Routes of Change
"[There is] The omnipresence of power: not because it has the privilege of consolidating everything under its invincible unity, but because it is produced from one moment to the next, at every point, or rather in every relation from one point to another. Power is everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere."
"6 years ago I got a call from my dad, he told me that he was diagnosed with Leukemia. If he didn’t have chemotherapy right away he had about 2 weeks to live. At the time I was fighting forest fires and living a good life traveling to sunny and warm locales in the off season, but something didn’t feel right.
I was feeling like I wasn’t living up to my potential as a human and felt the need to be more active in the environmental and social justice movements. I felt the need to be more creative, more active, and to give more of my energy to the world. My sister was pregnant at the time and this made me think even more about my responsibility to use my privileged Canadian position to create a healthier world for my niece.
On my flight home to be with my Dad I came up with the Routes of Change project. Routes of Change is the perfect projection of all of my passions on the planet. It is my answer to the question, “what do you want to be doing when you are told you are going to die?” You are going to die. Find out what you love and work towards doing more of it. Routes of Change is what I want to be doing and how I want to be living when death presents itself.
I want to help create a healthy future for our generations to come and this is the best way I know how, by using my talents and passions to raise support for organizations that are working hard to create a better earth."
For the Routes of Change Project, Markus will travel in one consecutive journey around the world by as many motor less means as possible, including rowing, swimming, kayaking, standup paddleboarding, sailing, running, biking, skiing, skateboarding, velomobiling, walking backwards, and pogosticking. Friends and fellow adventurers will join for support throughout the journey and help to create change through communication, education, and entertainment. Each leg of the route will be in partnership with a local social or environmental organization in order to share the movement towards a wiser earth.
The journey is expected to take about five years with weather and political situations largely influencing the route and timing. Markus is not planning on breaking any records, but he will likely create new ones. We are committed to building Routes of Change into a powerful force of change to create a better future for generations to come.
-Foucault, The History of Sexuality
As an artist, I spend each and every day pursuing my passion with the belief that with my efforts I can make the world a slightly better place. It is hard to follow your dreams and beliefs, often thankless and exhausting. But I feel so strongly that I have the power to change the world that I have no trouble committing each and every day. If, like Foucault says, power can be produced from one moment to the next with the help of every individual, then we must also believe that every individual has the capacity to change the overarching structure of the system.
So when I find others in the world who are also willing to put everything on the line and pursue their ideals and beliefs of making the world a better place, I want to do everything I can to support them.
One of those people is a friend of mine, Markus Pukonen, who is just starting off on an incredible new journey of circumnavigating the entire globe without using a single motorized vehicle, only propelling himself forward with human power.
Markus has done some super incredible things with his life. He was recently named one of Canada’s Top Modern Day Explorers by Canadian Geographic. He has biked 2500km of the Pacific coast and was the first person to Standup Paddleboard across the Georgia Strait, 55km from Vancouver to Nanaimo. With OAR Northwest he spent 73 days at sea rowing across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa, where they capsized just before they reached North America. Another 3 months was spent rowing down the Mississippi River, and another 20-days circumnavigating Vancouver Island, all with the intention of raising environmental awareness.
I was feeling like I wasn’t living up to my potential as a human and felt the need to be more active in the environmental and social justice movements. I felt the need to be more creative, more active, and to give more of my energy to the world. My sister was pregnant at the time and this made me think even more about my responsibility to use my privileged Canadian position to create a healthier world for my niece.
On my flight home to be with my Dad I came up with the Routes of Change project. Routes of Change is the perfect projection of all of my passions on the planet. It is my answer to the question, “what do you want to be doing when you are told you are going to die?” You are going to die. Find out what you love and work towards doing more of it. Routes of Change is what I want to be doing and how I want to be living when death presents itself.
I want to help create a healthy future for our generations to come and this is the best way I know how, by using my talents and passions to raise support for organizations that are working hard to create a better earth."
-Markus
The journey is expected to take about five years with weather and political situations largely influencing the route and timing. Markus is not planning on breaking any records, but he will likely create new ones. We are committed to building Routes of Change into a powerful force of change to create a better future for generations to come.
Check out more about this incredible project at routesofchange.org
Good luck Marcus. So incredibly inspiring.