You've seen it around campus, down in A-lot or sidled up beside Robo. You've seen it and you've wondered, "What gives?" You've gotten the auto-replies about "changing the world --- one expensive, time-consuming diesel school bus project at a time" (hi Hancock). It's driven past while you lounged on the Collis porch, and you thought to yourself, "Well, frisbee practice must be over. Bulk-foods aisle at the Co-op, look out!" But what else do you know about the Big Green Bus?
Well, it began last year with 15 Dartmouth students who decided to pool together their interests, their efforts and a unifying desire to put off the real world for one more summer. The beatnik dream of the all-American roadtrip called out and they responded. But a five-car caravan across the country seemed impractical, forcing our hippy heroes to find an alternate solution. That alternative just happened to come in the form of alternative fuel. In a bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO), they traversed the country spreading word of alternative fuels' potential throughout the ultimate frisbee community.
This year, the Big Green Bus is being resurrected with a few particular goals in mind. First, and most noticeable, is the project's continued emphasis on environmental change. The Big Green Bus team is purchasing a newer bus and converting its diesel engine to run more efficiently on WVO (read: french fry grease). Utilizing the same process of internal combustion that powers run-of-the-mill vans, sedans, and SUVs, this converted engine will power the Big Green Bus across the country and back.
With the exception of its high viscosity, WVO is a sufficient and immediately available substitute to diesel fuel. To alleviate the problems caused by its higher viscosity, a second fuel tank is added to hold the veggie oil reserves; the primary tank still takes diesel. But, the fuel injection line runs from the engine, through the juice tank, and heats the grease as the engine runs on traditional diesel and warms up. Once the veggie oil reaches around 70 degrees Celsius, the vegetable oil is compatible enough with the workings of the converted engine for the fuel line to be switched.
The message behind alternative fuels is two-fold. First, there are significant environmental benefits. For one, WVO is carbon neutral when burned. This means the CO2 coming out the tailpipe isn't just hot air. It is effectively counterbalanced by the CO2 absorbed during photosynthesis, meaning no new carbon dioxide is being added to the atmosphere.
Also, it helps to alleviate the current dependence on fossil fuels. Unlike gasoline, petroleum, oil and diesel, which are all mined and processed specifically for automotive consumption, there is already a great deal of WVO available. Those 99 Billion Served left a sh*t-ton of veggie oil in their wake, and that's what this bus utilizes. You get your mozzarella sticks, we get our fuel.This is not to say converting the world's fleet of planes, trains and automobiles to WVO is necessarily feasible. Economically it would be too expensive, and the burden placed on our farmlands to produce to such a degree would be far too great. Basically, you won't be paying $15.69/gal at the pump for fryer grease anytime soon. However, the broader second-half of the message is that there are alternatives that need to be found. They may not be found today or tomorrow ... but someday soon, they are going to be a necessity.
Moving on, the second major focus of this year's project involves the varied experiences of Dartmouth alums across the country. Believe it or not, there is a world beyond our beloved Hanoverian bubble. Next year, many of our friends will be trading in their 10As and textbooks for 100-hour work weeks and $100,000 paychecks. Others will be headed abroad to teach English, build houses, and promote AIDS awareness across the globe. Still others may end up back in their parents' basement (hi Mom and Dad!!). But whatever that next step may be, we know it won't be the last. The Big Green Bus was, after all, founded on the belief that life is a journey.
In that spirit, the Big Green Bus team are turning to Dartmouth's extensive alumni network to learn from and share their varied experiences. A la Road Trip Nation (roadtripnation.com) and Dartmouth's own Young Americans Project (tyap.com), the group will be interviewing alums all over to find out where they are now, what twists and turns got them there, and what they learned along the way. These interviews will then be displayed on their website, and the alumni profiles will be exhibited across campus next fall. In addition, the group is putting together a book and documentary to be made available to the student body through Career Services.
The alumni interviews are also important because they closely relate to the team's third major goal: making sure the Big Green Bus becomes a stronger part of the Dartmouth community. Last year's bus was specifically geared towards the ultimate Frisbee community, inadvertently alienating much of the rest of campus. This year, the team is making a concerted effort to broaden its appeal in order to involve as many students as possible. The website will be updated constantly with profiles, pictures, stories, and a bi-weekly vodcast throughout the summer, so everyone with an internet connection is invited along for the ride. Between now and then, the team has a lot of work to do garnering funds, wooing sponsors, retrofitting the bus and organizing its itinerary. Students interested in becoming a bigger part of the Big Green project down the line, are encouraged to blitz the group ('bgb') so that the future of the bus will be secured for years to come.
In that vein, the team hopes to stress this year that the bus is open to everyone. They range from '04 grads to '09 shmen. They are math, history, ENVS, film, classics and econ majors. They're Greek and they're GDI. They're from all over the country. They say tomato and tomaaato. But they're all Dartmouth students, and maybe there's a little dirty hippy in all of us here in Hanover (even you, SAE).
A wise man once crooned that life is, in fact, a highway, and the Big Green Bus wants all of Dartmouth to ride with it. All. Night. Long.
