Ben's Story

I had been looking forward to last week thursday since the day I got the earthcamp packet in the mail. This was because thursday was bike day...the day we rode around the city visiting sustainable businesses and communities. This day was one of the most enjoyable days that i experienced because cycling is one of my favorite activities and you get to do something you enjoy, while obtaining fitness, and learning. When Daniella came to the front of the Koffler building to teach us about bike safety and road safety it was awesome, not only because she had a really, really cool bike but also because I learned lots more about bike safety than I already knew. From there we rode all the way to Originate...a non-profit local business that works on making homebuilding materials out of natural, organic, renewable and recycled materials.  I learned so, so much about how certain chemicals and materials that are in tiles, flooring, stucco, paint, drywall, and some woods stains that aren’t good for people. It made me think about all the products and materials that also aren’t good for humans and that give off toxic fumes and it makes me want to get natural and safe materials, both of which I could do with Originate. As the day wound down we traveled to BICAS, a community organization that lets people not only donate their bikes and old bike parts but also let them use the tools there, and use the other used bike parts to re-build or build a bike for only 12 dollars a day. This really showed me how reusing is so useful because you can get a great bike for less money than a normal new bike and the shipping and processing of a new bike produces LOTS of carbon dioxide where as getting a used one from BICAS. To completely finish off the day we rode to the farmers market by El Rio Neighborhood center and were given quest. Our quest was to find the most-freshly picked item throughout the farmers market.  BICAS, riding around tucson, and learning all about ecology has made me realize what i should do to do my part in keeping the enviroment clean and leading my generation to a overall better world. I will ride my bike to school...(of course, if allowed) along with riding to the farmers market and trying to go to the farmers market more. Whether its riding a bicycle to school to reduce my carbon footprint or going to the farmers market more, earthcamp gave me awesome experiences and i learned lots.