We Are Seeds: #3 of 10
Action Item 3: Support Transportation Maintenance Efforts!
Buying cars and maintaining bikes can be daunting, but Madison has great community resources to help.
For the summer: Down With Bikes, the winner of Sustain Dane’s Live Forward 2020 award, are a community mobile bike shop that provides free bike checks and affordable tune-ups, repairs, and 101 workshops to community members. Between April-September, they provide checks at the Madison East Side, Hilldale, and Monroe Street farmer’s markets. Community centers and schools can also apply to become #FreeBikeRepair locations.
For the winter: Mechanic Shop Femme, a local queer automotive educator and journalist, provides virtual classes, specifically aimed at women and LGBTQ+ community members, on car purchase and maintenance at a sliding scale fee. Her classes include topics like buying used cars and tire care, and she consistently donates 10% of her profits.
Why is this sustainable?
Being able to access (and advocate for) affordable repair services helps community members extend the life of their cars and bikes and prevent prohibitively expensive repairs/replacements later on. Well-maintained cars produce less air and noise pollution, and well-maintained bikes help prevent user injury.
#weareseedshunt
Thank you so much for participating in We Are Seeds, the sustainability-conscious scavenger hunt by T.L. Luke here in Madison, WI! This event is part of Winter is Alive! a cooler world carnival (a city-wide, multi-disciplinary event fusing art and spectacle to revision climate change and activate a global relationship) in an effort to educate the community about local sustainable action items and to highlight 50 local small businesses who have gone above and beyond during this pandemic.
This event will be going on from February 12th - March 7th, 2021.
Business Locations
- Movin’ Shoes - Greenbush Neighborhood - Whether you're looking forward to spring jogging routes, or you're one of those people that run through the winter, get your "equipment that works" for you here!
- Mickey’s Tavern - Marquette Neighborhood - A restaurant that has sexy fries, super sexy fries, and allows "well behaved dogs" on the patio? What are you waiting for?
- Salvatore’s Tomato Pies - Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood - Four locations, four chances to try pizza made "backwards"!
- Black Saddle Bike Shop - Maple Bluff Neighborhood - Visit this inclusive and "service first" shop for flat tires and fork races!
- Fontana Sports - Downtown Neighborhood - Here's to a 2021 safe enough for a long-delayed Headlamp Hustle and Ice Age Trail Hike-a-Thon!
- Madison Bike Center - Downtown Neighborhood - Buy one, fix one, ride one, store one! They're all about the two wheeled life.
Heads up, some of these decals have been stolen off of storefronts throughout the hunt. You may have even guessed our clues accurately but still didn't find the decal, and that sucks! But, it's not the businesses' faults, so please still show them your support! Thank you!
Credits
Illustrator & We Are Seeds Organizer: T.L. Luke
We Are Seeds Collaborator: Madison's Central Business Improvement District and City of Madison
Winter is Alive! Organizers: Tamsie Ringler, Bethany Jurewicz, and Karin Wolf
Sustainability Wisdom: Sustain Dane
Decal Fabricator: Billy Goat Graphics (Madison, WI)
T.L.'s Executive Assistant & Researcher: Eli Watson
"They buried us, but they didn't know we were seeds." - Dinos Christianopoulos