Rebels rollin' with the SoCalBUG

The distinguished gentleman at Big Table Blog raises some excellent points about the reason v. emotion smackdown as it relates to going green. As much as know what we should be doing, there's that inner James Dean who's half-sneering, half-daring the square inside to think about things like food miles, wind power, solar ovens, or MPG.

But we do think about those things here at the ranch. Another ongoing project is rebuilding cars, less the blingy Porsche 550 Spyder kind of rebuild than the bionic eco-Vega kind of rebuild, taking lightweight cars and polishing up the fuel efficiency a few miles at a time. Certain people here have been known to whoop in delight over finding headers on eBay that will add another five mpg. But still, gas is gas.

We're really excited about experimenting with biodiesel, though only one of our cars uses it now. Any car that runs diesel can use biodiesel, if you can find it. Until recently, there was only one fuel station in town that offered it, and that on a members-only basis. We signed up with the Southern California Biodiesel Users' Group, which got us into the biodiesel cartel. Woohoo!

Still, having to join a group to buy an expensive, difficult to find, and good for the planet fuel seems a little like having to join a club before flossing. It's enough of an obstacle to discourage folks that might be interested in trying it. That's why it's exciting news to us that the first (non-member) biodiesel station opened in Santa Barbara last Friday. Even better, Jack Johnson showed up!

So I'm looking forward to cruising down there before too long, once my little red Vega wagon is up and running. Getting away from the gasoline pump is something I should be doing, but driving that Vega is something I want to be doing. Bite me, James Dean. I'd rather ride with Jack Johnson any day.