Invitation to Ecotopia Biketour 2015 in Scandinavia

UntitledEcotopia Biketour is a self-organized, international community that organizes a yearly bicycle tour in different regions of Europe and has done so since 1990.

During the tour we visit environmental and social projects and practice forms of activism and sustainable living. We follow a vegan diet, practice consensus decision making and encourage skill-sharing. Ecotopia Biketour is for anyone interested in travelling by bike, community life, DIY, environmentalism and experiential learning.

This year the tour will start on June 18 near Copenhagen and end on Sept 18 in Helsinki. There will be a balance between anti-oppressive and anti-exploitative activist groups in the cities to exchange knowledge and experiences and to learn about the local situations and struggles, and projects on the country-side with a stronger focus on environmental and self-sustainability.

Usually 20–40 people cycle with us at the same time. Most people join for somewhere between 2 weeks and 2 months and participate in the tour for the first or second time. We rarely cycle all together, usually some people go ahead in the morning and mark the route with arrows on the road. People then follow in small groups in their own speed and rhythm.
We keep distances at a level where no particular fitness or experience is necessary.

We try to create a non-hierarchical environment by rotating responsibilities, sharing skills and respecting personal needs. People can sign up for daily tasks (cooking, pulling a trailer, marking the route, etc.), but everyone can decide individually how much they want to do. We meet up every couple of days to talk about how it is going and to collectively make decisions. It is one of our core values to create a non-discriminatory environment.

We cook communally with wood, carry all our equipment ourselves and try to buy local and organic food and to dumpster-dive where possible. Participants are asked to donate 3–5 € per day to cover the food costs, but people who cannot give this donation are also welcome to join.
Read more about us on https://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/.

If you are planning to join, please register on https://www.ecotopiabiketour.net/ecotopia-biketour-2015/registration if you can.