The Big Green Bus Comes to Seattle

Scrounging around in a fast-food restaurant's Dumpster for used vegetable oil isn't part of the traditional summer road trip. But for 11 Dartmouth College students and graduates touring the country in a retired school bus retrofitted to run on waste vegetable oil, this is just part of a day's work. This summer, they are redefining the road trip educating the public about alternative fuel sources.

This intrepid group of students will be rolling into Seattle this weekend. The student crew and their 38-foot Big Green Bus will be the focus of a party hosted by Bus sponsors Clif Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Five Ultimate, Roxy's Diner and evo. For $5 at the door, all are welcome to eat, drink and pick up some information about small ways that everyone can make the world a better, more sustainable place. Live music by Handful of Lovin and DJ 100 Proof.

Best of all, visitors will get the chance to tour the Bus itself, a marvel of student innovation and sustainable practices. In addition to running on the free waste oil that the crew collects from greasy spoons as they travel, the bus also serves as a mobile Swiss army knife of energy saving gadgets and technology. The retrofitted school bus features sleeping and living quarters, a NASA-quality solar panel that provides electricity, a telescoping wind turbine, and sustainably-harvested hardwood floors, and serves as a rolling eco-lab of interactive exhibits and presentations, demonstrating both cutting-edge and simple cost-effective methods that every American can adopt to reduce their environmental impact.

Now in its third year (and on its second bus), the Big Green Bus project is a fun and engaging demonstration that sustainable living can be within everyone's reach.

The Big Green Bus Party / August 4th, 5 p.m. to midnight / at evo in Fremont / 122 NW 36th Street.