Isn’t it great when you can save green and go green at the same time?

Sopo Bike Cooperative in Atlanta

For serious and recreational bicyclists, bike cooperatives across the country are meeting that need. They offer tools to fix your bike, volunteers to teach you how and the support to keep riding. Cooperatives are located in nearly every major city and supported by volunteers, grants and donations.

Atlanta’s Sopo Bicycle Cooperative opened four years ago when one of the founders needed a $40 bike tool  and felt there should be a bike co-op to allow folks to share tools and expertise.

“It’s just a bunch of people interested in cycling,” said Dianna Settles,  Sopo’s volunteer coordinator and a Georgia State University student.

Since most traditional bike stores in Atlanta are north of Ponce De Leon Street, there was a big need to teach people to do bike maintenance south of Ponce. Hence the name – SoPo. The East Atlanta area also has a fair share of lower income residents who need reliable transportation.

The shop runs a youth program during the summer, but it also draws seniors, recreational bikers and commuters.

“It’s a pretty diverse crowd of people and the way the economy is right now it makes more sense to ride a bike,” Settles said. Adding that maintenance on a bike is also cheaper than car maintenance.

Sugggested donations are $5 per part and $5 per hour for use of the tools. Everyone seems happy to comply. And no one is turned away if they don’t have the money. They barter with volunteer time, food and other creative swaps.

The cooperative operates under three mantras:

• Each one teach one
• Right tool for the right job
• Bicycles make the world a better place

One of the rules is “never take a tool out of someone’s hand. We will show someone or get another volunteer’s help. We have books and different manuals,” she said.

On a recent Thursday evening, bicyclists of all shapes and sizes spilled out into Sopo’s parking lot. Bike stands were set up to hold the bikes while making repairs and every spot was filled. The shop is open three nights a week and Saturday afternoon. It’s housed behind a record shop in an up-and-coming urban village of Atlanta.

Bartender Kate Crosby stopped by to work on her bike and met fellow cyclist Stacey Sayles.

Stacey Sayles helps Kate Crosby fix her bike

“This is my second time. I had a flat and need to know how to change a flat,” said Crosby, who works nearby. She drives a “big ole’ truck” and needed to use her antique touring bike for the exercise and to be a little greener.

Sayles calls himself a bike fanatic and relies on two wheels for nearly all his transportation needs. He moved from New Orleans to Atlanta six months ago and said New Orleans has a similar bike co-op.

Longtime volunteer Dana Scott enjoys helping people with their bikes.

“I like teaching people the bike mechanics so they can do it themselves,” said Scott, who uses his bike for commuting, recreation and shopping.

Settles, the volunteer coordinator, agreed.

“We’re all here to help the community, fix bikes and make friends,” Settles said.

To find a bike co-op in your city, check out the International Bicycle Fund website, which also offers tips for Pushing the Green Envelope whilst biking.

For more tips on keeping green while biking see the Intern

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Green things are starting to shadow us wherever we go, leaping out in unexpected places. Like at the gas station.

Yet this green creep seems so normal. Read our picto-blog and you’ll see what we mean.

This sign, touting how Tom Thumb’s gas stations are now wind-powered, pretty much speaks for itself.

Talk about energy and inspiration. Look at these folks taking control of their neighborhood in Baltimore. They were contributing to the Project Orange Thumb makeover this week of the Oliver area. The project, sponsored by Fiskars and Home Depot, will beautify the neighborhood and provide it with a community veggie garden. How literally green, and smart.

Speaking of neighborhoods, if yours doesn’t smile on exposed laundry lines, try hiding the clothes behind a bush, tastefully hung on a fence. Call it a green outdoor art experience.

And speaking of art, we spotted this très cool bike rack in downtown Chicago. We don’t know where it came from. But we know a bike rack when we see it.

(Photo credits: Oliver park, Fiskars Project Orange Thumb; all others, GreenRightNow)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Fashion Institute of Technology student Jessica Velasquez can soon cycle in style, her own style, after winning a contest to design a jacket, poncho and bag suitable for fashion-conscious bike commuters.

Her winning designs for the “Bike in Style” contest were unveiled this week as the city launched its Summer Streets program, which promotes biking and walking.

The contest and the Summer Streets are both part of Mayor Bloomberg’s program to foster greener practices in the city — and their pairing serves notice that greenie New Yorkers won’t be sacrificing any style impulses to the eco-Gods.

Summer Streets is a celebration of a 6.9-mile route from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park for people to run, bike and walk. It will feature special activities on three Saturday mornings in August, starting on this Saturday the 8th followed by the 15th and 22nd.

The program and the “Bike in Style” contest are being supported by luxury goods firm LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the NYC Department of Transportation and the city of New York. (See Velasquez with a model wearing the jacket she designed, above.)

The contest challenged student designers from the Fashion Institute of Technology to create “stylish, practical and affordable bike gear.” The DKNY division of LVMH-owned Donna Karan International (DKI) mentored the FIT students and developed the prototypes of the winning designs.

Said LVMH Inc. Chairman Renaud Dutreil: “As a citizen company, LVMH is proud to support the efforts of the city and its agencies; this project illustrates the power of public-private collaboration. We remain dedicated to supporting initiatives that enrich people’s lives, improve their health and reinforce New York’s position as a fashion capital.”

LVMH brands include wines and spirits (Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon), apparel and accessories (Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Fendi, Emilio Pucci, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Berluti, StefanoBi), parfums (Christian Dior, Givenchy) and watches and jewels (Christian Dior watches, De Beers Diamond Jewellers Ltd).

(Photo credit: LVMH)

Green-minded visitors to northern Colorado should consider a tour of the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins. New Belgium, best known for its Fat Tire Amber Ale brand, is one of the most environmentally progressive breweries in the world. The brewery has used wind-powered electricity since 1999, and green-design methods have been incorporated throughout the company. I visited the headquarters on a recent trip and discovered that many aspects of company life are dedicated to sustainability.

New Belgium sponsors a charity bike-and-music event called “Tour de Fat” in eleven cities in the United States, including Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis and Portland, that encourages people to trade their car for a bike, at least for a day. At Tour de Fat events, beer is served in compostable cups, and  performers take to a solar-powered stage. (A Tour de Fat schedule is online.)

Cycling has long been part of New Belgium’s corporate culture. Before he founded the company, Jeff Lebesch went on a tour of Belgian breweries, traveling through Europe in 1989 on a mountain bike, a rarity at the time. Many people commented on the “fat tires” he used, which inspired the name of Fat Tire Amber Ale. Today, employees of New Belgium each receive a mountain bike on the one-year anniversary of their hire date. They are encouraged to use the bikes to commute to work, thus reducing their carbon footprints. Outside the headquarters, dozens of bikes are lined up, looking well-used.

Tours of the brewery are free, and they are offered several days per week. One of the first things visitors notice is the beautiful pine wood used throughout the building, on ceilings, walls and floors. The wood has a bluish tint, meaning it’s “beetlekill” wood. Throughout Colorado, thousands of acres of lodgepole pines have been lost to a pine bark beetle infestation. The beetle injects a fungus into the trees, which tints the wood blue. Using the wood is a way to utilize these dead trees, the tour guide explained.

The most impressive sight on the tour is the gigantic “Merlin” brewing kettle, the size of a school bus. Traditional brew kettles heat the wort (unfermented beer, the liquid that comes from mashing grains) in a giant kettle that heats from the bottom, similar to how you heat a pan of water on the kitchen stove.

The Merlin, made by the Germany company Steinecker, has a huge cone-shaped heating element standing inside the vast cylindrical kettle. The liquid heats more quickly than in a traditional kettle because the heating surface is much larger, and the wort heats from the center out. Since the wort heats faster, the brew kettle uses less energy than traditional methods.

Every brewery produces a large amount of wastewater as a result of the brewing process. New Belgium built its own water-treatment plant, which includes anaerobic digestion. The company also uses the methane produced by the plant to generate electricity and heat. As it continues to work on new ways to save energy, New Belgium plans to install a solar photovoltaic array.

Best of all for visitors, each brewery guest 21 and up can sample four types of beer for free, in the first-floor bar called the “Liquid Center.” Most visitors start with the Fat Tire, and then move on to try other flavors, like Sunshine Wheat, Skinny Dip and Blue Paddle.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

As Earth Day approaches, one of the most significant things you can do is to help a child celebrate nature and embrace a greener lifestyle. Here are ten ideas for creating a fun and meaningful Earth Day celebration.

1 – Picnic (with local food)

Get outdoors and enjoy a snack with the squirrels and ants. To really get the most out of this, take your favorite kid(s) to the market in preparation and let them search out local healthy foods. Even young kids can participate, choosing the apples, veggies and cheeses they want to include. So introduce them to the farmer’s market or local foods section of your neighborhood grocery. Look for organic and lower your impact by using reusable dinnerware and plates, or biodegradable paper plates.

Then head to your favorite city park or nearest lakeside picnic spot to relax. Note the trees, the wildlife, the wonderful spring flora, the plastic bags wafting in the breeze…what!? Be a good scout and pick up a bit of trash during your visit.

(Photo credit: Sebcz/Dreamstime.com)

Columbus, Ohio. It’s not the first place you think of when green cities come to mind. Or the second or the third.

Indeed, there’s a whole string of burgs more strongly associated with sustainability. There’s Boulder with its rock solid commitment to community gardens, organic food mecca Eugene and all wind-powered Austin. The U.S. has many traditional pockets of non-tradition paying daily homage to the green spirit.

But now here comes Columbus — and Little Rock, and Raleigh, and Sioux Falls. These regular-folks towns are getting their green groove on too. They’re setting up sustainability offices, buying biodiesel buses, hosting solar car events and designing new bike lanes.

Take Columbus. Set in the middle of middle America, no one really expects it to be a green leader. But the world around is changing — no Rust Belt city needs a lesson on that — and the capital city of Ohio sees how the green future can be cleaner, more economical and seed a more robust job market.

The city is trying to seize those new green jobs and that cleaner air with a variety of approaches. But it has a particular penchant for biking. Driven by Mayor Michael B. Coleman (that’s him in the black jacket and blue helmet above riding to work on Bike-To-Work Week in May), the city aspires to become a national center of biking (sharing the spotlight of course with veterans like Seattle). It is planning to double its existing 62-mile trail system and intends to connect those new bike paths to each other in smart ways, assuring two-wheel commuters that biking can be convenient, reliable and safe from surrounding motor traffic.

The city’s Pedal Instead program already is winning converts at recreational events. More than 2,000 bikers used bike corrals at city festivals and Ohio State Football games last year. A Columbus report claims the bikers saved 1,000 gallons of gasoline and 18,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, though how they measured this is anyone’s guess.

Let’s just say that biking saves a LOT of gasoline. And it helps tune your  cardiovascular system while aiding the environment, a far better plan than eating french fries in your idling vehicle.

“Spreading bicycle use goes hand in hand with sustainable transportation. It’s good for people’s health and is a low-cost way to reduce pollution,” said Gary Gardner, a senior researcher for the Worldwatch Institute and the author of a “Vital Signs Update” on bike transportation released today by the Worldwatch Institute.

Gardner found that bicycle production was up 3.2 percent in 2007, and that an increasing number of cities are expanding bike-sharing plans worldwide. Paris, for instance, installed 20,000 bikes at 1,450 rental stations.

Because our cars (and houses) produce the vast majority of our personal contribution to greenhouse gases (* transportation accounts for 32 percent, and housing 35 percent),  getting people off the road and onto the bike trails seems like a great priority for cities.

So Columbus, lead us to the promised land.

(* See The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists, for more details on how households contribute to global warming and can reduce their carbon imprint.)

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Hazardous chemicals are on hiatus, bottled water is out and bikes are in at the Democratic Convention in Denver, where organizers are seizing the opportunity to green the festivities this week.

As some 10,000 delegates, volunteers, politicos and media people converge on the Mile High city, they’ll be quenching their thirst at “hydration stations” or water fountains serving Denver tap water (inside and outside the Pepsi Center) instead of grabbing the once ubiquitous and landfill-clogging plastic water bottles that have been the norm at big gatherings.

Yes, what’s old is new again, and conventioneers have already been drinking from the well, so to speak, at weekend events where the non-profit water utility Denver Water provided a truck of chilled agua to refill water bottles. The new approach has been “incredibly well received” by those attending the pre-Convention activities, said Donna Pacetti, the local government conservation coordinator with Denver Water. “They love it. It’s cold water. We keep it chilled so it comes out at about 38-40 degrees.”

Convention goers also will find themselves with another back-to-basics choice, with 1,000 bicycles available free-of-charge for short carbon-free hops around top, courtesy of Humana and the Bikes Belong Coalition.

The health giant and the bike-advocacy group teamed up for the Freewheelin’
program to demonstrate a more healthful mode of transportation that’s especially suitable for the short trips that conventioneers will be taking between hotels, restaurants and meeting areas.

As of Monday morning, visitors (and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper who helped kick off the program) had taken 350 bike trips on the loaner fleet, logging just under two miles with each trip, said Avery Stonich
Marketing and Communications Director with Bikes Belong. Coincidentally, that’s in keeping with national statistics that show about 40 percent of all trips Americans take are under two miles, and could be converted to bike instead of car trips, Ms. Stonich said.

The group hopes that their bikes, donated by six manufacturers, will log a total of 10,000 rides and 25,000 miles between the Democratic Convention this week (Aug. 25-28) and the GOP Convention in St. Paul (Sept. 1-4), where Humana and Bikes Belong also will provide free bikes.

“We’re just trying to help people understand that bicycling is a great way to get around for short trips,” she said, noting that bicycling is expedient, healthful and green.

“Just like one voter can impact the outcome of an election, one cyclist can help significantly reduce the environmental impact that our lifestyles have had on the planet,” said Jonathan T. Lord, M.D., Humana senior vice president and chief innovation officer, in a news release. “Bike sharing has been popular overseas for years, and is an easy way for Americans to integrate healthy living and environmental conservation into every day life.”

And even those who need to suit up for the political events should be able to take advantage of the program, which is providing trouser straps, in addition to the complimentary helmets, and pre-registration.

“I’m standing outside the Hyatt and I just saw two people pull up in suits on their bikes,” Ms. Stonich said, noting that Denver is a bike friendly city with marked bike lanes, bike/car lanes and biking paths.

Another green statement being made at the DNC gathering concerns toxic chemicals in our home environment, specifically Triclosan, controversial chemical found in antibacterial soaps and in dozens of other consumer products that may cause immunological problems, even cancer susceptibility in humans, according to the Environmental Working Group.

The EWG says that “soap and water” does a better job than the antimicrobial products containing Triclosan, and that the synthetic chemical, that’s been in use in personal products for some 30 years, may be contributing to the rise of “Super Germs.” Its online guide to Triclosan, which also is known to persist in the environment, lists some of the household products in which the chemical is used and summarizes concerns about it.

The DNC convention will not be providing hand sanitizers with Triclosan, but will be featuring a healthier, more natural sanitizer from a company called CleanWell, via dispensers set up at the Pepsi Center.

A convention press release touts CleanWell as the only “poison free” hand sanitizer that doesn’t pollute the environment.

CleanWell products, confirms found Dr. Larry Weiss, are formulated from plant-based hand soaps and sanitizers that rely on natural methods to fight germs.

Yet they can sanitize as well as synthetics, even killing the super strep strain MRSA, says Weiss, a physician. Specifically, the CleanWell sanitizer is derived from “plants that have been part of the environment in which we, as a species, have evolved.

“In fact,” he said, “these plants (thyme and oregano) which are ubiquitous are common ingredients in the Mediterranean diets which is one of the healthiest known.”

Other green activities at the convention include using biodegradable trash bags and lower-impact food containers; extensive recycling of paper, plastic and aluminum beverage containers by Coca-Cola Recycling (yeah — yuck-yuck at the Pepsi Center); a program that helped hotels switch to key cards made of birch waste instead of plastic; and efforts to track the convention’s overall carbon imprint.

DNC leaders have “challenged” delegations traveling to the convention to offset their carbon debt as part of the effort to maintain a carbon-neutral convention; but it’s unclear how effective that will be. Earlier feedback on that plan suggested that many of the state delegations might not come through with flying green colors.

Finally, like every good group or event that “goes green” the DNC published its own “green tips” for Denver visitors (though heavy web traffic prevented us from opening them).

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media