From the Car Tour Blog: Learning By Fire
Today we were diverted on our way from Bakersfield to Riverside due to a fire raging in Angeles National Forest. Ash rained down on us, the air was roiling with smoke, and the sun was a virulent orange in the sky. Even though we had the windows up and the vents blocked, the thick, heavy smell of smoke made it’s way into the car, our noses, and our lungs. It made me realize how much we take the air we breathe for granted. Like frogs -- who fail to notice that the water is heating up until it boils -- we only notice a change if it’s sudden and strong. If you take a deep breath and a good look around, you can see the air quality is worse than it was 10 years ago… one problem Prop 87 hopes to address.
The detour took us several miles out of our way, in true road trip fashion. What should have been a three hour, 165 mile drive turned out to be more like 210 miles that took 5 hours. It felt good knowing that our biodiesel vehicle wasn’t burning conventional fuel, but it brought up another issue, which is central to this campaign. In planning our trip, attention had to be paid to the availability of biodiesel, and in some cases we’re cutting it a little close. Unlike most of the other people detoured by the fire, we could hardly afford to add unexpected miles.
By making clean-burning fuel more available, Prop 87 would allow drivers of alternative vehicles to make road trips, commute to work, or run errands, without suffering undue stress about whether or not they’d be able to fill the tank.
Today being my first day on this (or any) campaign, I was absorbing much of the experience. I’ll leave you with a highlight: meeting Dolores Huerta… "Her tongue moved as swiftly as her mind and both left most other mortals in their wake." (Jacques Levy, Cesar Chavez, Autobiography of La Causa).
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