Thursday, August 28, 2008

Ripon College gives freshmen free bikes for no-car pledges

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=788470

I like this idea. They're using money they would've spent on a new parking lot to fund the program, so that may be short-sighted (a parking lot lasts for years, but there's an incoming class annually), but I like the notion of instilling good habits in young people.

I believe that we absolutely must end our dependence upon others for our energy needs. Our addiction to foreign oil is crippling. It drives our economy, it drives our foreign policy, it drives our national policy, it drives everything. We are NOT a free nation if we have to schlep to the dealer (foreign countries) to score our daily fix. No junkie is free.

In the past, Americans have risen to challenges. Good ol' Yankee ingenuity and all that stuff. It appears to me that there are all sorts of opportunities here for people to get filthy rich with alternative technologies. Can we do it? Will we? Or should we just give in now, sell our soul to the oil man, and blissfully nod off into a petroleum-induced stupor . . . until we wake up tomorrow, screaming in need, and crawl back to the dealer for another angry hit?

10 comments:

SER said...

That's a neat idea.

OrbsCorbs said...

Yeah. I've also been farting into the gas tank of my truck. I don't know if it helps, but I'd swear I get better mileage.

kkdither said...

That explains that low flying foul cloud hovering over Racine...

On the other hand, way to go Ripon for thinking outside of the box.

AvengingAngel said...

Does this mean we are going to start cheating in the Olympics and move New Year's to February?

sylvia said...

what is sad is that we have to bribe young people into thinking that you're hip & cool on a bicycle now - that you really don't need a car to run down to the corner quickie mart or wherever - that you could actually use a bicycle to get there (or even... omg... walk!)

there's a million free bikes out there already - hangin' on the walls of garages & basements & spare rooms the whole country over. people here use them for vacation - for treks in the mountains or the woods or the bike trails etc. nobody in this country really thinks of a bicycle as transportation.

in europe (germany in particular) bicycles are everywhere - as well as scooters & smarter-than-smart cars and convenient public transportation up the ying-yang... gas over there has long been a luxury.

it's gonna take a lot more than a couple dozen pretty new bikes to change the good old yankee gas guzzling automotive go-car mentality.

Anonymous said...

It's a smart idea. Your less apt to get hurt or hurt someone with intoxicated use of a bicycle (you still end up getting a ticket though).
I just hope they don't end up riding bicycles like they do in Copenhagen. A pedestrian could killed when you get a bunch of crazy Danes going like raped apes on bikes!

kkdither said...

Crazy Danes? What chu talkin' bout Willis? You really think I'd let that comment slide?

sylvia said...

i was wondering about "raped apes" myself...

OrbsCorbs said...

Our country's infrastructure has been built around cars and trucks. Most of our economy, too. Like sylvia said, it's going to take a lot to change things. I'm a gearhead and have always loved to drive, but that love has waned in recent years with the drop in driving skills of the motoring public and the disappearance of traffic law enforcement, save for occasional speed traps. It's not fun anymore.

Anonymous said...

KK,
I grew up having my share of modestepolse, akavet, and watching my mom and grandma make kranseka. It was my cousin who live in Lynge about the bikes. And I found out first hand (almost dropped my damn modestepolse).