Hi there, Maybe you could make a fitness room then with fitness bicycles that then run a generator or a grinding stone for grinding grains or dehulling rice etc. People are active, and they do something usefull for the town
I think you'll find there's no need for a gym in an eco town. Splitting firewood, milking the goats, turning the compost and so on keep you fit. The fitness industry is just another scam to separate you from nature and your money.
hmmm, not so sure about that eco. Lots of people who won't be milking goats or splitting firewood. Maybe the bicycle runs the goat milking machine! But by the milking shed perhaps rather than in a gym. Nice idea Matis. I reckon each household would have its own set ups, but a gym idea is nice for centralised things eg behind a communal kitchen or laundry. Makes it more social too.
Well, that might be true eco but when you have a gym that is usefull you actually benefit the town and you actually work for the town. I think running a fossil fuel engine or biofuel engine seperates you more from the nature or installing a solar panel to do the work for you.
I guess I'm just a bit jaded about people who don't have the 'time' to grow their own veges and keep chooks, but spend an hour a day in a gym under fluorescent lights, in air-conditioning on equipment that plugs into the wall listening to loud music. Riding a bike to nowhere even if it is generating electricity seems pointless when you could ride a bike to a neighbours place to help them build a chook house instead. I'm just not into physical activity merely for the sake of physical activity - that's a first world invention that happened when we disconnected with the natural world.
Yeah, understandable with some current gym bunnies. I took Matis' idea more in a powerdown/post-peak oil time, when we will have different priorities. In that world riding a bike to generate electricity isn't pointless, it's vital, and doing it in a gym space makes sense and is good Pc design as it serves at least 3 functions: electricity generation, personal fitness, social time.