Cycling to the moon for a better co-op future

Students are getting on their bikes as part of a project to celebrate co-operatives across America.

The project from Co-Cycle is being made into a documentary film, To The Moon, and will follow 12 students from Hampshire College as they cycle from San Francisco to Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Co-Cycle mission states: “We educate ourselves and each other by generating research on different co-operative models, strengthening regional co-operative networks, and drawing attention to co-operatives as economic, social, and ecological alternatives to conventional business models.”

Co-Cycle will set off on Friday 1 June in San Francisco, and will collaborate with various co-op businesses, staging workshops and events to educate the local community about socially-conscious ways of living. (See the full route schedule).

Along the way, they will encourage other cyclists to join them on this journey, which will take finish on September 3 in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The route will call through:

San Francisco – June 1
Portland, OR – June 17 – 20
Seattle, WA – June 22 – 24
Bozeman, MT – July 9 – July 11
Minneapolis, MN – July 27 – 30
Madison, WI – August 6 – 9
Chicago, IL – August 11 – 14
Ann Arbor, MI – August 17 – 19
Cleveland, OH – August 20 – 22
Amherst, MA – September 3

Many of the students involved study or work into co-operatives, including Megan Meo who studies co-operative entrepreneurship and food systems and works at her school co-op, Mixed Nuts.

The team have used the crowd sourcing website Kickstarter to fund the film and made over US$3,500.

The film is being created by art and design students from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. 

Emma Thatcher, the director of To the Moon, said: "It will be a film that reaffirms the voice of this country's youth as a beacon for change. Instead of voices onscreen presenting a problem, these voices will present a solution."

The film has been influenced by the Henry David Thoreau quote, “The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon”, and is being made to celebrate the UN’s 2012 International Year of Co-operatives.

• To make a donation to the film, visit: www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/6592 — Follow the journey on the official website: www.tothemoonfilm.com or through Twitter: @tothemoonfilm More information on the Co-Cycle project can be found here: www.co-cycle.coop