Climate Commuters on the Move
This post was written by guest blogger Whitney Bennett, Safe Routes to School Coordinator at Commute Options.
The Eco Hero Climate Commuters after school program takes our eco heroes on an educational journey to understand emissions from vehicles and how we can make daily travel choices that have a positive impact on our climate — plus have FUN while doing it!
Eco Heroes learn all about how the City of Bend is making it easier to choose biking as transportation, how to safely use the biking infrastructure, and how to choose a route that will be safe and enjoyable.
This two part lesson series covers:
- A hands-on science greenhouse gas experiment
- Measuring carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles
- Comparing emissions from different forms of transportation
- Learning bike safety skills with Commute Options
This program helps our Eco Heroes heroes become independent on their bicycles and builds confidence in their ability to bike on paths separated from traffic, in the bike lane, and in streets. We compared emissions from gasoline powered vehicles, electric vehicles, electric motorcycles, and bicycles. Plus we explored many other perks of being mobile by bike, like getting to Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream; the Farmer’s Market for tasty local strawberries; and parks for play time!
Hear it from them:
“My favorite part of the class was being with a group of kids again and exploring on our bikes.” -Max
“Can we ride bikes every week?” -Abby
“We went EVERYWHERE on our bikes!” -Austin
After a year of COVID-19 disconnect, this was an opportunity for students to connect back to each other, their community, and their environment.