Hot Helmets
Graham Warne, Abe Kitchen, and Liz Emley
There are so many positive aspects about biking: exercise, reducing your carbon footprint, and getting more fresh air to name just a few. One thing often overlooked, though, is style, especially how much of a statement your bike helmet can make if you want it to. Aside from being the most important piece of safety equipment, the helmet is like the bumper sticker of the bike. There are many ways to be stylish while sporting a helmet. Buy one with a cool design or paint your own art onto a plain colored one. Helmets covered in wigs are hilarious and they’ve actually been scientifically proven to keep you safer on the road according to an article from the Environmental Transport Association (click to check out the ETA article), a company in the UK that insures bicycles and other forms of transportation while simultaneously offering carbon offsets to their customers. If you’re one of those people who hate wearing a helmet, a new invention makes it possible to stay safe even when you’re not wearing the traditional protective gear. Hovding is a company that designs airbags specifically to deploy and protect someone’s head in the event of a crash, so even those who don’t like to mess up their hair can still be safe. What appears to others as a scarf is actually a life-saving device. Learn how their idea became reality by clicking on the image below to launch a video.
Above: a stylish and hilarious example of a wig/helmet featured in this ETA article
The buck doesn’t stop with crafty, stylish safety gear. Two college students at Nirma University in India developed an eco-friendly helmet that can charge your phone and keep you safe! Learn more about it here. There are so many different things your helmet can say about you, and they’re a fun, unique way to express yourself and be an individual in the process of leading a more sustainable lifestyle, personally and environmentally!
Photo credit: Tess Phinney
For a complete list of references, please refer to page 23
10