Alex pierrot
Co-Founder and director of Climate Explorers
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Alex is a survivor of severe clinical depression with suicidal intent. After attending a psychiatric hospital in spring 2019, he felt invigorated by his new lease on life. The outdoors had always been a key part in helping him maintain and improve his physical and mental health. Frustrated at not being an actor in the environmental space, he was determined to work together with Isaac to make a positive impact.
The Pedal 4 Parks project was his first ever expedition. Whilst he had some experience mountain-biking in Western Europe, Alex’s only prior road cycling feat of note was completing the RideLondon100 in 2019. Beforehand, he was a keen rugby player and powerlifter. The rest of the team helped him return to the strong fitness level he had prior to his depression, and he was able to accomplish a feat he could never even had imagined possible when at his lowest just two years prior. Alex is now glad that he can now provide insight, inspiration, and hope to others who are suffering from similar mental health issues.
Alex’s core motivation is twofold. On a personal level, he wishes to discover the limits of his mental and physical endurance. Externally, he is very keen to promote the importance of rapidly scaling up climate solutions in the face of the current climate change emergency we are faced with. Inspiring others to spend more time in and care for natural environments is key to him, and his lack of a driving licence at 27 is testament to his commitment to the bicycle as a main mode of transport.
His full-time work is as an IT Infrastructure Engineer for the trading company MAKO, who sponsored the Pedal 4 Parks project. Alex holds a first class honours Masters in Physics from Royal Holloway, University of London. Find out more about him on his website.
WHY did you want to create climate explorers?
“Growing up, I was a very academically minded child, and spent a lot of time with my head stuck in books, and later computer screens. Time spent in the outdoors hiking, cycling and playing team sports have always been dear to me to maintain a balanced approach to life and feel at my best. This was made even clearer to me when I went through a seriously debilitating episode of clinical depression, which led me to spend three weeks in a psychiatric hospital in the spring of 2019. One of my strongest desires as soon as I began to feel better and think clearer was to spend as much time outside as possible! Since then, time spent in nature has been essential to my recovery, and I feel duty-bound to help others enrich their mental health in the same way. During the dark times, I reflected a lot on what truly matters to me and how I can best help society at large – my goal with Climate Explorers is to inspire everyone to take action and help accelerate a transition to a world that works with nature rather than against it.”