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Hi, my name is Kelsey Ryan. I'm from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and in my second year of study at Mount Allison University. I'm studying sociology and geography and hope to someday become...well I'm not sure! During my spare time I enjoy playing soccer, running, figure skating, swing dancing, taking part in social justice activities and being a "big-buddy" at a local YMCA program. I also like learning new languages, Jane Austen, musicals and baking and I'm very much looking forward to becoming a 2009 Otesha team-member!

Shelby Tay: After studying a blur of chemical reactions, numbers and theories at UBC, Shelby started working on community projects around Vancouver and coordinating relocalize.net, an international network of citizen-driven initiatives focused on building community resilience to address the challenges of peak oil and climate change. She is continually inspired by all the creative and collaborative projects that are emerging, and over the past couple years has helped coordinate programs and events for Vancouver's 30 Days of Sustainability, A Loving Spoonful, Global Habitat Festival, Dunbar Salmonberry Days, Climate Cafes and most recently Transition United States. Shelby loves taking photos, baking bread, and fixing bikes and secretly wishes avocados were native to Nova Scotia!

Maeda Welch: After spending the past few years farming and gardening, Maeda has decided to take some time to stretch her legs and explore! What better way than as an Otesha participant! “I’m so excited for the adventures the beautiful east coast will bring while touring around by bicycle!” Maeda’s philosophies and motivations behind her involvement are simple: a delicate personal balance of knowledge concerning the current world situations - too much can be paralyzing, but just enough can be perfectly infuriating to spark and motivate into positive action!! YAHOO!!! “I love to bike, to laugh and to explore! So I am pumped to be a part of a community that will enjoy spreading the good word & contagious awareness & energy!!”

My, name is Karen McCullum. I am a full time student of Environmental Studies at a Canadian university, living west of Toronto, native of Ontario. I am an anglo-phone with bilingual ambitions, not very tall, and I don't like scary movies. I am super pumped to do this tour because I've never done a bike tour (although, I feel lost without a bike in everyday sort of gettin' around). I can't justify bringing a cumbersome guitar on the tour, but if one is procured I can play it alright and like many other tour members I am sure, I am looking forward to just living right outside of the box for the month long tour. I describe the tour comme ca, "It's sort of like a group of us are going from Moncton to Halifax via bike, like traveling minstrels bringing the message of sustainability around, and learning about the true meaning of sustainability ourselves, even as we teach it to others."

Zannah Matson: I'm a Toronto-based redhead that organizes the countless books on my bookshelves by color. I'm a dreamer who gets excited by new ideas and falls in love with abstract concepts like participation, equilibrium, and zero. One thing that remains the same throughout my life is that I love going places.  So, although I'm at the University of Toronto studying environmental sustainability and conflict in the urban context, my mind often wanders across the map to explore other fields and opportunities and connect with new and exciting people.

Heather K:  One day in 1983 a girl named Heather K came into the world aboard a mystical starship in the town of Beamsville, Ontario. Like all the other farm children, she grew up amongst the orchards and the willow trees and was known across town for her ability to construct elaborate kitty forts. When it was time for Heather K to float away she landed in a big university called Carleton, where she swam in the pool a lot, morphed into a vegetable-powered monkey and learned how to be a big kid when there were lots of essays due. After all that business was over she couldn't decide whether to live with the B.C mountain faeries or become a pineapple farmer in Hawaii, and so she did both for a while. She became an expert in growing and dispensing organic food to all the people she met and her love for this big thing we call mother earth grew bigger and bigger. She took a break to live on Vancouver Island and cook for all the other earth children who needed her love and affection. But the winds changed and Heather K packed up her accordion and her purple unitard into a big old car to venture back to the motherland of Ontario. Between her shifts at a wild hippie bakery she would slide through the Gatineau Hills aboard her new 2-wheeled steed, dreaming of how to build communities that live in harmony with this big blue planet. When she met the Otesha bunnies she said “Can I join your club and we can make bike magic together?” After it's all over Heather will adventure to the big city of Toronto to learn how to be a high school teacher while secretly aspiring to become an organic farmer with lots of goats and chickens and peaches. She loves her bicycle almost as much as she loves butter and jam on toast. She just wants to love and to laugh and to feed people with learning!

Holly Norris: I'm originally from Halifax, NS but am living in Peterborough, ON these days where I'm a third year student in the Environmental & Resource Studies and Women's Studies undergraduate programs at Trent University. I also work part time as a photojournalist covering local events. On the rare occasion I find myself with free time, I like riding my bike, swimming, taking photos for fun, sewing new stuff out of old stuff, "activism", wasting time on the internet, and wandering aimlessly.

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My name is Andrea Dorosh, and I live in Regina, Saskatchewan. The prairies are my home and while nothing can beat our expansive skies, I am often dreaming about mountains, forests and the ocean.  I’ve spent some time dappling with academics not really sure about where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do. I still can’t answer those questions – perhaps we never really can, but I chose to study Water Resources Engineering Technology about two years ago and I will happily be graduating this December. Aside from school, which takes up 99% of my life right now (slight exaggeration) I live with my cat Oliver, I spend a great deal of time in my kitchen, on my bike, on my yoga mat, swimming, running, walking, and loving each moment of life. I can’t wait to stick my feet in the Atlantic Ocean and to watch the sunrise this August!