INDReporter

Video: Ride for the Future stops in Lafayette

by Walter Pierce

We're not sure which takes more conviction and drive: bicycling from New Orleans to Houston - the Gulf Coast energy corridor - to raise awareness about the fossil fuel industry's effect on the climate change or doing it during the hottest, muggiest time of the year.

We're not sure which takes more conviction and drive: bicycling from New Orleans to Houston - the Gulf Coast energy corridor - to raise awareness about the fossil fuel industry's effect on the climate change or doing it during the hottest, muggiest time of the year.

Six college students from across the country are doing it. They're part of a group called Ride for the Future. They arrived in Lafayette on Monday, will stay nearly a week before continuing their trek west, with a stop next in Jennings and Lake Charles before moving on to Texas. Along the way, they're meeting with residents in communities affected by the petro-chemical industry, helping people sign petitions and mobilize to protect their air and water.

The Ind caught up with the group -  Kaela Bamberger, 21, or Schenectady, NY; 22-year-old Ernesto Botello of San Diego, Calif; Daphne Chang, 18, originally from Beijing, China; 18-year-old Hannah Mott of Suches, Ga.; 23-year-old Omar Navarro of Houston and Erik Rundquist, 23, of Worcester, Mass. - on Tuesday near the federal courthouse downtown.

Ride for the Future is part of the Better Future Project, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit devoted to the transition beyond oil, coal and gas toward a renewable energy future.

To learn more about the Better Future Project, click here.