In the midst of our busy preparation for 350 EARTH this weekend, we got a wonderful email from some friends in Utah who've embarked on an incredible project.

They're walking in search of hope–and their story inspires hope in me. They've combined a love of the planet, of people, of deep creative thinking, and spiritualty. Guided by sages like Rebecca Solnit and Bill McKibben, Ryan and Jamie Pleune are walking 350 miles through Utah. At the end of each mile, they take a lovely photo postcard. They're spreading the word about 350, one mile at a time.

Here's a selection from their blog:

"I began calling our walk a "pilgrimage for hope."  In the face of bleak headlines about climate change, I  found hope difficult to grasp, and I thought that this journey might lead me to a wellspring of it.  A third of the way through the journey, I still do not know if I will find hope.  But its absence is less painful.  Now, different words in Solnit's description catch my eye.  To "unite belief with action, thinking with doing."  Perhaps pilgrimages are merely training grounds.  The real journey begins when we return home primed to act rather than wring our hands.  Too, pilgrimages offer perspective on the meaning of "action."  Every step, no matter how small (and I took some very small steps during the past 118 miles) is an action."

And for a selection of their mile-commemorating postcards, watch this:

First Third of Pilgrimage for Hope – 118 of 350 miles from Ryan and Jamie Pleune on Vimeo.