Meeting Miss Liza

A few weeks ago I received a message from a colleague who runs a neighborhood environmental organization doing great work in our community. She forwarded on an e-mail she'd received from the family of a 14-year-old planning an ambitious trip in support of a great cause. Liza Stoner, an 8th-grader at City of Lakes Waldorf School in Minneapolis, will be riding her bike nearly 1,600 miles to Washington, D.C. to deliver a petition to Congress urging passage of legislation regarding electric vehicles.

I dedicated the fourth issue of my Shifting Gears column to Liza and her trip. It gave me the opportunity to speak with Liza, her mother, her teacher and her cycling coach. I titled the story that resulted Miss Liza Goes To Washington, and it ran as a feature story in the Southwest Journal. Please click the link above to read it, then check out Liza's web site at www.rideforrenewal.org (and consider signing her petition).

You can also watch a video interview of Liza on KARE 11, a local Minneapolis television station. Finally, there will be a story soon in the Star Tribune. I'm pleased to be able to say, however, that I got the story first -- thanks to the tip from Felicity Britton at Linden Hills Power & Light!

Good luck Liza!