I cannot seem to pick up a newspaper these days without coming across some new terrifying statistic about alternative energy and global warming. I do not know about anyone else, but such predictions have tended to steer me towards hopelessness. The relentless obstacles and red tape seem to imply that nothing can really be done to solve these momentous problems.
Well, as one might imagine, I do not enjoy this line of thought one bit. Should we simply admit defeat, because the alternative seems too difficult? Should we blind ourselves to reality, sit around, and wait for inevitable destruction? Somehow, I began to realize that there has to be a more desirable solution. In my desperate struggle to figure it all out, I decided to join Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO).
After making an anonymous, "back-corner" appearance at a few meetings, I eventually concluded that it is the work that groups like this are doing that really have a bearing on causing change.
If every person recycles, if everyone turns off lights, if everyone drives a little less and ditches their gas guzzling SUVs, it really will actually make a big difference, believe it or not. This is why I joined the campaign to encourage alternative energy in Tufts vehicles.
In a move to promote greener energy, one of the projects ECO is focusing on this semester is a campaign to power campus facilities vehicles with biodiesel. The goal is to fuel facilities vehicles using B20, a mixture of 20 percent biodiesel with 80 percent regular diesel, that will be made using waste from dining services and local restaurants, and mixed with ordinary diesel in a processor made by Tufts students.
In the long term, we hope to apply this method to the Joey as well. Biodiesel is a significant improvement over regular diesel fuel in that it reduces emission of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, and releases less particulate matter into the atmosphere, neither of which are exceptionally enjoyable toxins to have floating around.
Particulate matter can be the cause of many health problems, including asthma, painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, and premature death. It also produces acid rain, which contaminates the water table and is extremely harmful to the environment and human health.
Greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to that slight annoyance we like to call global warming. To say the least, this is a problem, which is why Tufts ECO is working to reduce our impact where we can.
To spearhead this biodiesel campaign, ECO is enlisting the help of a giant blue school bus from 1989. Besides offering the obvious pleasures involved with glimpsing a school bus that is not the traditional shade of yellow, this "BioBus" travels across the United States, stopping at colleges, high schools and community events to educate and excite Americans about the sustainable energy movement.
The bus, which runs on vegetable oil supplied from restaurant fryers throughout the country, brings people together to discuss the issues of global warming, peak oil, renewable energy and sustainable living, and works to generate excitement about possible solutions. Powered completely by renewable sources, the BioBus is an interactive visual example of alternative energy in action.
The Tufts "BioTour" event will take place on Friday, Oct. 26 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Throughout the early afternoon, representatives from the BioTour will be making their way around campus, giving tours of the bus and answering questions. There will be a short presentation around 1:30 p.m. followed by a free, energy efficient trip back and forth to the Garment District store leaving at 3 p.m.. During its tour of the east coast, BioBus will also make appearances at Harvard, Northeastern and the Powershift conference in D.C.
The BioBus event is merely the beginning. As the year goes on, groups of dedicated students will be working for alternative energy all across campus, and they will need as much help from the Tufts community as they can get.
There is something to be said about participating in a campaign and clearly seeing direct results of your efforts. The production of biodiesel here at Tufts would benefit the environment, and allow Tufts students the opportunity to be involved in something important. So maybe it will not change the world energy crisis, but it is definitely a step, and as politicians do not seem to be taking these issues seriously, somebody has to take the reigns.
For those of you who agree that it is time for us to get up off of our asses and have a say in the future of the earth, come be a part of this exciting event and help us move one-step closer towards a brighter, greener future.
Heather E. Buckner is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. For more information about the BioTour, visit biotour.org
