4-H ACES Club offers pedal-powered program to promote healthy lifestyle and renewable energy
Above, Charles Malone, Cornell Extension senior resource educator, with 4-H ACES Club members and a 4-H Energy Bike.
Submitted photo and press release:
Would you like to take “healthy living” to the next level? 4-H STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) specialist Charles Malone, along with the Genesee County 4-H ACES Club, created delicious, healthy smoothies using pedal power.
The Energy Bike can help tackle obesity by promoting healthy eating and lifestyles among youth and families. Charles Malone estimated that 12 hours of pedaling would total just 12 cents on a family’s electricity bill.
We learned that using the 4-H Energy Bike connected to a blender and a little pedal-power, you can mix delicious smoothies as you pedal. You just fill the blender with fruit and juice, hop on the bike and pedal for a short amount of time, a minute later you have delicious fruit smoothies for everyone!
We all know that the key to healthy living is doing regular exercise, eating healthy food full of fruit and veggies, and of course trying to reduce our personal carbon footprint on the planet and promote renewable energy.
Bringing pedal-powered activities to our 4-H Club, which focuses on science and robotics, promotes renewable energy, biking, healthy eating, and teamwork, and puts everyone in an open, happy, and receptive state, ready to interact and learn. It’s green energy in action!
Learning about the energy bike taught us how to use our own muscle power and instantly achieve a delicious, healthy fruit smoothie. We also learned how to reserve, pack, unpack and transport the 4-H Energy Bike.
New York State 4-H currently has several energy bikes to help promote a healthy living program. A smoothie challenge is a good way to promote fun, health, and teamwork altogether.
The energy bike helps promote healthy living and STEM. 4-H’ers can learn to talk to visitors both about the way energy moves from muscle to bike to blender as well as about fruit smoothies as a healthy snack alternative.
New York State 4-H Foundation, New York State Cornell Cooperative Extension and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County are a partnered program promoting the Energy Bike to 4-H camps, local 4-H clubs, schools and community youth programs.
If you want to learn more about the 4-H Energy Bike program, and perhaps host a fun event, and for more information contact Charles Malone, senior resource educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension, Genesee County at: cwm4@cornell.edu.
Photo by Alexandria Tarbell, 4-H ACES Club photographer.
