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bike it yourself tour / ecotopia biketour 2006

Participation Guidelines

Each year Ecotopia Biketour aims to create an "ecomobile" community connecting different people from all over the world into diverse, clumsy, joyful, slow, funny, unpredictable, sunny, caring group of people. For it to work we will not tolerate any discriminatory practice.

other topics

Being a horizontal community, everyone is responsible for making the tour a success. Decisions are made and problems are discussed in the morning/evening circle by practising consensus.

Biketour is a project which promotes sustainable way of life by cycling, doing press work, participating in/organizing actions. We participate in the actions organized by local groups and also our own actions.

All food in biketour is vegetarian, but we will provide vegan, raw food and other diet options. Meat eaters are welcome, but there will be no meat option during any common biketour meal.

Once again BT is a do-it-yourself "DIY" playground for environmentalism, culture, nature, community life,... topics. You'll be invited to a street party in Lithuania, participate in anti-via Baltica highway protest in Poland, participate on street action for better conditions for bikers in Košice and join dozens of workshops on art activism in Ecotopia! (PLEASE insert 1 for each country, if possible) And during the tour you can attend to workshops or prepare and offer your own!

Consensus

Biketour is a non-hierarchical community, where the process of making decisions is key part of the decision. In BT people's concerns are taken into the decision, and everyone has an opportunity to shape the decision.

Consensus grew out of a critique of the existing decision methods which tend to hold power in the hands of a few and make decisions based often on corrupted values. Consensus attempts to give the maximum power to the individual while giving us the possibility to include as much of our shared experience, knowledge and wisdom in our decisions as possible. The need for consensus is based upon the experience that every decision based on simplifications of truth (using models) bares the danger of missing important points. More opinions and input make a better picture. Combining input from more people also optimises synergetic effects.

We try to keep a balance between working effectively as a group and respecting everyone's personal preferences and freedom.

Sustainable Transport

Over the last half of the twentieth century in particular, things went radically and visibly wrong with transportation policyand practices (unsustainable resource take, energy profligacy, pollution, declining service levels despite increasing investments, poor service for specific social and economic groups). Biketour aims to promote all forms of transport which minimise emissions of carbon dioxide and pollutants. Sustainable transport can mean public transport, car sharing, walking and cycling... By not using any engine vehicle for carrying all that will be needed on this long tour, we hope to show that it's possible to cover big distances, with many people only with human-power and still have a great time! We try to reduce, reuse and recycle.

In some of the cities that Biketour will pass, Biketour will participate in Critical Mass. A celebration ride where people exercise their ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Not only a form of opposition to the car as the dominant mode of transport, but a active example in full public view of the advantages of cycling in a city, and how the city may be failing cyclists in terms of facilities and safety.

Why vegetarian?

There are several reasons for becoming vegetarian: Nutritional benefits, Ethics towards animals, Environmental - production of meat by intensive agriculture is unsustainable, Physiological, Psychological, Food safety, Social or even Spiritual. By promoting a sustainable lifestyle, it's only natural that during biketour the food prepared is without meat. It's a statement against massive land use, and its consequences: emissions, depletion of water resources, over grazing, depletion of water resources, cutting of forests,threat to biodiversity, social problems...

Small is beautiful

Even with our vegetables we choose to support local farmers/small shops by buying food there, because big shops mainly offer industrial farming products. Supermarkets chains ruthlessly dictate how, where, when and for how much their food is produced, packaged, stored and delivered. This brings many social and environmental problems. That's why we say: Small is beautiful!

This year's BT

For the first time in our 16th years history, we will not end the Biketour at Ecotopia camp, but continue on cycling to celebrate the world Carfree day in Croatia. Biketour this year is going to be long, but you are invited to join and leave the group whenever you want.

It started on 18th of June in Šiauliai, Lithuania and it will take us 7 weeks of cycling through Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia to reach Ecotopia in Zaježka. After Ecotopia, the Biketour will continue for another 5 weeks full of cycling, international exchanges and environmental actions through Hungary, Slovenia, ending in Croatia on 22 of September. We will prove that you can really bike it yourself!

Join the DIY street party in Lithuania, participate in anti-via Baltica highway protest in Poland, participate on street action for better conditions for bikers in Košice and join dozens of workshops on art activism in Ecotopia! Take part in actions in Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, visit beautiful camp sites and meet local groups. Come and enjoy! Cycle, discover, create, laugh, discuss, play, share and cuddle! We are all going to create this joyful summer experience together.

Route map

to be created

Contacts

would you like to join us? should biketour support your campaign? check our website for more information http://www.thebiketour.net or contact World Carfree Network, Kratka 26, 100 00 Praha 10, Czech Republic, +(420) 274-810-849, email info@thebiketour.net

• João Lopes
  • joao@thebiketour.net
  • +420 776123118

• eyfa@eyfa.org
• http://www.worldcarfree.net/contact/

• local groups contacts

European Comission logo

just for Polish and Slovak versions