They chose the bicycle as the means to make long journeys through many places all over the country to spread the message of protecting the environment. Four programs have been organized, attracting thousands of young people.

Every summer, volunteers from Cycle for Environment (C4E) club start to prepare for their annual long journey. Campaigns to protect forests and many other activities have been carried out. 

The itinerary

Forest – The cradle of life, Forest – The value of life from nature, Destroy forests – Destroy ourselves and so on are the messages the volunteers want to impart through their journey. 

The Central is one of the destinations of the movement. Many propaganda meetings were held from Ham Cuong, Phan Ri, Phan Rang to Nui Chua National Park. Local students together with the volunteers grew trees, cleaned the environment, mobilized people not to use nylon bags and distributed leaflets. 

C4E members not only aim to protect the environment but also want to study cultural characteristics, history and interesting features of each region. This will help them become more mature and responsible for themselves and the society. “We travel hundreds of miles per day and learn many things about life and Vietnamese people. Those are precious experiences which are not easy to gain”, said Nguyen Thi My Trang, Chief organizer of Bicycle journey across Vietnam Program 2011 of C4E in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Connecting the community

The activity of cycling across Vietnam for the environment was born in Hanoi in 2008 from an online movement. The themes of the program are changed each year, such as Journey along Truong Son Mount or Heritage conservation during climate change. C4E has thousands of members from all over the country, most of whom are youngsters. There are more than 500 volunteers only in HCMC.

Every three months, C4E holds a green tour by bikes to Cat Tien National Park and Can Gio Biosphere Reserve to help its members learn about the biodiversity. A more small-scale but more regular is the Cycling and Sharing campaign. It is a meeting gathering from 20 to 30 members to give presents to and play with children in orphanages. They also go clean some places every Sunday morning with local residents.

Spring and Circle Wheel program is one year old already. In an evening one year ago, a group of volunteers was giving gifts to the old who lived alone. Then they noticed the silent shadows of streets-sweepers on Vo Van Tan and Ky Dong Street. The volunteers stroke up a conversation with them and find out that those street-sweepers had done that job for nearly 30 years. After that evening, the youngsters coordinated with the Public Service Company to encourage citizens not to litter freely. 

Action for wildlife organization (AWO) was founded by some young people in HCMC. AWO’s work is to investigate illegal wildlife animals selling and report to the authorities. In addition, they also disseminate about the extinction of some species in Vietnam. AWO now has 1,500 members.

“The aim of these social works is very simple, that is to make the young live more responsibly,” said My Trang. 

Source: SGTT