Bikes get political in New York
A bronze Schwinn is among the bicycles enlisted by the Occupy Wall Street movement, as reported by the New York Times.
The protesters have turned to bicycle power, connected to dynamos, to power laptops and cellphones. One power-generating cyclist – Keegan Stephan – told the Times it took around six hours of pedalling to charge a marine battery that would provide 100 hours of use.
As well as being a bike mechanic, Stephan is a member of environmental group Time’s Up. He started to use the bike dynamo when the Fire Department confiscated several petrol-powered generators, with concerns over violated fire rules.
After the confiscation, Occupy Boston protestors offered bicycles to those in New York to generate power for the encampment.
Occupy protests are taking place across the globe, with one generating plenty of debate outside London's St Paul’s Cathedral.
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Of course the Schwinn in question was made by a multinational on the other side of the world, shipped to the US and landed by another global firm, then probably transhipped both to & from Schwinn's US distribution hub by yet another multinational ... and was used to power a laptop made by, yes, you guessed it - all the above probably also applies to the laptiop / battery in question - so whilst one has to admire the sentiments, don't let's anyone pretend that we are going to see any real change as a result of OWS or indeed Anti-Capitalism protests in London - we are all products of what we are seeking to oppose ...
Graeme King Nov 2nd 2011 at 11:45AM
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