An angry grizzly bear isn’t the first hurdle one expects to encounter in the fight for tougher greenhouse gas emission standards, but for Malkolm Boothroyd it could be good practice before meeting politicians in Ottawa.

Boothroyd stopped at the Alberta Legislature last week to drum up support for Pedal for the Planet, an organization seeking a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.

“Cycling past bears, though it’s nerve wracking, isn’t as bad as the terrible impact climate change is having,” says the 17-year-old Boothroyd who embarked on his three-month journey to Ottawa after watching the effects of global warming ravage the local wildlife population and habitat near his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon.

Despite his young age, Boothroyd’s parents support his endeavour, and he explains that the responsibility to insight change on climate control legislation lies largely with Canadian youth.

“Climate change is not just an environmental issue, it’s a human issue and it’s seriously going to affect my generation,” he says.

While in Edmonton, Pedal for the Planet asked people to show their support by signing the KYOTOplus petition. To date Linda Duncan is the only Albertan MP to have signed, and when asked what she had to say to other MPs who haven’t signed yet she told them to, “get with it. It’s just friggin’ embarrassing. I mean everybody else in the universe is on board and now we’re in league with Russia.”

Boothroyd will join cyclists from Vancouver in Calgary before continuing on to Ottawa.