This is a guest blog from Adam Quartermaine, our latest Doer of the Month.

My name is Adam and I am secondary school teacher from Sheffield.

I think about climate breakdown a lot. It literally keeps me awake at night. I have always been environmentally minded and happy just to be “the change you want the world to see”. However, more recently with the release of the IPCC report, which said we basically have 12 years left to save the Earth, I felt I needed to do more! So I have been reading up about climate change, joining and donating to groups that help the environment and started an Eco Club with a colleague at the school I work at. While finding out more about climate change I came across a book called, “12 Small Acts to Save Our World” written by the WWF. It’s a great book, not preachy and has good practical advice. One of those was to try a Do Nation challenge.

I already knew a good route to the coast and thought that a 75 mile cycle to Cleethorpes in winter sounded like a good enough challenge to encourage friends to make a pledge.

Lots of friends and friends of friends got on board. My wife pledged to drive smart. She has increased her mpg by about 4 and says she feels much calmer arriving at work now than when she used to drive round “like a &*%$!” One friend even quit smoking for a couple of months. I’m really glad lots of people got on board. It just shows that the will to protect the environment is there. It’s just difficult to do the way our society is set up and the lack of media attention about the emergency we found ourselves in.

I set off early, cycling out of Sheffield in the dark (riding at night is excellent by the way!) At the last minute my old cycling buddy Adrian agreed to meet me along the way. It was great to have his support. I didn’t want to fail, especially with all those pledges at stake! As the day went on the sun came out and it was actually quite warm, especially for December. The Lincolnshire Wolds had a couple of steep climbs but it was the last 10 miles that were the toughest. I just ran out of energy but we pushed on and celebrated with chips and mushy peas before getting the train home.

My advice to anyone else raising support on Do Nation would be to share your campaign page through social media, email and face to face. People always appreciate that “gentle reminder” but try not to pester!

Impressed and inspired? It’s not too late to make a pledge in support of Adam’s challenge, and help us all to build a better future for our planet.