In the past three months, environmental activist Rob Hersch has camped out in everything from college dormitory rooms to haystacks, from baseball dugouts to cotton fields. After riding into Durham Friday on a bike held together largely by bungee cords and duct tape, Hersch spoke to several classes at the Nicholas School of the Environment, sharing with University students his cause of bringing increased awareness to the issue of global climate change.

"I'm circumventing [sic] the eastern half of the United States on my bicycle, meeting with communities and universities along the way to encourage leadership by example," he said in an interview with The Chronicle.

His bike ride is an example of this leadership, Hersch explained, because he has made an active decision to reduce his consumption of fossil fuels, the by-products of which contribute to global climate change. Hersch, an American who last May received a graduate degree in environmental studies from a school in New Zealand, suggested biking and walking as alternatives to modes of transportation that consume fossil fuels.

If people do drive, however, Hersch said they could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by demanding fuel cells with hydrogen gas rather than gasoline. The benefits of cutting down on fossil fuel energy consumption, he said, include a healthier population and economic improvements.

Hersch noted that the University

could be instrumental in the introduction of such changes.

"I think universities like Duke-leading universities-set the pace of change by investing in these kinds of energy sources that are healthy and responsible," he explained.

Hersch, who began his bike ride from his home in Long Island, N.Y., on Labor Day, has covered most of the Eastern United States during his trip. From Long Island he traveled to New England and Maine, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, down through the Southern states and, most recently, up the mid-Atlantic region. Averaging 80 to 100 miles a day, he said he expects to arrive home in Long Island for Thanksgiving dinner with his grandparents.

Hersch said his journey has been "a remarkable experience." His faith in society, he added, has grown as a result: In more than two and a half months of solo travel, he has not faced any dangerous situations.

The highlight of his ride was Monday, when he had a scheduled rendezvous with college students and environmentalists at a Washington Monument rally. Afterward he presented the Senate, White House and other government organizations with a petition he circulated among the communities and universities he visited during his lengthy journey.

Hersch said he deliberately timed his ride to coincide closely with the opening of an international environmental conference in Kyoto, Japan from Dec. 1-10. U.S. representatives plan to propose a return to 1990 greenhouse gases emissions levels by the year 2012, but Hersch called the U.S. position a "feeble" effort. He proposes that, by 2010, the United States reduce emissions to a level 25 percent below that of 1990 levels. Such drastic cuts, he said, would foster tremendous innovation in the marketplace.

Audience members at the University said they appreciated Hersch's efforts.

"I think what he was trying to do was raise college students' awareness of global warming as an issue," said Marie Miranda, assistant professor of the practice of environmental policy, "and I think this is very timely considering the round of negotiations that will be going on in Kyoto in December."

Trinity junior Brian Wickman, a student in Miranda's class, said Hersch's mission is an important one.

"I think that what he's doing is commendable," Wickman said. "I think that raising awareness about environmental issues on college campuses is key in securing importance for environmental issues for this generation and the next."