When: Thursday Sept. 7 at 5 p.m.
Where: Meet at Laurel Village, post-ride beers at The Colorado Room
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More info: facebook.com/events/263997207442699/?ti=as
Move over, Tour de Fat, there is a new cycling event in town.
The Student Sustainability Center, or SSC, is hosting a Sustainability Bike Tour of the Colorado State University campus this Thursday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. Starting at Laurel Village on West Plum Street, the tour will meander around campus, stopping at sites along the way that highlight the University’s participation in sustainable actions and its accomplishments over the last several years. They will then convene at The Colorado Room for some light refreshments to discuss what they have seen.
Nevan Mandel, the Center’s associate director of outreach kept the tour route a secret obtainable only to those who show up.
“(The tour) is for anyone who wants to know what CSU does for sustainability or anyone who thinks they know what CSU does for sustainability,” Mandel said.
Mandel will be leading the tour along with his colleague Madison Wood, the associate director of engagement for the SSC.
The Student Sustainability Center, which encompasses the Coalition for Sustainable Student Organizations and the Student Sustainability Club, has partnered with other groups on campus to host events from a dumpster diving open house to a composting club. They pride themselves on “improving institutional sustainability” and offer a semester-long course on the interdisciplinary career options related to sustainability.
Biking, while not a specific initiative of the SSC, is a popular commuting option for CSU students. The university has committed to having 18,000 bicycle parking spots on campus by 2018, and promotes a myriad of biking initiatives to try to reduce car traffic on and around campus.
Victor Krepschi, a PhD student at São Paulo University in Brazil who is participating in a research exchange program at CSU, bikes to campus every day. He reveled in the fact that, compared to the sustainability programs at his home university, CSU is “paradise,” he said.
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However, he is interested in “learning more about sustainability initiatives at CSU…how trash is handled and how much is actually recycled,” Krepschi said.
Another campus cyclist, fourth-year biology major and global environmental sustainability minor Alannah Liebert, who is also the director of the Nitrogen Footprint Project at CSU, hopes that this tour will convey “education for students on proper cycling etiquette,” she said.
When some students come to CSU they may not know the rules of biking around campus.
“Especially towards the beginning of the year, students may not know where our bike lanes are, or even what to do when encountering bikes, which can be troublesome for bikers when going at high speeds,” Liebert said.
Participants of the tour have the opportunity to learn all of this on Thursday, Sept. 7 as well as alternative options for creating a greener, more sustainable campus community.
Collegian reporter Casey Setash can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @caseylovesbirds.
