#the warrior program

Have an idea to fight climate change? Learn more about how you can apply for a youth microgrant from Ecosia & Earth Uprising.

In October of last year, we launched Ecosia’s first-ever youth microgrants fund. Created in partnership with Earth Uprising, the youth climate organization founded by 15 year-old Alexandria Villaseñor, the fund supports youth-led climate projects with microgrants ranging from $50 to $1000. In recent years, young, grassroots activists have often been responsible for pushing the climate movement forward – becoming the faces of frontline protests and marches around the world. At Ecosia and Earth Uprising, we believe that a commitment to youth-led climate action can pave the way for much needed change.

This is Justin Packshaws report on a Everest climb he did in 2011.

The Ultimate Ride What a year it has been! I spent two months away in the Himalaya’s climbing Mount Everest from the Tibetan side along the infamous North Ridge – what a trip. It was full of everything one could possibly associate with trying to summit this majestic wonder of the world – drama, sweat, danger, frustration, fear, trust, exhaustion and exhilaration. Fortunately four of us made the summit but more importantly all ten of our team made it down safely, no mean feat on those big mountains. If you’d like to read more about it go to www.deroemereverest.com.

As an ex-soldier we were raising money for various military charities (Walking with the Wounded and The Warrior Program) and on returning I started scheming as to my next trip and means to raise some more money for our brave service personal. It did not take too long to come up with a plan. Next year is the 100th anniversary of Scott and Amundsen’s race to conquer the South Pole and so in conjunction with ‘Walking with the Wounded’ we will be taking several injured soldiers to Antarctica to ski to the Geographic South Pole. It will be an amazing trip and I cannot wait to spend time with these amazing individuals. Once I had sorted this out I realised that I needed to keep my fitness levels up so I started looking at how I could do that around living and working in London. My wife and I own and run the fashion label De Roemer (www.deroemer.com). I decided that I would start cycling into and back from work a round trip of 15 miles. I mentioned this to one of the Directors of my company who is also involved with Harrods and he suggested that I talk to Cycles UK in Harrods. This I did and ended up talking to the very charming John Malcolm who liked what I was trying to do and very kindly talked to Richard Schofield, the Managing Director of Cycles UK, who agreed to provide me with a Whyte Montpellier Urban bike.