We CAN Climb Kili

In the spring, I had the extremely amazing opportunity to travel to Antarctica and learn about a topic that, as a Hoosier, I knew next to nothing about: climate change education and advocacy. Before I had even made it halfway through the trip, I was scheming of the next big adventure and how to bring home the lessons learned.

As fortune would have it, another participant on the voyage was from Tanzania and worked with Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots program. He shared that Mount Kilimanjaro, a mountain that my friend Hayley and I were already planning to summit, is dying- or at least the environment around it. Deforestation is impacting the weather patterns which in turn is impacting the survival of current ecosystems. His idea was to lead a trip with Jeff, the founder of The Explorer’s Passage who led the trip to Antarctica, that would replant indigenous trees at the base of the mountain, summit, and collect trash while descending to be recycled appropriately.

After this was shared, I walked directly up to Jeff and said, “I want in.”

On the flight back home, I began processing this opportunity in my mind and scheming about how to make it happen. I loved the idea of doing good for the mountain while climbing it, but I was still one step away from bringing the message home. Simultaneously, Indianapolis, a city that I love, is far from being Eco-friendly, which made this adventure seem like a great way to change that. In order to connect the two I thought to myself, could I fund the whole trip by recycling? In the words of Bob the Builder, I realized the answer to that question is “yes we can!” There are a number of scrap metal locations in Indy, and across the US, that pay for aluminum cans. Though funding this trip will take a monumental amount of cans, Indy has a monumental amount to give.

It wasn’t long after returning home that the idea had been pitched to Colleen and Megan and we were crunching numbers, building websites, and discussing partnerships.This won’t be simple or easy, but with a team so driven and well-balanced, there is not a doubt in my mind that our vision will soon become a reality.

Before the launch of this website, we have already collected over 1,000 cans and have multiple bins placed around Indianapolis. Be sure to keep up with our blog to hear our progress, collect cans to help us reach our goal, and share to help us spread the word! The more people who know about it, the more Cans for Kili will make an impact right here at home!

Until next time,

The Schemer

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Cans for Kili bin at local Indy house party

P.S. It doesn’t have to be glamorous to be effective! Our first event bin placed at a friend’s lawn party (It was overflowing by the end of the night):

Christina (The Schemer Left) and Colleen (The Marketeer Right) out and about in Downtown St. Louis only to find out that Dilly Dilly rhymes with "Cans for Kili"

P.P.S. That moment when you realize that “dilly, dilly” rhymes with “Cans for Kili”.