Bike To Mason Day

By Broadside Staff Writer Tina Miller

A Transportation and Sustainability Fair took place among the many events of George Mason University’s celebration of Earth Week. The fair was held in the Johnson Center North Plaza on Mason’s Fairfax campus last Tuesday and consisted of a number of tables with information on different pro-environmental organizations.

Each organization was unique in its effort to help the environment. Many of the organizations pertained to biking, but they were not limited to the promotion of the alternative transportation.

As one of the coordinators of the event, Sustainability Coordinator Lenna Storm was at the event where she discussed different ideas to the bicyclists and about how much of an eco-friendly impact bicycling makes on the enviroment.
Represented at one of the tables was the bike shop, Bikes @ Vienna.

“The reason we’re here is there’s a huge potential for people to ride to [Mason],” said Bruce Ray from Bikes @ Vienna.

Because the fair was held on the same day as Bike to Mason Day, Bikes @ Vienna came to Mason to give free bike tune-ups to anyone who rode their bike to Mason that day.

Also performing bike tune-ups was Oasis Bike Works, which is a newer bicycle shop that is less than two years old. It is run by Mason alumni and provides a local atmosphere for Mason students living and biking in the area.

As part of the event, a brand new bicycle was decorated with green ribbons to be raffled off to a random winner.

“We donated the bike for the grand prize raffle of Bike To Mason Day,” said Oasis Bike Works co-owner, David Hartford. Oasis Bike Works is located in downtown Fairfax, Va.

REI, an outdoor recreation gear store, came from Fairfax Corner to do bike tune-ups and promote their special events in Northern Virginia. They also promoted the REI Outdoor School, which offers courses in climbing, cycling, hiking, navigation, paddling and photography.

However, not every bike group was at the fair for tune-ups. The organization Bikes for the World was there collecting used bikes to donate to those around the world who cannot afford a bicycle.

According to their Web site, BikesForTheWorld.org, “Bikes for the World is a sponsored project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.”

Keith Oberg, director of Bikes for the World, was present at the fair, and collected more than 33 bicycles that day. At the fair, the various bicycles that were collected included children’s and adult bikes, which are going to be delivered to people in Puerto Rico.

Another bicycle organization that was there helping humanity was Tour de Cure, sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. Tour de Cure is a race held on June 8 this year, and will raise awareness and money to cure diabetes.

“One of three people will develop diabetes if current trends don’t change, so we’re trying to spread the word,” said Alan Kissick, who was representing the table at the fair. One of the current Tour de Cure teams has 16 people, six of which are students or faculty from Mason.

One group that approached environmentalism from a different angle promoted fostering a vegan diet. The organization had a table of samples, which featured vegan cookies and many pamphlets on vegan living. The pamphlets included certain titles such as, “Protecting the Planet with Your Fork” and “Meat is Murder.”

“Going vegan is Earth friendly because we are not using resources to feed the animals we eat, and we are not cutting rainforests down for grazing land,” said vegan table representative, Christy Walsh.

Another group represented at the fair was the George Mason University Environmental Science and Policy Association.
This is a new program at Mason, and is not only for students seeking master’s degrees. The program also intends to raise awareness of environmental issues at Mason. Recently they showed a film called Thirst and then led a discussion with students.

The Sierra Club, which participated in the even, raises awareness of wasted energy in the home and in our outdoor environment. At the fair, they were giving away energy efficient light bulbs, and selling watt meters, which measure the amount of watts your appliances use when you think they are off.

To learn more about sustainability and to get involved, refer to the Office of Sustainability Web site at Sustainability.gmu.edu.