2013 Press Releases
1500km walk raises vital funds
A UCC student has returned just in time to continue his studies after an epic 1,500km journey. What motivated Gregor Herda to walk from Dresden to Cork?
Hot on the heels of Cork native Robert Heffernan's momentous win at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow, UCC student Gregor Herda has walked away with a slightly different, but no less epic outcome. The vision? To search ‘for the places in-between’ whilst raising funds in an environmentally conscious manner for a charity dedicated to fighting blindness. Completing the feat is made all the more special given Gregor Herda has Retinitis Pigmentiosa (RP), a progressive hereditary condition affecting sight.
Gregor, who is about to start the final year of his Master's Degree in Planning and Sustainable Development at UCC, began his walk from Germany on June 21st. Coining it ‘The Conscious Commute’, he has kept an uplifting and humourous blog of his experiences as he travelled through vast swathes of Germany, the Netherlands, England, Wales and Ireland (see http://theconsciouscommute.weebly.com/journal.html)
Gregor was diagnosed with RP a number of years ago and became aware of Fighting Blindness last year through their project Target 3000. The national project aims to offer genetic screening to the estimated 3,000 people affected by a retinal degenerative condition in Ireland.
Clodagh Ryan, Senior Fundraising Manager with Fighting Blindness said “this walk is an unbelievable undertaking and we have been blown away by Gregor’s amazing determination and generosity in supporting Fighting Blindness in this way. We are delighted to be involved with Gregor’s adventure and looking forward to meeting with him when he returns”.
Not only does he continue to raise badly needed funds for Fighting Blindness, he has highlighted in a big way that we can all take small steps towards reducing our carbon footprint.
“The idea of walking from my hometown Dresden to Cork where I live and study originated from an idle moment's calculation in March 2013”, says Gregor.
“I wanted to know my carbon footprint from taking the bus to work everyday in 2012 and compare it to the carbon footprint of somebody single-commuting the same distance by car. The answer back then was 203kg of CO2 for the 6km bus ride compared to 410kg for the car commute. Naturally, I felt fairly good about myself”.
“Then I calculated my carbon footprint from flying back home to Germany three times during the course of the same year to visit my family. Suddenly, my carbon emissions skyrocketed to more than 1.3 tons of CO2. Who was I kidding?”
“The ease and affordability of modern transport had allowed me to move 1500km away from my family, knowing that to go home would mean spending a mere 12 hours on the road whilst suffering through a few in-flight commercials. All the while, I was happily convinced of my fairly low impact life-style, walking everywhere and reducing waste wherever I could. Yet, I was fooling myself. Sometimes, numbers can be a wonderful consciousness-raiser”.
“While this walk may not make much of a dint in my carbon balance, I hope it will allow me to discover the stretches of land in-between my two 'points of commute' and gain some insight into what I may have missed due to the luxury of modern flight”.
He has kept his ultimate goal in his sights however.
“Experiencing sight loss due to Retinitis Pigmentosa myself, I would like to use this walk to raise funds for the outstanding work of Fighting Blindness, an Irish charity with a vision to cure blindness, support those experiencing sight loss and empower patients”.
Brendan O’Sullivan, Director, Centre for Planning Education and Research, UCC praised the 26-year-old: “Gregor is one of the highly motivated, talented and interesting set of graduate students that take part in the planning and sustainable development programme here in UCC. Coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines Gregor and his classmates - aspiring young members of the planning profession - bring a fresh and dynamic perspective to the challenges of making vibrant, just and sustainable places for the twenty-first century".
"For too long, discussions about planning in this country have been tainted by shady political practices and a focus on short-term speculation on land and the exploitation of natural assets. However, it is evident from Gregor’s amazing journey - and from the observations and ideas that he shares with us on his blog - that this is a thoughtful, creative and highly ethical profession with a deep concern for the environment, society and equitable forms of development. These are young people with important things to say about the future of our world: communities, politicians, and business people would do well to cherish their skills, ideas and professional advice: both in good times and in difficult times; in the crisis-ridden cities and towns of richer countries, in the rapidly growing cities of the developing world and all of the landscapes and regions in between”.
Those wishing to support Gregor’s journey and Fighting Blindness can do so here: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/onfootfromdresdentocork/