Green Grease Guzzlers report back #1
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!
