12-6-12 Burn them calories!

So in science we have been working on maps of our phenology site for Robert's class. Some of the guys apparently didn't have "strong" artistic skill so instead they got to work on this bike project. In Sustainable Systems (Robert's class name) and Applied Ecology (Andy's class) we talk a lot about clean, "green", renewable energy. Recently Andy's class visited the Green Machine. The Green Machine in Conserve School's water treatment plant. The difference between our system and a typical system is that we use plants and soil to filter and treat the water. In the Green Machine there are beautiful wildflowers, banana plants, and milkweed! MaryAnna one of the members of the Admin team and Robert are trying to create lots of milkweed for the migrating monarch butterflies. But back to the bike project. Instead of painting a map, Zeki, Just, Luke, Colin, Chris, and a couple of other people get to work on a bike that looks and works like this:

I got really distracted with the work that I doing today and instead went into one of the labs to help/play with Justin and Zeki on the bicycle. I quickly became the guinea pig who did the pedaling! It's mind boggling to be pedaling along and suddenly lights, a fan, a hairdryer  and a water heater all start to work just because you are exercising! I remember that I was once at a street fair in Atlanta called the East Atlanta Strut and there was a guy there who had his bicycle who was selling smoothies. you guessed it, the blender was powered by a bike that was pedaled by the buyer! What fun we have in science class! I'm really jealous!