SCARBOROUGH – From his window in the Maine Medical Partners office in Scarborough, Dr. Stephen Kirsch has a view of where the Eastern Trail dead-ends at the Nonesuch River. An avid bicyclist, Kirsch has often dreamed of bridging that gap and linking the path he rides so often to South Portland’s Greenbelt Trail, completing the loop from Bug Light to Kennebunk.

He’d also like to get bikes off the trail and on the roads, with a dedicated lane on Route 1 through town.

Both are lofty goals, Kirsch knows, but last week he shot right past both targets to an even higher calling. From Sept. 23-25, Kirsch took part in the fifth annual Climate Ride, joining 182 other bicyclists on a 300-mile trek from New York City to Washington, D.C., where they lobbied Congressional staffers on a bill designed to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions.

“The whole purpose of the ride was to raise awareness,” said Kirsch. “I would hope people would see that there is concern about climate change and its impact and that we need to do something going forward soon.”

By coincidence, the ride coincided with the release last week of a report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which concluded with “95 percent certainty” that, “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed [global] warming since the mid-20th century.”

Created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization as a working group of the United Nations Environment Program, the intergovernmental panel found that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased to levels “unprecedented” in the last 800,000 years. Carbon dioxide concentrations, in particular, have increased by 40 percent since pre-industrial times, “primarily from fossil fuel emissions,” the report says, noting that the oceans have absorbed about 30 percent of the anthropogenic, or man-made, carbon dioxide, causing increased acidification of the seas.

“Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed; the amount of snow and ice has diminished; the global mean sea level has risen; and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased,” said Qin Dahe, co-chairman of the panel.

However, the report has its critics. Chip Knappenberger, assistant director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, was quoted last week in the Washington Free Beacon, saying, “There is a growing discrepancy between what real-world observations are telling us about the evolution of the climate under increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and climate model simulations of that evolution.”

For example, Knappenberger noted that despite climate models cited by the panel, global warming appears to have stalled during the past 15 years. Additionally, this week the BBC reported that the long-retreating Arctic ice cap actually grew 29 percent in the past year.

Still, despite any lingering doubt by naysayers of the United Nations’ climate working group, Kirsch, a 46-year-old family practitioner, is adamant that global warming is real, and needs to be combated.

“As I see every day in the health world, our climate has a vast impact on things from skin cancer rates to the tragedies that result from super storms,” he said. “Certainly, the concentration of carbon dioxide is at a level that’s not been seen since humans have existed. It’s become clear to me that steps must be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“The Climate Ride has much to do with my kids,” agreed Joshua Denk, 41, a designer of online courses for Underwriters Laboratories from Portland, who also made the journey. “I need to do everything I can to turn climate policy around in a major way at the highest levels and in the most public ways so that they will have an environment and a world to continue to protect.

“There’s no place where our legacy as a generation will be more obvious than what we did to control and mitigate global warming,” said Denk. “I want to be a part of how the conversation turns, how we face up to the challenge rather than ignoring it. My kids deserve that.”

Like all climate riders, Kirsch and Denk each paid a $75 registration fee and then raised at least $2,400 to participate in the event. Each rider can choose where his or her dollars are donated.

Kirsch rode with a Utah-based team that included his sister, Britte Kirsch, and six other riders from the National Parks Conservation Association, raising $22,000 for that group’s efforts.

Denk wasn’t affiliated with a team but spread his proceeds among environmental advocacy group 350.org, the National Resources Defense Council, and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

According to Climate Ride organizers, this year’s event raised nearly $500,000 for more than 60 environmental and “active transportation” organizations, working in the realms of sustainability, renewable energy, climate control, public health and bicycle advocacy.

“This was our biggest ride yet, and the largest charitable ride for the environment ever,” said Caeli Quinn, executive director and co-founder of the event. “Climate Ride brings together innovators, entrepreneurs, green leaders and everyday people to learn, share ideas and raise funds for their favorite green organizations. You get the best of a conference, you get in shape, and you have a chance to give back to your community.”

“One of the best things about Climate Ride is that we’re showcasing the bicycle as one solution to climate change,” said event co-founder Geraldine Carter. “Climate Ride helps make the connection that fewer cars on the road can lead to a more sustainable future.”

“It was a very good and very diverse group of people who participated, from avid riders to people who had just taken up bicycling this spring just to take part in this ride,” said Kirsch. “And, with family and friends joining us for the last leg from Georgetown to the Capitol building, you can imagine that we shut down the city for a little while.”

At the Capitol, Kirsch and Denk met for 30 minutes with legislative aides for Rep. Chellie Pingree and Sen. Angus King, both of Maine, to advocate for greater bicycle use and to present ideas they hope will be inserted into climate bills now before Congress, including a tax on carbon-based fuels that would increase over time and lead to subsidies designed to encourage the expansion of renewable energy sources.

“It was really nice to meet with people in Washington and have them be enthused about what we were doing,” said Kirsch. “Even though the ride is over, it’s not like these problems are going away.”

Dr. Stephen Kirsh of Scarborough holds his bike aloft in front of the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 25 following a 300-mile, three-day ride from New York City to raise awareness of global climate change as part of the fifth annual “Climate Ride.”

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