Young Climate Activists Visit IPF During European Cycling Tour

On Tuesday, July 13th, Mychael Arafe and Roman Petibon, two climate activists in their early 20s who founded the Paulette Ride for the Planet project, visited IPF headquarters to interview IPF Founder Alain Hubert and Science Liaison Officer Henri Robert for a documentary they are making about the green transition.

In March, Michael and Roman left their homes in Central France to cycle across 11 European countries with the aim of collecting interviews from European citizens about their environmental concerns. They've also been speaking with climate innovators working on initiatives that are helping the world to transition away from carbon-intense energy sources and towards more renewable and sustainable ones. The two travelling friends plan to use the interview footage they've been collecting along their months-long journey to produce a seven-episode documentary.

During their interviews with the two young activists, Alain and Henri discussed the design, construction, and operation of the world's first zero-emission polar research station, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. They stressed that in addition to society transitioning to more renewable sources of energy, having a different attitude towards energy use is also important, as we all need to learn to use less energy and live more sustainably.

The pair of activist cyclists hope that once completed, the documentary will "provide our generation with keys to understanding and inspiration to help them get started and do their part in the green transition." 

They plan to finish up their bike tour around Europe and return to central France in late July to start work on the documentary, which they plan to finish by December. They intend to broadcast the documentary online over seven episodes.