May I Take Your Order?

Hopefully, the next time you pass me on the highway, you will notice that my new "used" Mercedes smells like a McDonalds on wheels. Motorists stuck behind me doing the speed limit (because, don't you know, you get better gas mileage when you drive 55?) will suddenly find themselves craving french fries and chicken mcnuggets.

My latest attempt to tread gently upon our planet is to buy a used diesel-fuel Mercedes Benz and fill 'er up with "biodiesel." According to http://www.biodiesel.org/, cars with diesel engines are fully capable of running on this type of alternative fuel. (Supposedly, it's the parts that surround the engine that can be negatively affected by it, but I am willing to take precautions.) As I've been researching my latest idea, I have been disappointed to find that there are not too many gas stations around here that actually sell biodiesel fuel.  There are individual people who will beg "waste oil" from various fast food restaurants and process it into usable fuel for your diesel engine. However, I am a bit wary of this option simply because it isn't regulated and there's also the whole "smelling like a greasy burger" issue.

There are websites where you can purchase your own "biodiesel kit" and take that old, used veggie oil and process it yourself to be used in your green automobile. I like to think that I'm intelligent enough to do something like that. I imagine myself at the drive-thru window ordering gallons of  leftover grease from my neighborhood Mickey D's and feeling so proud when I am eventually able to siphon it into my own gas tank. (The fact that I refuse to follow recipes or read instructions before I assemble basically anything might throw a wrench in my little plan, however.)

 No matter, though, there are co-ops and forums of like minded "veggie fuelers" out there on the web. Hopefully one of them will be able to talk me through it. Maybe I'll even start my own "French Fry Fuel Meet-Up Group" on yahoo. We can meet at organic farmer's markets, dressed in thrift shop clothes and fair trade sandals and swap blueprints of sustainable, hand-built houses while our kids thank us for providing them with a down-to-earth childhoods, free of materialism, screens, and ringtones. (It could happen.......!)

Perhaps I am jumping in too soon...

It is quite possible that it may do more research and try to convince others to switch to alternative fuels before I undertake such a task on my own. For example, the Las Vegas School District's entire school bus fleet runs on biodiesel. Maybe a better way to make a difference would be to encourage large users of diesel transporters to switch to veggie fuel.

Thank goodness I don't have a full time job right now. Starting Monday I will be visiting our town's public works department, our school district's bus corporation and the local waste management company.

You can thank me later when driving through our town makes you hungry instead of initiates an asthma attack!!

To find out more about alternative fuels go to http://www.thefuelfilm.com/