Student cyclists on campus are being rewarded for riding their bicycles to campus.
Oregon State Public Interest Research Group is taking part in Bikes for Global Warming, a program in which OSPIRG members, dressed up as “bike phantoms,” attach raffle tickets to the bikes of students on campus.
OSPIRG members will be attaching raffle tickets to bikes around campus at various times through the school year. The tickets can be turned in to a monthly raffle. The prize varies from month to month, and OSPIRG is hoping to raffle off a bike in the future.
OSPIRG campus organizer Liz Karas said the Bikes for Global Warming program is intended to encourage students to ride their bikes. She said issuing the raffle tickets is a way of positively reinforcing the use of bikes rather than cars.
This month’s raffle will take place today in conjunction with the Survival Center’s Bike Day at a table outside Lillis Business Complex.
At the Bike Day table, which will be set up on the last Wednesday of each month, student cyclists can have their bicycles serviced for repairs and are provided with baked goods and coffee in the morning. The Survival Center also teaches student cyclists how to do routine maintenance on their bikes.
Karas said there is a link between riding bikes and reducing global warming.
“A lot of people don’t make that connection,” she said.
The effort is part of Campus Climate Challenge, an attempt to make the University reduce global warming emissions by 90 percent by the year 2050. Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., has already achieved this.
“This is something we want the University to tackle,” said Karas.
“People start to understand that global warming is affecting everyone.”
OSPIRG Regional Organizing Director Sara Grimes said that if every campus contributed to Campus Climate Challenge, it would make a significant positive impact in the amount of global warming emissions produced worldwide.
“Campus is the best place for this kind of movement to start,” she said.
This is OSPIRG’s first semester taking part in Bikes for Global Warming. The program was started by an OSPIRG group in Massachusetts during fall term of this school year.
Another way universities can implement Campus Climate Challenge is by encouraging the use of solar and wind power, Karas said.

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