Just over a month ago, five young women from New England Climate Summer — Team RICONN — biked through Hartford, after starting their trip in Providence. Their goal was to make stops in Rhode Island and Connecticut, before heading straight from New Haven to their final destination: Boston.

They did it.

On Wednesday evening they rolled into Boston.

What does one learn after spending ten weeks away from home?

In a thank you letter sent by Team RICONN, Ellie said, “This summer has restored my faith and confidence in humanity. […] I found myself constantly in awe of the level of hospitality and warmth with which we were met and the short amount of time that it took me to feel at home wherever we went.” On a similar note, Jackie writes, “Thank you for welcoming us into your communities and teaching me the importance of rootedness and belonging.”

Beyond learning about what community feels like, Ellie writes:

We met many, many people this summer who were all working on different things, whether they cared most about bike advocacy, local food, energy, peace and justice, government and economics, some combination of those issues, or something else entirely.  These issues may seem separate from one another at first, but after this summer, I can honestly say that they are absolutely intertwined.

Since arriving in Boston, Team RICONN has been meeting with other New England Climate Summer teams. On Wednesday, August 10th, approximately 30 cyclists from NECS will be holding a press conference at City Hall Plaza in Boston to announce the release of the report, “Energy Casualties: How People Are Dying for our Energy, and Why America Needs to Convert to Safe, Healthy, and Renewable Forms of Energy.”

After this, the participants will return home, but they hope the momentum will continue with participation in the September 24th Moving Planet event; on this day, people will be walking and biking to move away from fossil fuels. Locally, people will be biking and walking from Granby to New Haven, but events will be happening all over the globe, from major cities like New York, to smaller ones like Willimantic.

For more about the Climate Summer program, click here.