WHYY News Climate Desk

Climate activists bike hundreds of miles through Pennsylvania to demand change

“We're never going to get anything done if we don't work together,” one activist said, at a stop in Philly Wednesday.

Sophia Schmidt

September 27, 2023

Five riders and two support people rolled into Philadelphia Wednesday as part of a “Tour de PAC,” a 300-mile bike ride across Pennsylvania organized by the activist coalition Pennsylvania Action On Climate (PAC). (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

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Michael Bagdes-Canning rode 200 miles on a bike to make a point.

“We have horrible climate policy in Pennsylvania,” the activist from Butler County said. “I have grandkids. I want them to have a livable future.”

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Bagdes-Canning is one of five riders and two support people who rolled into Philadelphia Wednesday as part of a “Tour de PAC,” a 300-mile bike ride across Pennsylvania organized by the activist coalition Pennsylvania Action On Climate (PAC).

Michael Bagdes-Canning poses for a photo with his bike — Michael Bagdes-Canning from Butler County, a rider on the climate bike read team, on the Schulykill River Trail in Philadelphia on September 27, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

Over the past week, the tour has passed through places including Grove City, Washington County, and Clairton. The group considers these “front-line communities,” or communities among those most exposed to environmental hazards.

“We’re just seeing the harm happening in all these different ways,” said Shannon Frishkorn, an activist with a direct action group called Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance in Pittsburgh. Frishkorn referenced a recent study that found kids living near shale gas activities in southwestern Pennsylvania were at higher risk of lymphoma.

Shannon Frishkorn poses for a photo with her bike. — Shannon Frishkorn, a rider on the climate bike read team from Pittsburgh, Pa., on the Schulykill River Trail in Philadelphia on September 27, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

While traveling, the cyclists have stayed in community members’ homes, slept in churches, and even camped outside in the rain. They’ve talked with local activists fighting fracking, plastics plants, and landfills.

“We’re never going to get anything done if we don’t work together,” said Marci Henzi, an activist with Pennsylvania Action On Climate.

Ted Uhlman (left) and Marci Henzi (right) pose for a photo together on the Schuylkill River Trail — Ted Uhlman (left) and Marci Henzi (right), the support drivers for the climate bike ride team, on the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia on September 27, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

The tour culminates this weekend in Harrisburg, where the group will join the Pennsylvania Climate Convergence and try to get their message to lawmakers and the governor.

“We need Pennsylvania legislators to … actually protect people in these places,” Frishkorn said.

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Climate bike riders Ted Glick (left), Shannon Fishkorn (center) and James Jones (right), passed through Philadelphia on September 27, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
The climate bike ride team passed through Philadelphia via the Schulykill River Trail on September 27, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

In Philadelphia, the bikers planned to meet with advocacy groups including Neighbors Against the Gas Plant and Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. Their focus for the stop was the SEPTA gas plant in Nicetown.

“We’re also listening,” Bagdes-Canning said Wednesday afternoon. “We may hear some things tonight we didn’t even know about.”

The bikers head to Chester and Marcus Hook Thursday.

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