Nothing But Words

Drive Around the World - the ZERO SOUTH Expedition

Topic: Family and Friends
Tags: Friends

Years ago I had the pleasure of working with Nick B, when we were at Ask Jeeves together. Nick went on to found Drive Around the World, a non-profit organization that has raised funds for causes such as fighting Parkinson’s Disease. Along the way they’ve “built homes for refugees in Asia, taught farming techniques in small villages in Africa, and worked with thousands of school children worldwide.”

They’re gearing up for their next expedition, to the south pole, and Nick is looking for support. Here are his words:

Drive Around the World (DATW) programs are a creative response to helplessness. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, DATW takes on challenges that to many, seem insurmountable. Our method is simple. We pick a specific problem, build an extraordinary expedition around the problem, then leverage the adventure to educate and raise funds. The model worked very well during the LONGITUDE Expedition, which raised money for Parkinson’s research…

Back in June we held our annual board of directors meeting and added four new members: George Gorton, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s campaign manager during the recall; Mark Bernstein, energy analyst in the White House under President Clinton; Chris Paine, director of the film, “Who Killed the Electric Car?”; and Steve Wozniak, Apple Computer co-founder. A DATW adviser for years, WOZ believes in our mission–he even drove his car from Los Gatos to Santa Monica for our meeting. (A side note: it is rare to meet your heroes, let alone become friends. I am a lucky man indeed.)…

ZERO SOUTH will bring attention to global warming and raise awareness for the viability of fossil fuel alternatives by taking four different alternative fuel vehicles to the South Pole in December, 2008. Pioneering astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Steve Wozniak have signed up to make the drive and they will be joined by scientists from Caltech, JPL and NASA. The project includes a documentary feature film and a two-year education tour across the U.S. in which kids can climb inside an alternative-fuel vehicle that actually drove to the South Pole and experience the virtual expedition. (The exciting journey unfolds on windows replaced with LCD panel.)

Because our project is “different,” we need to go the extra mile so my goal this summer is to complete a ZERO SOUTH prototype vehicle.

Now that ZERO SOUTH has a physical model, we can make giant strides.

If you’d like to be a part of the ZERO SOUTH effort, please go to www.drivearoundtheworld.org/donate and make a donation.

We’ve produced a limited edition ZERO SOUTH pin and donation certificate for those who support us during this time. With your help, Drive Around the World will continue producing these unique, positive adventures for the benefit of mankind long after we are gone.