So, did you hear the one about Wal-Mart selling organic food?
It’s no joke. America’s largest retailer and regular planet-destroyer recently announced plans to increase organic offerings. All quibbling about Wal-Mart’s duplicity aside, it can only be good for the big picture when a major corporation, whose cash flow outstrips that of some South American nations, offers eco-responsible foodstuffs. What precipitated the change? Celebrity. When the glitterati care enough about going green to trumpet their message on the red carpet, the country follows.
First it was A-listers swapping limos for hybrids, an Oscar-night fixture since 2003. Next it was eco-organic swag bags replacing the old giveaways at high profile events like Sundance. Most recently, the Emmy’s have gotten into the act, with earth-friendly soirees like “The Green Room”—a high-end “eco living lounge” held for stars of hits like Entourage and Grey’s Anatomy at Westwood’s W Hotel this August.
Oodles of slick green goods were on display at the Green Room—standouts being the all-organic Chocolate Box Café, LA’s Ayurveda-inspired Art of Tea, designer Linda Loudermilk’s eco-couture, and Naturopathica’s practically-edible skin care line. Will you find these at Wal-Mart any time soon? Um, no. But when sustainability becomes the driving force behind Hollywood’s choices, you can bet the rest of the nation won’t be far behind. Maybe you’ll even have a star sighting next time you’re picking up free-range eggs at Wal-Mart.
Or not. —Lucinda Michele Knapp
Wisdom on Wheels
Our guide to navigating LA’s budding biofuel community, from the pros and cons of biodiesel vs. SVO to the cheapest gallon of guilt-free gas this side of brewing your own
If you’ve been toying with the idea of crossing to the sustainable side of the freeway on veggie power, it’s about time. Increased demand for war-free, environmentally-friendly domestic fuel sources—and the resulting improved commercial availability of vegetable oil fuel products and services—means more Angelinos are gassing up green.
“It’s the vision of the positive impact we would have in the world if we grew all of our own fuel,” said Matt Henigan, an account executive for Santa Monica-based Sustainable Works and the proud owner of a 1995 biodiesel-powered Mercedes Benz E300. “The carbon I’m releasing into the air equals the carbon absorbed by the plants grown to make the biodiesel. I’m reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil, plus lessening my environmental impact.”
For those who wish to drive unfettered by fossil fuel guilt, there are currently two biofuel options in LA: biodiesel, a mixture of vegetable oil, lye and methanol or ethanol; and straight vegetable oil (SVO).
Turning Dirt into Diesel
Hugely popular in Europe, biodiesel is more common than SVO among local green transportation connoisseurs because of its ease of use and controlled, ultra-low emissions. Currently only two gas stations in LA sell biodiesel at the pump (see chart), which can be inconvenient, but more are expected soon. Any diesel engine car can run on biodiesel, without conversion, but regular diesel fuel can still be used in a pinch (a bonus on long road trips).
Homebrewing biodiesel is also an option. The Dervaes, a Pasadena-based urban homesteading family, craft their own biodiesel for under a dollar a gallon. “My [adult] son Justin brews 30 to 40 gallons at a time in an old waterheater in the garage,” patriarch Jules Dervaes said. “It’s the American thing to do, to have a gas station in your garage.”
The process starts with straight vegetable oil, to which lye and racing methanol are added to create a less viscous oil, biodiesel, and the byproduct glycerin. (WLT ran a brew your own biodiesel breakdown last February, archived on our website wholelifetimes.com). Readymade homebrewing systems are also available for those who don’t want to build one from scratch.
The Dervaes deliver their organic heirloom tomatoes and salad greens to upscale area restaurants in a sleek, homebrew-powered Chevy Suburban. One of their customers supplies the vegetable oil needed for homebrewing, completing the carbon-neutral cycle.
From the Frying Pan to the Fuel Tank
SVO is gaining ground in LA as more people discover the delights of paying just once to convert their diesel engines to accommodate free, used restaurant cooking oil. No more gas stations; instead, it’s a scramble to stake out the finest local sushi and tempura restaurant (Japanese chefs replace cooking oil more often, resulting in a higher-grade fuel).
Restaurant owners are usually thrilled to bypass paying for oil disposal and will leave five-gallon jugs of used oil out back for their SVO partners. Oil must be filtered and batch-tested for high acidity before use.
Where biodiesel reduces the viscosity of vegetable oil through a chemical process, SVO reduces viscosity by preheating the oil in the engine. At Silver Lake-based Lovecraft Biofuels, owner Brian Freedman converts four or five diesel cars to SVO each day. He sells pre-filtered oil to those who don’t want to collect and prepare their own ($1.40/gallon for recycled oil, and between $2.40 and $2.60/gallon for new).
The choice between biodiesel and SVO garners strong opinions; sustainable fuel advocates usually stand for one or the other. The biodiesel camp points out that uncontrolled levels of oil quality, filtration and system maintenance mean that some SVO cars run clean, others dirty. Plus the heavier viscosity of SVO can age injectors and other engine parts faster. SVO advocates retort that biodiesel allows corporate America to maintain its grip on fuel profits through commercial refineries and biodiesel-petroleum diesel mixtures.
But one point is certain: in a petroleum-dominated world, fractious attitudes among alt fuel advocates are only going to throw a kink in the works. That’s why Russell Sydney, organizer of LA’s 400-member Sustainable Transport Club, chooses instead to network, share information on all types of transport and build community. Although he prefers biodiesel, he appreciates the potential of SVO. “SVO users have done a great job of identifying and using a wasted fuel source,” he said. “A community-based collection system would allow SVO to be treated properly. Creating quality fuel is key. But the first step is to stop being as wasteful as we are with the resources we’ve been blessed with.” —Katie Winchell
Free For All
Want to change the world? First, ask the right questions. That’s the premise behind Dropping Knowledge (DK), a new virtual space for ideas, information and people-powered solutions, free and accessible to anyone with an inquisitive mind and an Internet connection.
DK held its first “drop” in Berlin September 9 with “The Table of Free Voices.” The event was staged within the neo-classical façades of the Bebelplatz, the public square best known as the site of the infamous 1933 Nazi book burning. Re-consecrating the plaza were 112 of the international intelligentsia’s best and brightest: scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers, writers, artists and activists. Their goal: to create a global platform that utilizes the power of questioning to challenge authority, speak truth to power and upend commonly held assumptions.
The group, including notables like Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, writer Arundhati Roy and musician Laurie Anderson, tackled 100 submissions culled from DK’s yearlong “What’s Your Question?” campaign. Topics addressed ranged from the deeply philosophical, as in 12-year-old Londoner Anne Lymans’ inquiry, “Why do we kill people to prove that killing is wrong?,” to the heart-wrenching, as in a 17-year-old German girl’s plea, “Will we be held responsible for our country’s past for all eternity?”
Over 660 hours of their ensuing discussion was filmed by 112 digital cameras, transcribed and translated into multiple languages and archived on DK’s vast online “Living Library.”
DK’s next step is to launch a series of electronic billboards which will simultaneously broadcast provocative questions in high density locations from Times Square to Tokyo. To ask your question of the world, log on to DroppingKnowledge.org.
—Allan Hunt-Badiner