The Urban Sustainability Bike Tour, composed by CAMP() co-founder Andy Jones, took roughly 25 bikers across St. Louis to explore sustainable projects happening throughout the city.

The tour began at the Community Arts and Media Project (CAMP), a non-profit project composed of seven grassroots organizations, including the South Side Workshop for Exploring Alternative Technologies (SWEAT), which features a Build-a-Bike program for children. CAMP has received grants from the Kerr Foundation of St. Louis for it’s green-building initiatives, including abundant skylights, soy-based insulation, and a new solar-powered attic fan. For more information on CAMP, visit www.stlcamp.org.

The tour then took the bikers to see a south side house being rehabbed with the use of natural building materials. Earthen plaster, a combination of sand, clay, and chopped straw, is being applied directly to lathe board on the walls of the house, as seen in the picture below. This form of wall construction is a practical alternative to conventional cement and synthetic stucco uses. People have been choosing earthen construction methods because of the significant environmental damage caused by mining operations.

The next stop was at New Roots Farm, an exciting project that has been realized in just the past year. The farm, located near the Karen House on St. Louis’s north side, grows an incredible range of fruits and vegetables on its’ 1.3 acre plot, and also is home to four chickens. New Roots brings a new ambition to grass-roots economic justice initiatives in St. Louis, as in its’ first year, the farm already supplies 13 households and local food banks with fresh local organic produce.

The tour then went along the St. Louis Riverfront Trail (http://www.stlbiking.com/Trail-STLriverFront.htm) and ended at the coast guard station, where members of AmeriCorps gave the bikers a historical background of the trail. It’s important to note that while the trail currently has an entrance in North Riverfront Park, there are plans to close that entrance and extend the trail one mile north, leaving no access to the trail on the north side of St. Louis city. Below is a picture of the bike tour at the North Riverfront Park Entrance.