[Editor's note] Follow Josh’s journey by clicking on his name to see all of his posts as he travels across Canada spreading the word on sustainability… From the seat of his bicycle.

As the wheels begin to roll down the hill into Calgary I quickly realize I’m no longer in training to be a member of Otesha, I am now a part of Otesha. My one teammate and I, Katrina, continue riding away from Kamp Kiwanis, stopping every few kilometres to write on the road with some sidewalk chalk messages to the other members of our team.

It’s about a 45 km ride to our performance in the southern end of the city at Ernest Morrow junior high school. After getting lost a few times along the way and running into our other members we arrive at the school with 7 out of the 10 ready to perform.

After getting all introduced and ready to go, our other 3 members still haven’t arrived for our first performance (including the lead character)! Following a bit of a time delay and some random brainstorming we decide we can’t wait any longer, and perform our play “Reason to dream”, mostly improvised with Mille (our Danish tour member) taking the part of the lead role.

The children are very attentive, laughing at all the right parts, and had several questions immediately following the performance.

We learn that these students run an in-depth recycling AND composting program at their school. As our tour members were still nowhere to be found (no cell phones), and with the random hail/rain coming down, the school invited us to wait in their lovely staff room.

Many of us were invited into classes to facilitate more questions; I found myself in 2 different classes that day. These kids really inspired me with their interest in the environment and their knowledge of issues. If I knew half of what they did when I was their age who knows where I would be right now!

Once the other 3 members of our team finally arrived we packed up and headed to our place of residence for the next couple days while we perform in Calgary. Performing at the Glenbow Museum twice for Destination Conservation, organizations in Alberta and B.C. that are highly involved in different ecologically friendly programs in schools/communities, both went off without a hitch. These kids were just as inspirational as the last with such genuine concern to make change and make it today.

Before our departure from Calgary we had to make a stop off at the Good Life bicycle co-op in the Eau Claire market. A quick gist on what a bicycle co-op is… It’s a free space to fix your bike up, with access to tools, used parts (at a very low price), and expert bike knowledge from other members of the co-op. There are several all over the world and the Good Life is the first one I’ve been too, it’s fantastic.

Leaving Calgary isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do: many crazy bike paths, traffic lights, BIG trucks, and new highways being built; this was the task ahead of us on the 11th of May.

When travelling we usually split up into smaller groups of 2 or 3 people, which makes keeping together much easier. My riding partner that day was Mille, the girl from Denmark. We had a fun filled day of going, stopping, carrying our gear up a giant dirt hill (we couldn’t find another way up), and finally arriving in Crossfield later that afternoon.

We had no performance scheduled for Crossfield, it was just a place of rest so we all crashed inside of a church which was a warm change to sleeping outside, for sure!

Waking up next morning my cooking squad was in charge of breakfast so we went to it with some oats and pancakes (we carry all of our food and cooking equipment on a trailer) and it was much appreciated by everyone. Shortly following breakfast, Mille and I were back on the road to Carstairs, but since we wanted to avoid the highway we devised our own route.

After a few wrong turns and a face full of dust we decided to turn back around and take the highway, the wind that day was so intense making the climbs uphill easier than the descent downhill. A 15 km ride turned into more of a 40-50 km ride at the speed we were going and once arriving in Carstairs we were welcomed at the grain elevator museum, which is a grain elevator also.

We learned by performing for a small group and talking to them after that Carstairs is very active in composting/recycling. The city of Carstairs also takes great care in the type of farms and farming practices that go on in their surrounding district ensuring all livestock is treated well and not kept in close/indoor quarters.

This update is much bigger than the last two I’ve written (check out my author profile for the full list). I have already learned a lot more about my own country and how much people are doing to make some change.

Image: John Eastcott & Yva Momatiuk/National Geographic/Getty Images

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