Kleigh Carroll
Damien Gabet wants to break a world record and rethink how we care for the land we walk, bike and camp on.
“I am bored, easily bored.” These were the first words I received in response from Damien Gabet when I asked him why he is biking 1,000 miles across the U.K. to pick up trash. “I'm not going to tell you that I'm Mr. Litter, because I'm not,” he continued. Rather, it is a vibrant curiosity and an affinity for telling stories he thinks ought to be told that is driving him to push his body to its breaking point.
This August, the travel writer, presenter and social media personality will set off on a 22-day bike ride across the U.K. to raise awareness about the country’s litter problem. As he rides, he will be picking up trash, 500 bottles a day to be precise, with the aim of nabbing a Guinness World Record for litter picking.
Bicycle with bags on road in countryside. Katleen Bell-Bonjean. Pexels.
The crusade is inspired by a combination of things, least of all Gabet’s passion for biking, which at the moment is nonexistent. His inexperience, though, is part of the motivation. Last year, he decided to raise awareness for the Right to Roam campaign, a movement advocating for greater citizen access to U.K. wildlands, by embarking on a 500-mile straight-line trespass across England with no prior training. “I’m not a hiker,” Gabet told me. “I’m not an anything.” The only camping he had done up until that point had been at festivals. But the trek turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of his lifetime. It caused him to reflect on the relationship between increased engagement with the natural world and individuals’ desire to protect it. “We don't engage with [nature],” Gabet said. “And therefore biodiversity suffers.”
The Lu-Crusade’s mapped route. Damien Gabet.
As he was walking through England, connecting on a deeper level with the nation’s flora, Gabet started to notice an exorbitant amount of trash. He became increasingly indignant. “Someone should really do something about this,” he thought. What is it that drives people to litter? And why is it such a problem in the U.K.?
As part of his trekking campaign, Gabet interviewed professionals about land use in the U.K. One such individual worked for a nonprofit called Trash Free Trails, an organization working to end pollution on U.K. wildlands. “Their whole thing is mountain biking or hiking, while also taking care of the environment at the same time,” Gabet told me. He was inspired. “They make [conservation] fun, involved and interesting.” He thought to himself: how can we gamify litter picking?
It turns out that the most littered item on U.K. trails is Lucozade, a sports drink equivalent to American Gatorade. “And so I love a pun,” Gabet said. “I just thought, well, what am I going to do next year? Because I need to do another challenge. I decided I'm going to do the world's longest litter pick, and I'm going to call it the Lu-crusade to make England clean again.” And thus, the idea was born.
Lucozade bottle on the ground. James Whatley. CC BY 2.0.
Like before, Gabet intends to interview experts along the way, including psychologists, scientists and policy makers, to better understand England's litter problem. The journey will be filmed to create a YouTube series, and the money raised will go directly to Trash Free Trails. Also, like before, he will be setting off with pretty much zero prior training.
“Preparation is not my strong suit,” Gabet admits. “That's just not the way I roll.” The plan is to set off solo, with a trailer purchased from Amazon clipped to the back of his bike, which his handyman friend has reinforced with steel. At the end of each day, once the bottles are collected, Gabet will depend upon the goodwill of his fellow citizens to help him lighten the litter load. “I will give [the bottles] to people,” Gabet explained. “I don't know who yet. That's part of the challenge.” He is relying on good humor and charm, as well as the universal stigma surrounding litter, to convince people to lend a hand. “Everyone loves a bit of litter picking, right?” Gabet said. “Everyone hates litter on the floor. Can you take all this rubbish, and can you post it for me to London?”
Gabet documenting his 500-mile trespass through England last year through videos on social media. Screenshot by Kleigh Caroll.
Gabet is under no illusions that the journey will be easy. In fact, it may very well be what he has deemed “the logistical nightmare of the century.” Aside from the sheer volume of trash, each piece of which he will record data for, such as what brand it is and where it was found, Gabet is struggling with imposter syndrome. “Ahead of time, I'm like, everyone's going to think I'm an idiot. Maybe this is a silly idea,” he said. “I've got to really fight through that to make sure that I definitely do this thing.”
But his naivety is also something he intends to embrace. “The quality of my questions will be genuinely curious,” he said. This can be used to his advantage as he interviews people to help connect with a broader audience. While the conversation surrounding conservation and climate can sometimes adopt a tone of moral superiority or shaming to get its point across, Gabet believes that spoof, satire and silliness are powerful agents for change. “I kind of like the idea of turning this into something jubilant, positive and happy,” Gabet said. “Then we can use journalism to keep people interested.”
Litter on Rose Hey Lane, England. Peter McDermott. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Among the individuals Gabet will speak with is Julia Bradbury, a TV presenter at the BBC, and Sarah Perry, a current litter-picking world champion. He also hopes to ask a representative at Lucozade why they think their product is so commonly tossed outside. Gabet suspects it could have something to do with the U.K.’s lack of a bottle recycling system akin to the deposit scheme in Ireland. Why the U.K. is so behind in implementing a similar system is something he hopes to find out.
At its heart, the Lu-crusade is part social cause, part personal quest, a way for Gabet to chase adventure, ask big questions and clean up the country one bottle at a time. “I want something to do that is stimulating, worthwhile, adventurous and also feeds into my need to find a story and tell a story,” Gabet told me. If accomplished, it looks to be a win all around.
GET INVOLVED
You can join Gabet at any point along his ride, as he is “embracing full Forest Gump energy.” Or if, like him, you are not really the outdoorsy type, follow along via Instagram and donate to the cause here.
Kleigh Carroll
Kleigh is a student at UC Berkeley studying Geography and Journalism. She hopes to integrate her skills in these fields in pursuit of a career in journalism. She is passionate about being outside, exploring, and writing in all of its forms.