Bus runs on veggie oil

College students take a bus powered with vegetable oil to promote sustainable fuels. CNN's Rob Marciano reports.

Welcome to our home.

Home for this quartet of eco-activists is a bus. And it’s touring the country to spread a message of sustainability. They call their effort bio-tour.

We are seeing a society that is not living sustainably, that is exploiting resources to the bare minimum. And we’re, you know, we can see it with the degradation of our natural resources, with oil depletion, with anything out there.

They’re taking their message to college students and anyone who will listen. The bus itself is an example of sustainability. It runs on bio-diesel and used vegetable oil.

Restaurant owners or managers are more than willing to donate it to us, 'cause often times they have to pay to get rid of it , 'cause it’s a waste product.

Solar panels on the roof power rechargeable batteries.

And we use the energy stored in those batteries to power laptop, computers, cell phones and various electronic appliances.

Bio-tour plans to expand to a fleet of four buses this fall, coinciding with the presidential campaign.

We want a society in which we can all live sustainable, that relies on renewable energies, and an active and participatory democracy. It’s a human problem, and as humans we can solve it.

Rob Marciano, CNN.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. bare : adj

If you talk about the bare minimum or the bare essentials, you mean the very least that is necessary.

2. fleet : n-count

A fleet of vehicles is a group of them, especially when they all belong to a particular organization or business, or when they are all going somewhere together.

3. participatory : adj

A participatory system, activity, or role involves a particular person or group of people taking part in it.