Because It Is There: A Zero Emissions Odyssey

On March 24th 2010, I (Kevin Shannon) began a zero emissions circumnavigation of the globe, cycling over 40,000 miles (61,000km) across 5 continents and sailing approximately 10,000 miles across 2 oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. During the journey I’ll pass through extreme sub zero temperatures, scorching heat and face thirst, hunger and physical and mental exhaustion.

Through this site follow the eco-expedition as i pedal, paddle and sail my way around the globe across 5 continents and 2 oceans over the next 3 years. Through the expedition i will be raising awareness of Climate Change and promoting eco friendly travel. I will also be trying to raise money for the veterans charity Combat Stress.

Follow the expedition Live -

Find out who’s supporting the expedition –

Learn more and about the Charity i’m supporting and donate -

Become an Individual sponsor of the journey -

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~ Jack Kerouac

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes. ”

- Charles Swindoll

A friend sent me an email with a link to the picture below and it made me think a bit about the nature of fear and especially the fear that’s risen in me when planning my route through certain countries.

Straight of the bat, when your telling someone that your going to cycle and sail round the world the one of the first questions asked is ‘are you not scared?’, to which i usually reply ‘not really’. But if i’m honest, of course i am! Why wouldn’t i be? I’m heading off on a trip that will take me through places i don’t know very much about and so, don’t know what to expect. I’m constantly told horror stories of bear attacks in Russia and muggings in South America, and of course these stories unsettle me and make me question why i’m planning such a big trip through so many ‘dangerous’ countries.

But then i remember, i wanted to do this expedition because i wanted an old fashioned adventure and that for every ‘bad’ thing that happens, there will be thousands of great moments. Having said that, I just hope the bad things are buckled wheels and not coming face to face with a Brown Bear poking it’s head in my tent in the middle of the night whilst im camping in Russia



Website is finished (for now), my bags are packed and i’m halfway through burning some CD’s. I’m off to the north of Scotland for the next five days to test a few bits of new equipment. I’m not going on my bike this time but up in the car, purely for the fact that i don’t fancy being stuck out in the middle of nowhere with faulty equipment in winter (especially with all this cold weather were getting).

I just wanted to mention a couple of things before i left. Firstly if you like cycling and more specifically bicycle touring, you should head over to Bicycletouringpro.com. The site has loads of information on equipment for bicycle touring, as well as some good articles on cycle touring.

Also head over to Alastair Humphrey’s website and check out his latest endeavour; Rowing the English Channel along with Phil Packer. Phil Packer was serving with the British Army in Iraq when he was injured and paralyzed from the waist down. He is now aiming to raise £1 Million for Help For Heroes so head over to philpacker.com and donate to this great cause.

I’ll post a new update in about a week but you can follow my escapades via Twitter.

See you in a week.