Green road trip

Alternative bus spreads word by fits and starts -- some even scheduled

CHAPEL HILL -- The Big Green Bus is encountering a few inconvenient truths on the road to environmental change.

By the time the vegetable oil-powered bus rolled up to the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center on Wednesday morning, its crew was just grateful the 37-foot bus hadn't puttered to an unwanted stop.

"The bus breaks quite often," said Elysa Corin, a Dartmouth College graduate and Chapel Hill native.

The bus and its 12 Dartmouth crew members are traveling across the country this summer to spread the message that change starts at the grass roots.

Lauren Wang, 21, an environmental studies major who graduated in June, called the past seven days the most stressful week of her life.

There was the breakdown on the way to Washington. The crew discovered holes in a radiator hose, which kept the vegetable oils from heating properly and overheated the engine.

A temporary fix of duct tape and clamps left the wide-eyed travelers less than confident that their fuel system would make it. They turned the heater up full blast to sufficiently warm the vegetable oil and spent the five hours to D.C. in a sauna.

"We were baking, and it made the ride very uncomfortable," Wang said.

The crew obtains waste oils from restaurants and fast-food chains, which are happy to give them away, said Kevin McGregor, a sophomore engineering major.

But because the fuel is an inexact science, crew members have been getting their hands dirty. Contaminants in the vegetable oil sometimes make it through filters and clog and damage engine parts.

"It's stressful at times, but it's fun getting to crawl around and get greasy," McGregor said.

Aside from the technical problems, living on a bus has its own challenges.

Wang caught Lyme disease shortly before going on tour. Like other crew members, she has slept on floors, benches and hammocks, which despite their shortcomings are more comfortable than sleeping on the bus.

"This bus shakes like none other," she said.

Still, she said the sacrifices are worth it to help people change their habits and change the world.

"We're living by example," Wang said.

And it doesn't require that much change -- or sacrifice. Five solar panels on the bus roof power the crew's laptops, a television, a refrigerator and even video games.

"We want people to know we're having a good time living this way and we don't want for anything," Wang said.

Corin said people have responded positively to the bus.

"People look at the bus and can't help but smile," she said.