Benjamin de Molliens: "commitment to the environment must be exciting"

In its element, the Ocean © manerawatermen

Hello Benjamin! It's great to have you in this newsletter on bicycle travel. You wear many hats in your life. Could you tell us a bit about your career and what you do for a living?

My name is Benjamin de Molliens, I live in Marseille, but I'm from Brittany and I'm proud to say it 🤗 !

I grew up in a large family, with four sisters and two parents who were former scout leaders, passionate abouthiking and van adventures. They were the ones who gave me the virus 🏕.

Then I went to engineering school and worked a lot abroad as a business developer in the digital sector, particularly in Silicon Valley.

In 2016, my first ecological trigger was plastic pollution. I wasn't very happy in my job and I wanted to launch a project combining adventure and environmental protection. That's how I joined Plastic Odyssey, a collective fighting against plastic pollution in the ocean.

Three years later, I left to found Expedition Zero, a series of sporting adventures.

Then I co-created Objective Zero, an agency that offers** conferences, workshops and eco-challenges **to raise awareness of sobriety, with Alice Isaac.

Buying new was out of the question for Benjamin. By sharing, lending and repairing, we equip ourselves perfectly ©**benexpeditionzero

**How did this vocation to make ecology the heart of your life come about?

It's a succession of small events. I've always been fascinated by nature and the wild. Whenever my parents took me into the mountains, I'd try to spot the chamois, which I've always adored.

I've also consumed nature by traveling all over the world, eating meat at almost every meal. But in San Francisco, as much as I loved the city, I didn't feel aligned with my work.

At the same time, I read more and more about ecology. In particular, I watched the documentary Océan, le mystère Plastique by the Tara Foundation and Demain, the film by Cyril Dion.

One thing led to another and I said to myself: my dream is to be an adventurer, but one that respects the environment. That's how I got involved in the Plastic Odyssey project. I was finally able to combine my passion and my convictions.

"Sobriety is one of the key solutions to this crisis".

With Thomas, aka @bonpote and @arthurauboeuf*aka @timefortheplanet ©*benexpeditionzero_

You advocate "adventure towards sobriety". What exactly does that mean?

Sobriety is one of the keys to this environmental and social crisis. No matter how much we turn the subject on its head, with green growth and techno-solutionism, the truth is that we consume too much. We need to slow down, except when it's urgent to rethink the model, like agro-ecology, which we absolutely must develop.

Sobriety is a voluntary, measured and planned slowdown. It's the opposite of poverty, which is suffered, unjust and violent, and prevents us from meeting our needs.

It means limiting our desires, to make more room for others, for nature, for the habitability of this planet.

These are healthy values: we drink less, smoke less, eat less meat, fly less. But we have more time, less need for money. We're less alienated, and healthier because we avoid stress and burn-out.

It's friendly, it's supportive, it's beautiful, and I really want to make it popular, even if it's complicated because we're constantly pushed to consume.

"Adventure is a strong link with nature".

Apéro-bromance in the Jura with @alexandremelot©benexpeditionzero_

How can adventure help you get into action to defend causes?

The ecological transition has to be exciting. In a society that's not moving in that direction, **it's hard, nerve-wracking, sometimes also boring, lonely and guilt-ridden. **

To make this commitment joyful, I used adventure. It kept me going over time, and gave me a sense of happiness and wonder. Adventure, especially sporting adventure in the great outdoors, generates a lot ofemotion.

What's more, it speaks to many people. With sport and adventure, you can capture people's attention beyond their convictions. We can raise their awareness, because we're in direct contact with the real consequences of environmental issues. We see glaciers melting, we experience drought and heat.

We are** essential witnesses**, and adventure is an incredible way of inspiring people to protect nature and have fun in a sober way.

"Cycling is a lesson in humility

that makes us realize we can have fun without breaking everything.

_ "Contemplate rather than exploit 🏔️❤️", the punchline that calms your CB direct ©benexpeditionzero_

**Do outdoor activities and cycling help us to become more eco-citizens and combat eco-anxiety? **

The purest way to get in touch with nature is to walk, because there are no barriers between us and living things. But cycling is also a brilliant medium. There's no one-tonne car to separate us from the wild. It's just a few kilos of steel that carry us along roads and trails. It creates a strong link with nature.

And then there's the resourcefulness of the bicycle, which remains a low-tech object (despite all the high-tech today). The old-fashioned bicycle is simple and sober, inexpensive and easy to repair.

Above all, the bicycle is therapeutic, because it makes us do effort, stroll, think... It's magic!

I'm 100% convinced that sport and adventure help combat eco-anxiety, because it's a kind of passage to action. Taking action makes you happy, and cycling is a physical and mental journey that helps you evolve, mature, get out of your comfort zone and change the way you look at the world.

It's a lesson inhumility that makes us realize we can have fun without breaking everything.

1000km to Glasgow with his friends from fresqueduclimat and the 2tonn workshop. We're not here to whistle pastis ©**benexpeditionzero

What's your best cycling adventure?

The very first one, from Brittany to Normandy. It was symbolically important, because I was joining my girlfriend, who was losing her nerve 600 km away, and these are two regions to which I'm very attached. I was delighted to discover the inland Brittany of my childhood, which I didn't know very well, having grown up on the coast.

The most grandiose trip in terms ofescape was to Glasgow for Cop 21. It was November, it was cold, it got dark early. But it was magical and crazy.

I drove through the superb English countryside, with its cottages. And the Scottish countryside, with its Highlands. They haven't made the monumental mistake we've made in France with intensive farming. Over there, there's still plenty of hedged farmland, hedgerows and country life. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

"The ecological transition must be exciting

".

_ He's freezing, but he's digging it ©benexpeditionzero_

The most mystical and moving?

In Scotland, I slept at someone's house one night, thanks to Warm Shower, an incredible network of cyclists. I contacted him at 9:00 p.m., and he welcomed me right away!

The next day, he left to join his wife in Scotland, 230 kilometers away. We rode the first 70 kms together in the pouring rain, crossing the border from England into France. He was ahead of me in the fog and the spray, and there was no stopping him. A machine! I took a lot, but I followed him, he was my guide. I loved this suspended moment.

"When I take out my comforter

, it's already the start of the adventure!

In positive influencer mode ©**benexpeditionzero

What are your rituals before you leave?

I'm super excited! What I like most is to get out my bivouac gear and my comforter, because it smells like the beginning of an adventure. I like my little Pinarello jersey that a young man gave me when he helped me repair my bike. I've been wearing it ever since. I also take my little cyclist, I like being naked in it, I don't know if it's right or not 😂. Anyway, I don't have too much of a ritual, it's just kiff!

So, are the greenies still dull? ©**benexpeditionzero

What unspeakable things do you like to do on your adventures?

The pee break, very nice! No, I'm just kidding 😇. I like to stop for a bite to eat in a little café. When I travel, I don't give myself any limits other than not buying packaged things. I treat myself in bakeries: chocolate éclairs, religieuses, almond croissants... 😋

"One of the big pleasures of bike travel: eating pastries

"

No, Benjamin didn't win the lottery. He's celebrating his "diagonale du fou", a run across the Massif des Écrins (who said crazy?!) ©**benexpeditionzero

What equipment do you use when you travel?

I take a bike that's half gravel, half randonnee. I put my phone on the front to keep track of where I'm going, even if I try not to be on it all the time. I like the Komoot app. I have my frame bag, my water bottles in the frame, my front bag in which I put the tent. I also have a saddlebag, in which I store my tent, mattress and a few tools, and... it's really useful!

"I started out by overcoming my fear of missing out, by saying to myself, go ahead, go for it, you've only got one pass on earth!

**How do you become an eco-adventurer? **

I embarked on a short trip after deconfinement. I told people about it on the internet, and it made my friends laugh. I had a little financial help from Covid because I'd lost my freelance assignments. So I gave myself six months to do some adventures, to see if they caught people's attention. I did three adventures, one by bike, one by hiking and one by stand-up paddle.

The Alpine crossing on foot went down really well, with thousands of people subscribing to my account, certainly because I was authentic. It attracted a lot of media attention.

During the second confinement, I launched the #nettoietonkm challenge, inviting people to take advantage of their daily outing to pick up litter within a one-kilometer radius of their home. It created a huge buzz and propelled me forward.

Then, in December 2020, I was asked to give a talk. Little by little, I was able to make a living from it. It's incredible, because it's nothing but happiness.

How did I do it? I don't really know. I think I accepted that I wasn 't afraid of missing out. I said to myself: "Go for it, you've only got one pass on earth, do what you dream of!".

Who said sobriety rhymes with depressed? (Ok it rhymes in real life, but not philosophically 😂!) ©**benexpeditionzero

"My message to Macron: stop worshipping the car

and develop cycling and the train, it's the only real thing for tomorrow!"

**Can you do that with a very relative level of sport and children? **

Yes, I'm convinced of it. I'm not Mike Horn, I've totally deconstructed this imposter syndrome. What interests people is not that you're breaking records, but that you're telling a story. Look at Hélène Binet, from MakeSense, who's setting off with her family, it looks magical, same for the 2 Bike 3.

In the end, the simple act of setting off by bike to make a bivouac close to home, 99% of people don't do it. So when they do, it creates curiosity and an opportunity to do something with it, a job, a personal project. Who cares if you're the best? Accessibility may not be as "Wahou" as records, but it allows as many people as possible to identify with it.

What, there's more to life than cycling? ©**benexpeditionzero

"The little queen must become the king program!

"

Do you have a message for Emmanuel Macron about cycling and the environment?

The little queen must become the king of programs! We need to tax jet fuel to the hilt and use all that money to develop cycling and rail travel. It's good for the environment, good for your health and good for your wallet.

A country that has well meshed its transport network and makes cycling practical, accessible and easy is a country that **wins in the medium-to-long term. **

Music for bike trips: Petit Pays, by Gaël Faye, but also electro, French music 💙. That said, I listen to very little music when I travel by bike, because I prefer to hear the sounds of nature 🍀.

A great read to discover bike travel: Bike snob, chroniques d'un fou de vélo, by Ben Weiss, a superb book by a bike enthusiast.