Continuing on with my Green NGO Highlighted series, which I got away from for a short time, here’s a cool one a good Facebook friend of mine shared with me nearly two months ago. It’s the Bamboo Bike Project, based in Africa, which combines two of the greenest things on the planet.. bamboo and bikes.
The NGO is trying to test the feasibility of mass use of bamboo bikes in Africa and make sure they are built safely. Here’s more from its site:
It has been demonstrated that bicycles can be built using bamboo for the main tubing elements…. The goal of this project is to test the feasibility of implementing bamboo bikes as a new form of transportation in Africa. To achieve this goal, a number of steps need to be undertaken:
- Design and build a bamboo bicycle that is suitable for the local terrain
- Find cost effective and technological feasible ways to produce these bicycles in rural Africa
- Engage local people to determine the potential for adoption of the bicycle
- Develop a plan to make production and distribution of bamboo bicycles a self-sustaining micro-business.
One key to a sustainable business is that the bamboo grows locally.
Cool. Maybe they won’t all be as fancy as this bamboo bicycle Rhonda highlighted a couple weeks ago, but it’s a great project aiming to make an already green product much greener and much more beneficial to the local community. Lovin’ it.
More on the Bamboo Bike Project background here, and opportunity to support it here.
Image via Bamboo Bike Project Blog