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Bike I fished out of the river

Geneva, Switzerland - The theme this week in my French class is environmentalism, which means something different to everyone. To me it means intelligent use of resource, which is why we are big re-”cyclers” in our household, which leads me to my first law of environmentalism: it works best when there is personal interest involved.

After rehabbing a friend’s vandalized bicycle last weekend he clued me in to a great Geneva environmental effort, the Grand Nettoyage, or big cleanup of Lac Leman, where lakeside municipalities organize a once-a-year dredging of the shallow waters bordering their towns.

The event held on September 25 in several Lake Geneva region locations, nets everything from shopping carts to, yes, my favorite, bicycles.

Fishing bikes out of the river - Photo courtesy le Grand Nettoyage

Having fished a few bicycles out of the Rhone myself (see above left), I can appreciate both the simplicity of engaging citizens in the cleaning of our city, as well as the utility of involving junk recyclers to make productive use of the “finds”; the organization Net’Léman arranges both.

As I have previously blogged, it is beyond me why anyone would be so wanton as to throw any machinery, let alone a working bicycle into the lake.

If you are looking for a nice ride with a few telltale barnacles and the fresh scent of lake fauna, I know just where you can find such a specimen! See you next year at the Grand Nettoyage (if you need some wheels in the interim, try Le Fourriere des Velos at College Rousseau or similar Geneva based bike recyclers.

Happy riding!

Shopping cart fished out of Lake Geneva by the Grand Nettoyage

PS: Besides shopping carts, volunteers collected 450 plastic bottles, 800 glass bottles, 950 aluminum cans, 250 plastic glasses, and… 4,500 cigarette butts.

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