Pedaling VeriFast

Move aside trayless dining, looks like Harvard’s onto a more convenient way to save the environment. Katharine (“Katie”) S. Walter ’10 and Karen A. McKinnon ’10, co-chairs of Harvard’s Environmental Action Committee (EAC), have enabled students to expend their eco-friendly energy in a much easier way. In fact, it’s as simple as riding a bike—a bike that’s made entirely out of salvaged and recycled parts, that is.

The EAC launched the VeriFast program Saturday, April 25, allowing students to rent bikes from their Houses at no charge. The EAC was able to launch the program with a $6,500 grant it received from the Green Crimson Fund.

“You can go to the super’s office at any time and reserve a bike,” says Walter, noting that bikes are only currently available at Mather and Cabot Houses. “But we are hoping to expand in the fall if all goes well.”

In the first week and a half following the program launch, more than 20 bikes had already been taken out.

“It’s already popular in Europe, Portland, and Washington, D.C. And the city of Boston is planning to implement [a bike-sharing program]. I think it’s great to see Harvard taking similar action,” says Ellen M. McDonough ’09.

But why bikes?

David W. McCahill ’09, who works for Quad Bikes, a non-profit bicycle shop that seeks to raise the consciousness of the Harvard community about bike riding, was responsible for constructing the VeriFast bikes.

“It’s great because its recycling at its purest form, you take stuff that’s been abandoned and make it useful,” said McCahill.

Walter also espouses the effectiveness of using recycled materials—and bikes themselves—to instill eco-friendly values.

“We think it shows great visible commitment to the cause,” says Walter. “And we believe that if you bike in college, you’ll bike for life. It can become a habit.”