We enter an Ecology 101 class at St. John’s University and I scan the room, noticing intrigued faces that are much younger looking than I remember being as a Freshmen. Ethan and Alan introduce themselves in that order, and one student notices aloud, “Isn’t that a famous patriot?"

    “Well at least you didn’t say a furniture store,” Alan remarks in a tone signifying the frequency of such comments. I remembered my own refrain from writing a similar comment when I applied for the photography job, admittedly thinking of the furniture store. Is associating a name with a store rather than the individual who made the name famous an effect of our commercialized society? I’d bet a patriot on it.

    The students listened with intent and asked genuinely perceptive questions about the journey and our message. The teacher inquired about the engine’s ability to work on different types of oil.

    “Vegetable-based grease is the best, but it could run on animal fat as well,” Ethan responded.

    “Well there's the solution to the nation’s obesity problem!” he chuckled. Maybe he’s got something there. I’m inspired to allude to a certain Jonathan Swift piece about eating plump Irish newborns…

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“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter…The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict…History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people…In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

       I suppose a great concern of mine while starting this tour is people’s indifference to our ideas. Not controversy or dissent, because there is an inevitable group of people who won’t be “on board” the BioBus or in agreement with our message. These dissenters are necessary in order for us to 1) correct certain misconceptions inflicted by the media, the government, their neighbors, etc, and 2) become aware of all kinds of perspectives and learn facts we may not have come across. The scariest attitude plaguing our society, however, is unconcern, apathy and general lethargy toward important issues. These issues are not just important, they are vital to the happiness of our future generations and the survival of the species. When people are too involved with (i.e. distracted by) the newest gadgets, the coolest clothing and the most recent TV drama, their materialistic lifestyles blind them from what it means to be human. To me, we are a cluster of cells, brothers of swinging mammals, surviving with instincts. We find love and raise families, we have friends and parents and grandparents, we own pets and grow gardens. We put parks in the center of concrete jungles. We are nature. 

        Our natural lifestyles have changed due to scientific and technological advances, which one could argue are apart of our natural evolution as man. Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and author of several esteemed works, examines the agricultural revolution and the coinciding point humans lost connection with the land and nature: “Humans walk around as appendages of their intellect,” he states in a lecture to his students. The current standard of living most prevalent in the U.S. has changed dramatically from only a century ago and illustrates Steiner’s sentiment: Our farms have grown enormous and centralized, the population of farmers on steep decline; our jobs have moved miles from our homes, or our homes miles from our jobs; the 9 to 5 has turned 8 to 6, the 40-hour work week to an 80-hour work week; our children spend more time in the care of others than in our own; we move less and eat more; we don’t take vacations or walks; we are exhausted. 

        No wonder we submit to the television at the end of the day! Our unhealthy lifestyles lead to more illness, in turn leading to more prescription drugs, higher medical bills and, yes, shorter life expectancies than say, the average Canadian. It’s difficult in our daily lives to be thinking about conserving energy when it’s overflowing with task, so we choose the quickest way home, an easy meal to prepare, and a pill to numb the pain. There is a desperate need to completely change the way we think and act. Where do we start? Let's initiate conversation...

What I am pleasantly surprised to find is the overwhelming support we received my first weeks on the bus. People LOVE the bus. They are drawn to it, want to know more about it, about us and about what they can do. There are people around the country making a difference and my next entry will talk about how. If your lifestyle does not fit the preceding descriptions or you are making a difference in your community toward sustainability, please write a comment or email me at jenny@biotour.org.