The town of Plymouth and the campus of Plymouth State University will be an upcoming stop for BioTour, a group of people touring the country in a vegetable-oil-powered school bus in order to spread the message of "sustainability".
The visit to PSU is sponsored by Common Ground, Plymouth State's environmental and social justice student organization. The BioTour visit is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26.
The bus, which also is equipped with solar panels, will be parked outside the Hartman Union Building on campus, ready for tours from 10 a.m. to noon. In the afternoon, from 1 to 4 p.m., there will be music from atop the bus and informal discussions of a variety of environmental issues.
At 4:30 pm, there will be a formal presentation on "Climate Change and the Now Generation" in Boyd Hall, Room 144. The presentation and discussion will look at natural resource depletion, peak oil, climate change, and alternative energies and strategies for living more sustainably.
The event is free and open to the public.
The BioTour project had its beginnings in 2006 when the grease-powered school bus was driven from Massachusetts to Nevada for the Burning Man festival. The positive reactions the drivers received as they crossed the country inspired the creation of a non-profit organization and the development of a plan to launch cross-country bus tours to spread the message of sustainability and ways to achieve it.
Since 2006, BioTour has criss-crossed the country, visiting high schools, universities, and community gatherings, delivering presentations on renewable energy, sustainable living, peak oil, and climate change, as well as sharing examples of sustainable projects encountered across the country. The goal is to spark debate and inspire action concerning the meeting of human needs within environmental limits.
When BioTour members visit a community, a major emphasis is the need for citizens to become engaged and involved in ways to make their own communities more sustainable. BioTour Co-Director Alan Palm said, "What is at stake is the habitability of the planet. Inaction at this moment in history is not an option. Everyone has their part to play."
More information, as well as pictures, may be seen at the BioTour Website: www.biotour.org.
