I I I I I I

 

 
 


Iain Biography

      


Dan Biography
As Peace Corps Volunteers, living in Paraguay, both of us have had the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of our Paraguayan friends and neighbors. The goal of our current work through the Peace Corps has been directed at small farm families and their communities.

However, as activists in the larger movement of conservation, we also want to involve ourselves in the acquisition and management of Paraguay's forests. While traveling back from a soil conservation workshop in March 2004, we came up with the idea of actively contributing to forest conservation by embarking on a fund-raising bike trek. Our departure from Ushuaia, Argentina in January 2006 represents the culmination of more than a year and a half of planning and the start of our 5000 km fundraising expedition. Through this fundraising expedition, we feel that we will be making a small, constructive, contribution to the world's environmental situation.

Both of us think in very similar ways. We recognize that our world is at a crucial point in its history. We are facing a bottleneck in which human population growth cannot be sustained by the current management of available resources. Humanity's continued existence depends first on recognizing the situation, followed by concentrated environmental and socio-economic efforts. Humans are failing miserably at managing biodiversity, global climate change, population growth, and the general stability of the earth's natural systems.

Realizing that conservation is a joint process of setting aside national reserves and educating the local people in the stewardship of their resources, we feel compelled to involve ourselves in all aspects of the conservation movement in Paraguay. Through our work, we have developed a deep and profound love for Paraguay and a desire to conserve its natural resources and rich cultural heritage. We have seen first-hand the deforestation, soil erosion, and general mismanagement of local resources. We have heard stories about Paraguay's once virgin forests and their many species. The destroyed forests and their dependent native species - jaguar, anteater, and carpincho - have been replaced by fields of sugarcane and cotton.

This trip is an opportunity for us to support a country that we love; in a way that we think is sustainable. It is an opportunity for you to learn about a reserve in Paraguay and personally, directly, influence its fate. The following biographies and travelogues are our way of letting you into our lives, our heads, and into this trip.