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Boston to Austin and Beyond: What They're Saying about the Big Green Bus
On June 8, Dartmouth's waste vegetable oil-powered Big Green Bus departed Hanover—leaving a faint whiff of fast-food French fries in its wake—to circumnavigate the country for the fourth summer in a row. Though the bus is no longer a novelty, a new era of gas at four dollars-plus per gallon has given the trip a sense of urgency. Newspapers, TV stations, politicians, and bloggers are spreading the bus's gospel of green. Here's a sample from www.biggreenbus.org of what they're saying:
The Boston Globe
Grease junkies: Students deliver a call to action on a cross-country trip fueled by vegetable oil
By Tom Haines, Globe Staff
Published 6/29/08
". . . But if you're going to travel on board this bus, with its new rooftop solar panels powering everything inside, and a converted diesel fuel system burning waste vegetable oil, it is most important to have patience and perseverance. The goal, after all, is to traverse the country spreading a message— 'Change your fuel, change your world'—at parties and festivals, but also at museums, science institutes, political offices, and on the open road during an odyssey that will continue through August. ..."
Web site of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
From photo caption: "Senator Murkowski meets with Dartmouth students, including two Alaskans, touring the country on a vegetable oil powered school bus. The bus was on Capitol Hill in early June to promote conservation and alternative energy sources."
ABC26 News New Orleans
Aired 6/24/08
"... A big green bus rolled into the Crescent City to promote a way of living that could change the world. ..."
The Austin (TX) Chronicle
By Daniel Mottolla
Published 7/4/08
"... The Big Green Bus came through Austin last weekend, just one stop along a 13,000-mile summer tour fueled entirely by waste veggie oil. The Dartmouth College project intends to "spark a dialogue about sustainable living, the viability of alternative energy sources, and tangible solutions to local and global energy issues." Rider Addie Gorlin ['11], an undeclared sophomore jazzed about seeing America, said, "WVO isn't the only answer but part of a portfolio of what an individual can do." ... Gorlin said they usually fuel up by asking mom-and-pop restaurants' permission to suck out their grease traps using an onboard pump and hoses. Jacked crude prices are also driving up the prices of ingredients like soy and cottonseed, which are used to produce biodiesel, so tapping grease traps is an increasingly sensible option. ..."
"The Big Green Bus" blog
The Land of Enchantment/The Land of Mañana
By Elysa Corin '08
Published 7/4/08
"We arrived in Santa Fe late on the 30th and had enough time to grab a late dinner (mmm, Mexican) and pull into a Wal-Mart parking lot and go to sleep. We slept 9 on the bus, and I defected to the chase car preferring to curl my 5'5" frame into the fetal position in the back seat. I mostly fit. We awoke at the unfortunate hour of 6 a.m. and groggily sat in the bus (still in our sleeping bags) as Arch drove us to Santa Fe's Tuesday morning farmer's market. We arrived 20 minutes later, changed out of our PJs and tidied up our bedroom ahem our mobile science museum on wheels and were ready to welcome people on board by 7:30 a.m. …”