- Title: Dutch gardener begins epic London-India bike ride to fight soil degradation
- Date: 22nd March 2023
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 22, 2023) (REUTERS) DUTCH GARDENER AND CYCLIST, RENS GOEDE, CYCLING THROUGH LONDON / HIGH-FIVING SAVE SOIL VOLUNTEERS AS HE PASSES BY / VOLUNTEERS CHEERING BIG BEN / GOEDE HOLDING UP JACKET WITH TEXT READING (English) 'SAVE SOIL', AND PUTTING JACKET ON / GOEDE SAYING "GOOD MORNING" GOEDE'S T-SHIRT WITH TEXT READING (English) "SAVE SOIL" (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH GARDENER AND CYCLIST, RENS GOEDE, ON HIS MOTIVATION TO MAKE THE JOURNEY, SAYING: "I felt I could do more because I was still moving through a work situation, I was still moving in a house situation. But I noticed that it is all about me. But this is not about me. This whole situation, it's about all of us. So basically I just decided I can do more. I love to cycle, so I thought: do something crazy, get on the (bi)cycle and just do it." LOGO ON JACKET READING "PLANET CONSCIOUS / SAVE SOIL" GOEDE FASTENING CLASP ON BIKE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH GARDENER AND CYCLIST, RENS GOEDE, ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT SOIL DEGRADATION, SAYING: "So the urgency is so big because if we don't act now, it will degrade further and future generations will suffer like big time, we should prevent that. We are the first generation...who can turn this situation around. And so, yeah, it's our responsibility as humans of 2023 to make this happen, to make sure our future generation is also having like a good life and can walk in beautiful cities like London or Amsterdam, where I'm from. So this is the urgency." VARIOUS OF GOEDE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH GARDENER AND CYCLIST, RENS GOEDE, ON POSSIBLY PASSING THROUGH UKRAINE ON HIS JOURNEY, SAYING: "I really, I hope to go there. Well, if the situation is not, like, safe enough, I'm not going to pass there. I'm going around. But if it's responsible to go, I'd love to go there because I think in these kind of areas also we need to raise some consciousness in these areas. So I'm happy to go there, but it should be (needs to be) safe." FLOWERS ON GOEDE'S BIKE, GIVEN TO HIM AS A SYMBOL OF PROSPERITY HELMET (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) DUTCH GARDENER AND CYCLIST, RENS GOEDE, SAYING: "We need more food to get the same nutrients and vitamins into our body, because of that 'Save Soil' is so important for me because I want the future generations to live healthily without any complications. That’s the reason 'Save Soil' is so important to me." BIKE 'SAVE SOIL' LOGO ON BIKE (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) DUTCH GARDENER AND CYCLIST, RENS GOEDE, SAYING: "I like bicycles, so I thought: you know what? I’ll leave everything behind and sell everything. And I’ll take a bicycle to widen the knowledge about save soil so that future generations can prosper. So that’s the reason I took the bike and made this happen." VARIOUS OF GOEDE CYCLING VARIOUS OF 'SAVE SOIL' VOLUNTEERS CHEERING GOEDE CYCLING BY
- Embargoed: 5th April 2023 16:40
- Keywords: Rens Goede climate change cycling london to india soil soil degradation
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: UK
- Topics: Environment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA001937922032023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A gardener from Amsterdam began a 30,000-km (18,640-mile) bicycle trek from London to India on Wednesday (March 22) as part of a campaign to raise awareness about soil degradation.
Rens Goede's roundabout journey to the city of Coimbatore in southern India, in support of the "Save Soil" movement, will see him travel across 30 countries and will last an estimated two years.
"I just decided I can do more. I love to cycle, so I thought: do something crazy, get on the (bi)cycle and just do it," the 31-year-old told Reuters.
"If we don't act now, (soil) will degrade further and future generations will suffer big-time; we should prevent that. We are the first generation... who can turn this situation around."
Goede's mission mirrors that of Indian yogi Sadhguru, who last year carried out the same journey by motorbike, launching "Save Soil."
The movement, backed by the likes of the World Food Programme, says it aims "to address the global soil degradation crisis and support governments in implementing concrete policy changes for soil health."
According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, soil erosion could lead to a 10% loss in global crop production by 2050.
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