Elizabeth Hillman is one of a growing number of students who choose to travel by bicycle.

The Findlay Green Campus Initiative (FGCI) hopes to increase the use of bicycles on campus as part of its effort to encourage UF’s campus to be more environmentally conscious.

Students who attend an FGCI event Oct. 30 will be entered into a drawing to win one of two free bicycles. Other bicycle drawings will be held at future events.
   
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, several students from Oberlin College will be in the Endly Room of the Alumni Memorial Union to talk about their experiences living in the SEED (Student Experiment in Ecological Design) house on Oberlin’s campus. Those who live in the SEED house meet weekly to brainstorm ideas about how to reduce energy usage – by saving water and electricity, reducing waste and more.
   
UF students who attend the entire presentation Oct. 30 will be entered into the drawing for a bicycle. A student subcommittee of FGCI will set guidelines as to who is eligible to receive a free bicycle.

For example, each student entered into the drawing may be asked to sign a pledge that he or she will use the bicycle for traveling short distances, as opposed to using a motorized vehicle. The ultimate goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of the campus and encourage bicycling as an alternative mode of transportation.
   
FGCI will purchase the bicycles this fall at a planned sheriff’s unclaimed bicycle auction. After they are purchased, the bicycles will be voluntarily cleaned, checked and repaired if necessary by members of Hancock Handlebars, a local bicycling club.