Our crew is in transition… so we started riding the down-hill energetic wave toward the Summer Solstice a few weeks early this year, knowing that we were treading new ground preparing for some teen members to leave us for college after 3 – 4 years in our collective while welcoming new young people to join the team.

In early June, to prepare for our Green Grease Guzzlers Tour stops in Detroit (at AMC2010 and USSF II), we made another series of upgrades to our bio bus.

We replaced a few windows…

. . . applied a lil more paint and caulk,

. . . designed a new 15 foot banner (made 100% from recycled plastic bottles) to accent the bus,

and purchased and installed a 410 W Photovoltaic (PV) array…

with batteries (to store our electricity when the sun is not shining) and a battery box,

a power center (to control the charge of our system and convert the direct current (DC) energy from the solar panels to alternating current (AC) for use on the bus), and

panels (2 @ 205 W each):

Most of our upgrades were made in alignment with our vision and our values, with the exception of our wrap…

Because we could not afford a $15K paint job, we decided to go with vinyl (yikes!) after much deliberation and research.  What is the problem with vinyl, you ask? PVC (polyvinyl chloride, a.k.a. plastic) is one of the most environmentally hazardous consumer materials ever produced.  With over 30 million tons produced annually on a global basis (little of which can be recycled), PVC production

• is the largest use of chlorine gas in the world
• creates by-products that are highly toxic (health hazards include reproductive impairment, birth defects, immune system suppression)
• forms dioxins during numerous stages of its lifecycle (dioxins are a potent carcinogen, meaning there are no safe levels… ever!)
• significantly impacts indoor air quality in a not-so-good way (contributing to asthma, and increasing exposure to heavy metals and toxic mold)

Of course this is not to say that there are no plastics associated with our bus.  But we continually strive to raise our awareness of the many ways we contribute daily to the environmental degradation of the planet, and how we can shift our consciousness to make more sustainable life choices… and encourage others to do the same.

So… we were excited to end our fourth year (and, subsequently, start our fifth)

• challenging natural gas exploration and exploitation by interviewing Josh Fox (available soon) and checking out/promoting Gasland, and offering Natural Gas… clean enough to drink? at USSF II:

• initiating, organizing, and co-sponsoring an eco-justice track at the 12th Annual Allied Media Conference

• showcasing our green ride and premiering our latest film in the motor city (meeting up with Grace Lee Boggs, John Trudell, Bernadine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Jessica Care Moore, and many others…)

• co-organizing the Third Annual Northeast Climate Confluence

With special thanks to Sustainable Tompkins and Shaleshock Action Alliance for helping us set up the interview with Josh Fox of Gasland; Acorn Designs, Dream Green Fabrics, and Kettle Foods for “corporate sponsorship” (fabulous donations… journals to document our journey, banners made 100% from recycled plastic water bottles to demonstrate our creativity, and healthy tasty chips to share with others along the road); Renovus Energy for helping us size our PV system and providing valuable technical and in-kind support for our DIY solar project; Lottie Spady, Jenny Lee, and Allied Media Projects in Detroit for supporting our track at AMC2010, especially the Roots of Resistance cd benefit project; the Program & Culture Working Group for USSF II (special shoutout to Oya, Darryl, and Nadir) for hosting our bus on Hart Plaza and hooking up a source for waste vegetable oil for the fuel to get home; and, the Confluence Network for working with us in Detroit and beyond to create a unique cooperative space for people of color to build community on principles of sustainability and social justice!

Green Guerrillas have lots more in store for the months ahead, with upcoming tour stops this Fall in Ithaca (2) and New Bedford… the sky is the limit, stay tuned!

]]> https://guerrillagriots.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/green-grease-guzzlers-report-back-2/feed/ 0 564 guerrillagriots bus-with-panels replacing-windows2 replacing-windows3 rear-bus-makeover bus-with-new-caulk STAMP-Banner-on-bus2 bus-with-panels-on-hart-plaza2 bus-batteries2 bus-battery-box bus-battery-box2 bus-power-center bus-power-center2 panels-for-bus bus-wrap bus-decals bus-decals2 TSB-AMC-closing-ceremonies-video showcasing-the-bus John-Trudell-on-bus GGs-with-Ayers-and-Dohrn confluence-2010 confluence-2010b GGs-journaling GGs-on-the-road more-GG-tour-stops-to-come2 more-GG-tour-stops-to-come https://guerrillagriots.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/green-grease-guzzlers-report-back-1/ https://guerrillagriots.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/green-grease-guzzlers-report-back-1/#respond Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:48:16 +0000 http://guerrillagriots.wordpress.com/?p=538 Green Guerrillas are currently in our third week of year five… barely rested from the first four stops of our 2010-2011 Green Grease Guzzlers Tour, but excited to jump into a new project while continuing to plan for our route.

As we mentioned in a previous post, we purchased a diesel-engine bus during Summer Solstice 2008 and have spent the last two years creating a renewable energy demonstration vehicle:

In May, we were finally ready to take our bio bus on the road.  We decided that it would be fitting to go to NYC for the first time (officially) and the first stop!

We are always in the process of wrapping up one project while soaring forward on the next, and this was no exception.  To start from the beginning of our latest transition from roadside to road ready, in early March we supported the northern route for the 2010 Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future by attending the opening ceremonies at the Seneca Nation of Indians (the western door of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations)).  The walkers supported us by attending the sneak preview community screening of our latest film, Green Grease Guzzlers, when they walked through Ithaca on their way downstate.

So the first weekend in May we reunited with the walkers in NYC after attending the Bronx Food Summit on May 1st, talking food in a workshop with other youth from all over the state; meeting up with hip hop elder Melle Mel from the Furious 5, former Green Party VP Candidate Rosa Clemente, filmmaker Byron Hurt (and family), Readnex Poetry Squad, and fellow changent Tanya Fields; and, showing off our bus:

On May 2nd, we (along with thousands of others) welcomed the walkers to Times Square, and marched most of the way with them to the United Nations before we had to board our bus back home:

So our first official trip to NYC was full of action, information, and renewable resistance!  For the remainder of May, while prepping for our next tour stops, Green Guerrillas hosted youth from the Albany Free School; helped Green the Block by hanging out with Drake at Cornell’s Slope Day…

… and, created dynamic THANK YOUS for all the local farmers (Cayuga Pure Organics, Remembrance Farm, Sweet Land Farm, The Good Life Farm), green businesses (Cayuga Lake Creamery, Gimme! Coffee, GreenStar Community Projects, Ithaca Bakery, Regional Access), and food chefs extraordinaire (Chef Hans Butler and back-up assistants) who supported our free local foods reception for our community following the sneak preview for our latest film:

The second stop for Green Grease Guzzlers was more of a hands-on, message-in-our-media-making event… Green Guerrillas participated in the First Annual NY Youth Media Shout Out, hosted by the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, New York:

With a focus on film and fun, our first two regional tour stops provided us with inaugural opportunities to show off our bus… transformed on the inside… but still needing a lil work on the outside.  Stay tuned for the second installment of our road trips rap up — highlighting our FABULOUS trip to Detroit — to find out how we went from this (2008)…

the inside of our bus... before

to this (2010)….

the transformation!

Green Guerrillas Bio Bus

Until next time… Peace!

We spent last weekend co-facilitating the first ever eco-justice track at Allied Media Conference 2010:

Eco Justice Track at Allied Media Conference Closing Ceremony from Worcester Roots Project on Vimeo.

Since Monday (happy belated Summer Solstice), we have been organizing at the US Social Forum, facilitating workshops on eco-justice movement building, natural gas drilling, and living off-grid; premiering our latest film Green Grease Guzzlers; and, showcasing our solar-powered bio bus:

Today is our last day in Detroit… we will send out a full report back soon, with pics and updates from all our happenings since we started traveling on May 1st.

Is it July already?

Woooo-hoooooo!

For those new to our story… we purchased a diesel bus off E-Bay in June 2008, and spent that summer with a local “organic mechanic” converting it to run on waste vegetable oil.  When we looked around on the internet for a teen-friendly film that covered the conversion process, we could not find one… so we decided to create our own:

Since that time, we have been raising awareness and money for our project!

It took us a very long winter to finish our film – Green Grease Guzzlers.  Making conversion “cool” was a lil more challenging than we anticipated!  But in June 2009, we came pretty darn close… and decided it was time to focus on the bus itself while we strategized on a distribution plan for the movie.

But then a few amazing things happened that took us a lil off-track… we were awarded a grant from a local foundation (give thanks) to purchase HD equipment:

HDelicious!

. . . so we decided to spend some time learning our new technology and building a better relationship with our natural environment:

After a FUN summer… cozying up to the birds, bees, and trees, we found out about New York State’s plan to introduce hydraulic fracturing for natural gas exploration and exploitation….

Basically, a plan to transform our homelands from this…

our homelands

to this… yikes!

photo credit: wvsoro.org

So… Green Guerrillas g o t  b u s y, plunging camera-first into the national grassroots movement to expose the irreversible environmental threat natural gas drilling in 34 states will have on our air, water, and soil… threatening animal, human, and plant life for many generations to come.

Since the start of 2010, we have continued to organize against hydro-fracking… and will be offering the only workshop on this important issue at the United States Social Forum II in Detroit in June.

In preparation for the road to Detroit… we were awarded another grant in March (give thanks, again) to launch our 2010-2011 Green Grease Guzzlers Biodiesel/Veggie Oil Bus Tour, making our efforts since January to go from this…

the inside of our bus... before

to this…

the transformation!

well worth it!

So, after two looooong years, transformations on all levels continue, BUT we are another step closer to realizing our vision of creating a renewable energy demonstration vehicle that serves as a mobile studio from which we can document and share stories from communities marginalized by mainstream media in their (r)evolution to healthier, more sustainable, and self-determined lives.

And we have been transformed… questioning our addiction to fossil fuels, critiquing our food choices, and building our relationships with each other and Mother Earth all along the way.  Remember our post about ORENDA a few months back?

Green Guerrillas are heading to New York City tomorrow for the Bronx Food Summit… we will be screening one of our shorts, participating in a youth speak out, and showing off our bus.  This will be the first stop on our tour.  If you are in the area, join us!

And stay tuned for more updates on the bus renovations…

In the meantime… NO ONE IS ILLEGAL… GGs shout out to all ya’ll we will MISS at FREEDOM FEST in Union Square!

Happy May Day!

The Eco-Justice Media-Making for Sustainable Communities track for Allied Media Conference 2010 has created this eco-justice CD compilation (with the help of many amazing artists/activists/organizers) to encourage everyone to connect the dots between environmental and social justice issues.

Your $upport of this cd project (100%) will help offset the travel expenses of artists, grassroots community organizers, and youth media-makers within a growing national network of eco-justice activists… making it possible for them to meet-up in Detroit in June to participate in AMC2010 (alliedmediaconference.org) and the US Social Forum (www.ussf2010.org).

This cd benefit project also supports the network’s larger goal of creating transformative living and learning spaces where young people and adults co-create media that utilizes social justice strategies to raise our collective, critical environmental and social consciousness, and support sustainable lifestyle choices.

Ya dig?

We have had a  P O W E R  month gearing up for the start of our 2010-2011 Green Grease Guzzlers Bio Bus Tour… and we are wrapping everything up in the next seven days with our highest energy week thanks to a lil help from the energy of the Equinox!

We started off our March madness by supporting the northern route for the 2010 Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future, which held its opening ceremonies within our homelands of Haudenosaunee Territory.

Walk for a Nuclear Free Future

Calling attention to the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference scheduled to be held at the United Nations in New York City in May, walkers and supporters have collaborated to raise awareness from Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Burlington, Vermont.  The Treaty is reviewed every five years, and this call to action is for the abolition of all nuclear weapons and an end to nuclear power.

The 700-mile trek from the Allegheny Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians to the streets of Manhattan passed by West Valley Demonstration Site on March 10th… upstream from the Cattaragus Reservation.  Historically… and continuously, still… indigenous communities bear a disproportionate share of the life-threatening risks from the nuclear industry.  From uranium mines to nuclear waste dumps… it has been said that many native communities across Turtle Island have been the target of an “undeclared” nuclear war since the mid-1900s.  The walkers will be passing through Ithaca starting Monday, and we are looking forward to reuniting with them and offering our continued support.

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to joining other activists and organizers from across the state at the New York Prisoners Justice Conference in Albany.  We have been helping to plan this unique event for many months, bringing together organizations and individuals working on a diversity of prisoner justice issues to share ideas, information, energy, strategies, hope, and inspiration!  It has been an interesting journey thus far, and we are anxious to share our work and meet other youth and adults who share our vision for a world without prisons.

Speaking of story-telling… after connecting with them this weekend, on Tuesday we are teaming up with DAUGHTERS OF CREATIVE SOUND and Prisoners Are People Too for a multi-media presentation at Cornell University to encourage others to join us in challenging the Prison Industrial Complex:

Two of us will be going to a local maximum security facility on Wednesday to prep for an upcoming program the following week… and then Thursday, April 1st, is our BIG day!

Green Guerrillas will be celebrating Fossil Fools Day with a return to the big screen.  We are kicking off our 2010-2011 Green Grease Guzzlers Biodiesel/Veggie Bus Tour with a community preview of our latest film.  The “sneak peak” will be followed by a local foods reception and zero waste event courtesy of a growing network in our area of local businesses and organizations who prioritize building a healthy and sustainable food system that maximizes the potential of our local farms.

We had a taste testing this afternoon… and all we could say was YUM!  So if you are in the Ithaca area on Thursday night… join us!  Our tour opener is FREE and open to all.

We will wind down on Thursday night with a teen part-tay… but we’ll save those juice details for another post!

In the meantime, stay connected with us on Facebook!

From 700-mile walks… to prison abolition… to veggie fuels and local foods and booty-shake fun… that’s what we call RENEWABLE RESISTANCE!

ya dig?

To Drill or Not To Drill has been the ongoing question for those of us from New York to Tennessee living above the 600-mile stretch that lies above the Marcellus Shale rock formation.  It has been said that the Marcellus is the largest natural gas deposit in North America.

Marcellus Shale; Source: Appalachian Fracture Systems, Modified from U.S. Geological Survey sources

For those of you new to the conversation… here is a lil background:

To Drill or Not to Drill: A Dilemma for New York State

For those of you who have been following this story… since the EPA claim that hydro fracking poses no threat to health or well being, and federal lawmakers announced their intent to investigate hydraulic fracturing last week…

Congress Investigates Drilling Practices

Two of the largest companies involved in natural gas drilling have acknowledged pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in the process of hydraulic fracturing, raising further concerns that existing state and federal regulations don’t adequately protect drinking water from drilling.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., who released the information in a statement Thursday, announced that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which he chairs, is launching an investigation into potential environmental impacts from hydraulic fracturing.

The process, which forces highly pressurized water, sand and chemicals into rock to release the gas and oil locked inside, gives drillers unprecedented access to deeply buried gas deposits and vastly increases the country’s known energy reserves. But as ProPublica has detailed in more than 60 articles, the process comes with risks. The fluids used in hydraulic fracturing are laced with chemicals — some of which are known carcinogens. And because the process is exempt from most federal oversight, it is overseen by state agencies that are spread thin and have widely varying regulations.

In 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency examined hydraulic fracturing and determined it can be safe as long as diesel fuel isn’t added to the drilling fluids. The agency based its decision in part on a non-binding agreement it struck with the three largest drilling service companies — Halliburton, Schlumberger and B.J. Services — to stop using diesel. But the agreement applied only to gas drilling in a specific type of geologic formation: shallow coal deposits. The EPA study has since been widely criticized.

The information obtained by Waxman’s group shows that B.J. Services violated that agreement and that Halliburton continued to use diesel in other geologic formations not governed by the agreement. All three companies acknowledged using other potentially harmful chemicals, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.

. . . there has been increased activity in, and around, the Southern Tier regarding the potential impacts on natural gas drilling in New York… including stories from those in other states who have been fracked!

Drillers Plead Guilty to Dumping

Marcellus drilling creates new world

NPR’s Morning Edition reported on what’s happening in our backyard with Cornell University’s latest shell game — going “green” with natural gas — and Democracy Now! featured the film Gasland, winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize:

Based on the conversation thus far… what do you think?

For us… natural gas is not a “green gateway” to a bright future.  Instead, it is an indication of our collective unwillingness to change.

We will continue to keep you posted… and encourage all of us to re-think our dependency on fossil fuels.  As someone in our collective once asked…

Do you stay at a job that gives you cancer, because it also provides you with health insurance?

Think about it!

The 2010 Convergence refers to three related campaigns that are happening in 2010 — resistance to (1) the Olympics, (2) the G8 Summit, and (3) the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) which collectively represent government and corporate plans to intensify resource exploitation and continue global market expansion to the detriment of First Nations communities.

British Columbia remains largely unceded and non-surrendered Indigenous territories.  Despite this, the Canadian government continues to sell, lease, and develop Native land for the benefit of corporate interests, choosing resource extraction and ski resorts over people and the planet.  Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples suffer the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, imprisonment, police violence, disease, and suicide.

Green Guerrillas met up with Kanahus and Dustin in 2008 when they were spreading the news about the impacts of globalization on their home territories:

We encourage everyone to learn more, get involved, and connect the dots between the need for sustainability and social change in all aspects of our lives!

just for YOU!

So which do you want first?

Ok, ok, ok… the news.

F i n a l l y , we have started renovating our bus! woo-hooooooo!

Basically, we are going to go from this…..

the inside of our bus... before

to this…

the after... GG mobile media studio

In June 2008 we purchased a diesel-engine bus off e-Bay, and spent the Summer with an “organic mechanic” converting it into a green whip…

Our film will premiere in Ithaca at the beginning of April… and we plan to debut our mobile media studio just in time for our

Green Grease Guzzlers 2010-2011 Biodiesel/Veggie Oil Bus Tour.

More details coming soon…

In the meantime… here’s the invitation we promised!  Join Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective… our Bus… and over 20,000 activists from all over Turtle Island and beyond at the United States Social Forum June 22-26, 2010 in Detroit.  Register now!

What is the USSF?

The US Social Forum is more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression. The USSF provides a space to build relationships, learn from each others experiences, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration to social movement organizations. Through the USSF process, grassroots groups, coalitions and networks build leadership and develop collective consciousness, vision, and strategies needed to realize another world.

The USSF sends a message to other people’s movements around the world that there is an active movement in the US opposing government and corporate policies at home and abroad.

We must declare what we want our world to look like and begin planning the path to get there. A global movement is rising. The USSF is our opportunity to demonstrate to the world that Another World is Possible!

People worldwide know that another world is needed. The Social Forum movement process makes that possible. At the USSF organizations from all over the country gather to think about what kind of world is needed and how we can get there.

The US Social Forum is a very special kind of gathering–one that, up to now, has never taken place in this country. The USSF is a mass movement convergence where we produce own agenda, our own program and our own solutions to change.

The mere process of planning, thinking, talking and preliminary organizing will move you, the people you’re working with and the rest of us forward. The moment you begin to think of alternative ideas, you are already participating in the Social Forum process!

2010 USSF Goals:

• Create a space for social movement convergence and strategic discussion
• Advance social movements agenda for action and transformation
• Build stronger relationships and collaboration between movements
• Deepen our commitment to international solidarity and common struggle
• Strengthen local capacity to improve social conditions, organizing and movement building in Detroit

another world is possible…

another u.s. is necessary…

another detroit is happening…

where will you be?

As we continue with pre-production for our fourth film — Green Guerrillas Blockumentary v.3 HD in 3G: Ganonyonk | Gye Nyame | Generation — we are looking inward during this clearing time of year to better understand what it means to be green.

We have been having several discussions since the start of 2010 about HOW to move forward in the “seemingly” climate crisis… and that was before devastation struck Haiti.  This past Friday we hosted ITVS Community Cinema and screened Garbage Dreams: Raised in the Trash Trade.

Garbage Dreams: Raised in the Trash Trade

To us, Garbage Dreams is a powerful film connecting the dots between pollution, prisons, sustainability, and social change.  Using analogies from the film, we were able to help those in attendance better understand that toxicity on the outside has been birthed from a seed of mental toxicity on the inside… meaning that the pollution of prejudice, inequality, oppression, and discrimination is directly proportional to the increased use of policing, incarceration, exploitation, and resource extraction nationwide and abroad.

So it is not surprising to us that in neighboring Seneca County — where the last maximum security prison in New York State was constructed over a toxic waste site in 2000 — local activists from this low-income rural community are fighting big corpa-sponsored (and government-favored) trash trains filled with over 9,000 tons of waste from all over the Northeast on a daily basis.  Neither prisons nor pollution targeted at poor people are going to turn around sinking upstate economies… but to understand that means to value ALL life equally and to take responsibility for our choices and their impacts on both people and the planet.

During Community Cinema we talked about the need for personal accountability in terms of sustainability, accountability to the community, and the need to resolve the contradictions and inconsistencies that has us using GMO-corn plastic cups to achieve a “zero-waste” event… where the energy used to power our projector and the lights inside our screening room comes from coal or natural gas.

Yikes!

When we talked about creating “plastic-free zones” and supporting the implementation of greater awareness and appreciation for reduce, reuse, recycle, and rebuy on a municipal level… we also mentioned the need to take a hard look at our personal footprints and that of our families.  We cannot just be against hydraulic fracturing or toxic trash trades… we have to also be FOR something that is life-affirming and offers an example for others to follow who care to do the same.

So we will continue to share in the coming months our process of working through the contradictions and inconsistencies… meaning that we know we have to work harder to make a RENEWABLE future available to all of us by transforming the culture within ourselves and our immediate communities to birth healthier seeds.  We understand that to end toxicity on the outside, we have to first challenge and overcome the toxicity on the inside that lends credibility to life-threatening realities in the first place.

In the meantime… check out an upcoming screening of Garbage Dreams… and for those concerned about the environmental impacts hydraulic fracturing would have statewide, join activists from all over New York in Albany on January 25th:

Protect Environment from Nat Gas Drilling

WHO… Environmental Advocates of New York, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Sierra Club-Atlantic Chapter, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and Many Others

WHAT… Rally to Protect New York State from Natural Gas Drilling.

WHEN… Monday, January 25, 2010
Rally 10:30 am to NOON
Lobby Visits with Lawmakers begin at 1:30 pm

WHERE… Meet us on the west side of the New York State Capitol building in West Capitol Park

WHY… In other parts of the country, natural gas drilling has polluted wells, lakes and streams and poisoned landscapes. We can’t let that happen in New York.