Happy Earth Day everyone! I think it is wonderful that there is a day every year dedicated to helping our Earth. However, I wish that people would follow the motto that "Every day is Earth day!" On Saturday, April 19, 2008, the South Medford High School Bio-diesel Club had a booth and presented at the Earth Day Celebration in Ashland. It was a great success. It was very touching for me personally to see so many people come together who wanted to learn, who wanted to educate others, and help the environment. At our booth, we had examples of bio-diesel, lye, methanol, glycerin, and the different kinds of soaps that we are making from the excess glycerin. It was really quite amazing to me to see just how many people were interested in bio-diesel. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea. Everyone seemed to have only positive things to say about bio-diesel. They either wanted to learn more or they wanted to know how they could use it. People wanted us to do more demonstrations or they wanted us to personally help them set up their own equipment so that they could start making bio-diesel. I took a moment to walk around and look at all the other presentations. There were lots of great people trying to do their part in helping our planet and also working to get others involved. I hope there are more educational opportunities like the Earth Day Celebration, where people will be able to come together and share their knowledge. Please support and promote bio-diesel. Please educate others about how they can help protect our only home. Please do your part in helping to save our Earth.
Earth Hour 2008 was held March 29, 2008, from 8:00-9:00pm. It was an hour where individuals and cooperations around the world united and made the commitment to turn off their lights for one hour. Earth Hour is just one of the many ways that people can come together to help the save our planet. It was a simple act that make a difference. Earth Hour originated in 2007 when the city of Sydney, Australia decided to make a statement and turn off their lights. Earth Hour is a great example of how it is possible for the world to join as one and do good. We, as a human race, need to find unity and help to save our one and only home, Earth. For more information about Earth Hour visit: http://www.earthhour.org/
In 2006, Senator Obama requested an investigation into whether corporations were restricting consumer access to alternative fuels. He wanted to investigate if big oil companies were knowingly restricting consumer alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Senator Obama is a strong advocate for increasing access to and production for alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Barack Obama supports next generation biofuels. If Barack Obama is the next president of the United States, he said that he will: deploy cellulosic ethanol, expand locally owned biofuel refineries, establish a national low carbon fuel standard, and increase the renewable fuel standard.
Support Barack Obama.
Support Alternative Fuels.
South Medford Biodiesel Club is being evacuated from the barn where we create our biodiesel. We are now going to have to find a new location where we can continue to keep our club active and make biodiesel. This was a bit unexpected and a bit upsetting. I hope we are able to find a new location sometime in the near future.
On Tuesday, March 18, at 5:30pm in Ashland at the Ashland Springs Hotel, Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia Region Green Building Council gave a presentation as part of the Transformational Lecture Series.
The description was - Collaboration and Change: The Pathway to a Living Future Author and Cascadia CEO explores the growing need for the green industry to make transformative rather than incremental progress and the role that each of us can play in transforming our careers and personal effectiveness.
Cascadia is a non-profit organization that is active in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. They are th leading green building advocacy group in the Pacific Northwest. They are a bio-regional problem solver seeking to find solutions that can be shared across the region, and among other things, they are an education provider hosting workshops, seminars, and lectures on a vast array of topics relevant to green building.
McLennan said "The key to the shift to green building and sustainable energy use is a new level of cooperation, where architects, builders, and engineers all work together instead of all working in 'silos' and passing their plans to each other."
McLennan's presentation lasted about one and a half hours as he discussed green building and all the potential in store for the future. Not only was his presentation informative, but it was also inspiring. I thought he did a very nice job at promoting green building and educating the audience. The presentation was well thought out and contained a good amount of information to cover. He even showed examples of buildings designed that will either never have a water bill or never have an electricity bill, proving that it is possible. Overall, I enjoyed the presentation and thought it to be quite useful in beginning to understand the importance of green building.
"The Cascadia Region Green Building Council is the leading green building organization in the Pacific Northwest concerned with making change in the built environment for positive environmental impact. As a cross-border education and advocacy organization we bring a unique perspective to green building by taking a bioregional approach to problem solving and market transformation. We endeavor to make significant change out of all proportion to our size, by acting as a catalyst and a lever for organizations in both the privation and public sectors though creative programs, events, and tools."
For more information visit www.cascadiagbc.org
Inspire. Education. Collaborate.
I want to share some of the pictures that I took earlier this year in November.
This is a picture of the barn where we (the South Medford High School Biodiesel Club) make our biodiesel.
This is a picture of the equipment that we use to produce the biodiesel.
And of course, biodiesel lovers [and supporters] are always welcome.
These are pictures of Gracie and Millie collecting oil.
This is a picture of Gracie, Amy, and myself working on pumping the oil.
This is a picture of the oil that we were collecting.
This is a picture of all of the oil we collected put in the back of my car.
It turned out to be a pretty messy process.
On October 4, 2007 at one of our first biodiesel club meetings of the school year, David Tourzan, manager of Rising Phoenix Biofuels, came to talk to our club. Rising Phoenix Biofuels is Oregon's first biodiesel station, and I found it very interesting to hear from one of the people who started it. Tourzan showed us his very energetic and inspiring personality. You could tell that he was very passionate about what he is accomplishing, and that he really supported promoting alternative fuels.
Tourzan came to tell our club that he would love to work with us and hopefully help us move forward with our goals. He let us know that Rising Phoenix Biofuels is here for the club, no matter what we need. They offered to give and write us grants, to help us with promotional supplies, to speak to schools to help spread the word, and that we could come to them for advice about anything. I found this all very generous and exciting. It was great to know that there truly are people out there willing to do good.
He informed us that many people are afraid of biodiesel because of warranty issues, it is more expensive, people look down upon sales people, government mandates, reliability, people don't understand what biodiesel is, and the fact that oil companies have a lot of power. It is our job to reassure people that these aren't real problems. Switching from diesel to biodiesel or any other form of alternative fuel is not a quick or easy process, but it is a great investment for our future. Biofuels won't become mainstream instantly, but if we can start informing people now, so that maybe in the future biofuels become more popular, then that is what is important.
Overall, I think that David Tourzan did a great job coming and talking to our club about our potential. It really seemed to inspire the club as a whole, and he was very knowledgeable in the area of biofuels. I loved how passionate and excited he was talking about biofuels and how they could really make a difference. Tourzan was interviewed multiple times by local television stations, and I have included the following videos of him talking about his Rising Phoenix Biofuels company.
For more information, contact Rising Phoenix Biofuels at:
541-535-1134
4543 South Pacific Highway
Phoenix, Oregon 97535
biofuels@phoenixorganics.com
www.oregonb99.com
At the beginning of the school year, the biodiesel club successfully brainstormed many possible goals to expand the club and help promote alternative fuels. We thought about producing more biodiesel and teaming up with other companies, or even starting our own company, because a bank had offered us the money. We also discussed turning the club into a non-profit organization. I thought this was the best idea, and the club agreed. However, since it was decided that we would like to expand into a non-profit organization, steps taken to accomplish this goal have come to a screeching hault. I hope to re-inspire that idea, so that hopefully in the future, the club could have the opportunity to expand. We also wanted to talk to other schools. That way more students would be aware of alternative fuels like biodiesel and might even consider starting their own biodiesel club at their school. We also have been needing to buy a new biodiesel truck to collect the oil and grease with, because our old truck does not seem to functioning properly. Finally, we also wanted all of the school buses in Medford to convert to biodiesel, because currently, the emissions coming from those yellow school buses are deadly. That idea, however, did not go over well with the bus company, so we will try to pursue that again later. We have been brainstorming ideas all year, and we have some really great proposals. We have accomplished little projects throughout the year, but my hope is that the club will decide to tackle a bigger project. We continue to come up with creative ways to spread the word of eco-awareness and to get the community involved. I think that if we continue to work with all of these great opportunities coming our way, then we will be very successful in making a difference locally and even outside of our community.
The South Medford High School Biodiesel Club started during the 2006-2007 school year. The club was not well known and the members were scarce. But at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, word of the earth saving club spread like a wild fire.
I had heard of the club the year before, but I didn't know what biodiesel was. The description of the club was "help us turn the French fry grease from our cafeteria into oil for your car." It was intriguing, but intimidating, so instead I stuck with SEA (Students for Eco-Awareness) Club.
As the new school year rolled around, I decided I wanted to try and be more involved in clubs, seeing as it was my final year in high school. I had taken an environmental science class my junior year and was inspired more than ever to help and save our planet. SEA Club didn't seem to be organized yet at the beginning of the year, so a couple of my friends and I decided that we would join the Biodiesel Club.
I didn't quite know what to expect, but after the great turn out for the first meeting, and numerous amounts of ideas and goals this club had, I knew I was going to be quite involved. I soon learned that this club really was a group of students dedicated to trying to promote biodiesel, alternative fuels, and any other ways to help our dying world by starting in our very own community. This was the perfect club for me, and I was quite disappointed that I had chickened out and not joined the year before.
After several meetings, I was assigned treasurer of the club. We began discussing our goals, and it was obvious we had amazing potential. Not only were we just a club that made biodiesel, but we were a club that wanted to get the community involved, we wanted to spread the word of eco-awareness, we wanted to get all of the school buses in the district to convert to biodiesel, we wanted to write a letter to the legislator asking to blend diesel with biodiesel in all of the Oregon pumps, and our biggest idea was that we wanted to grow from not just being a school club but to eventually turning into a non-profit organization.
For the first many meetings, we all had so many ideas that we didn't actually get anything accomplished. We didn't actually start anything. But we did brainstorm. And that is why I can say that this club has an endless amount of potential. I am very proud and honored to say that I am actively apart of the growing and expanding South Medford Biodiesel Club.