Liam Wacey's Biography

What follows is a short biography of my life, and my reasons for caring about the environment.

Firstly, I have spent almost my entire life in Vernon, B.C., mostly at home with my family.  We have always lived in the rural area of town, called the B.X., and it is here that my passion for the outdoors was first birthed.  Although I am not very good at putting adequate words to the memories I have (which might account for my general resistance to journaling) if given the chance I would talk all day about summer evenings at the pond or winters spent tobogganing at the orchard behind my house.  Hiking in the foothills and snowboarding in the mountains above them have all been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; truly I had everything right outside my door that a boy could ask for.  These experiences have helped shape my independence and spirit of adventure immensely.

It is that adventurous spirit which led me to leave home when I was only seventeen to be with my girlfriend in Victoria, where she was attending university.  As a self-proclaimed minimalist, I set the tone for all my future moves by leaving with only a backpack, duffel bag and T.V., all of which I carried from the bus station and brought to the hostel where I would spend the next two months.  My time in Victoria was some of the most enjoyable in my entire life, as I experienced what I would come to call "the littlest big city", referring to the small town charm I felt from my provinces capitol. That feeling in Victoria sets the tone for my entire province.

However, when the school year ended, I left with my girlfriend to come back home, eventually finding myself working at the army cadet camp in town.  We spent the summer together then left again for Victoria the following fall 2007. Our relationship was not to last though, as troubles caused us to break up by November.  This was the hardest thing I have ever experienced emotionally, and if not for the support of a close friend from Vernon who was living in Victoria at the time, I would have surely left for home. Thanks to the support from my friend and others who insisted that "time heals all wounds", I eventually found my feet again, and it was with a renewed passion for life that I attacked my next goal: we would bike home to Vernon.

On April 1, 2008, having trained little and with only our own high hopes to protect us from thoughts of failure, we rode Highway One out of Victoria.  Along the way we stopped at various locations to enjoy our favorite hobbies (swimming and rock-climbing) and just to take it all in; truly biking is the best way to see the wonderful country in which we live.

Nonetheless, this was only a stepping stone for what was to come for me.

After arriving in Vernon, I worked the usual odd jobs, eventually finding myself at one I really enjoyed: stock boy for a local organic supermarket.  I worked there for the remainder of the summer.  During that time an idea was forming which eventually became a decision and a plan.  I would ride the same bike I rode to Vernon on, the same piece of junk I found abandoned in a park in Victoria, all the way to Mexico. With this new direction in mind I began my training.

On the morning of September 16, 2008 (it would seem this was a big year for me) I hopped on my bike and left on what would be my greatest of personal quests. I had little in the way of a formal plan, being a firm believer that too much structure can actually create more problems on these types of journeys.  One thing I was certain of though: I was taking this bike south to Mexico.  The greatest challenge actually did not come from the hills I climbed, or the blistering sun, or any of the myriad dangers of the road.  No, the greatest challenge was in the fact that every ocean view sunset, or moment spent in the majesty of the great redwoods was spent alone, with no one to share my thoughts and feelings with.

It is partly for this reason that I find myself so incredibly excited about the journey I have planed next: My cross Canada bike trip for Sierra Club Canada. The difference in my mind between this trip and my Mexico trip is like the difference between cooking food in a stranger’s kitchen as opposed to your own; it’s just more comfortable at home. I am hoping to meet tons of Canadians, both concerned about the environment and not. This will help me to feel that sense of national unity which we experienced briefly in the Olympics, that feeling that we can accomplish anything. In addition, the problem of having no one to share my thoughts with will be solved by my intention to update weekly a blog that can be found at both the Sierra Club's website and Vernondeals.Ca. This weekly update will include things like training progress before the trip starts, then once its underway I will talk a little bit about the towns and people I met that week, and a short editorial on a particular subject. I will also be taking and uploading lots of pictures and hopefully video. Through all this, I’m hoping that national unity I was talking about earlier will start to snowball, and that I can get more and more people involved in  making our planets future a brighter one.

Currently, I have been spending a lot of my time academically, recently upgrading my High school degree with Biology Twelve, which I achieved high marks in.  I’ve also completed Can-Fit-Pro certification for fitness training, which has been a longtime dream. However, my greatest dream has yet to be fulfilled; to be a part of a society which places our children’s, children’s future on at least equal level as ours.  A society more concerned with the gift we have been given of a life sustaining planet, than the bottom line of rampant profit.  I mean really, some say there is no intelligent life anywhere else in the galaxy, the universe even. I say that if we keep squandering the slim chance we have, then there is no such thing as intelligent life, period.

The last thing I wish to mention before going is the respect I have felt my entire life for organizations like the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the Shepard society, and Earthfirst!, in addition to free thinkers like David Suzuki and Rachel Carson, all the people involved in the environmental advocacy movements of the last 50 Years or so, have set for me an example which is impossible to ignore, and so I will not. My greatest fear is that I will look back Fifty years from now and be forced to admit that I had a chance to make a Difference but I didn’t. So I will do everything to make sure that never happens.