Kate Rawles rode a bamboo bike through Bolivia's Eduardo Avaroa Reserve
Photo: @carboncyclekate
The story
Eco-adventurer Kate Rawles — @CarbonCycleKate — cycled the length of the Andes on a bamboo bicycle she built with us at the Bamboo Bicycle Club. Her ride, The Life Cycle, took her roughly 8,000 miles from Colombia to the southern tip of Argentina over about thirteen months, asking why biodiversity matters, what's happening to it, and what can be done.
This photo comes from one of the more remote stretches: Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve in Bolivia. "A very important area for wildlife," Kate said, "so I really wanted to get there."
Why it matters
A bamboo frame carried a rider — and a message about the natural world — across some of the hardest terrain in South America. The journey became a book, The Life Cycle: 8,000 Miles in the Andes by Bamboo Bike (Icon Books, 2023).
In her words
"I wanted to focus on biodiversity loss because the avalanche of species extinction we're currently witnessing... is a very big issue." — Kate Rawles
Links
- Photo and ride: @carboncyclekate (Kate Rawles)
- Book: The Life Cycle: 8,000 Miles in the Andes by Bamboo Bike, Icon Books (2023)