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