Grassroots Biodiesel Movement

Tonight is the Keynote address of our Grassroots Biodiesel Conference. I plan to do some singing on stage as I introduce Larry Shirley:

People get ready, there’s a train a coming….

Sorry. I’m not supposed to be singing tonight, but it’s hard not to sing when you see a crowd like this gathered from all over in the name of biodiesel. Thanks for coming.

Our guest speaker tonight is Larry Shirley. He runs our State Energy Office, which means he is a technocrat. Larry Shirley is part of the “Renewables Establishment.”
He has been in the renewable energy wars for decades, and has been fighting for renewable BTUs since before most of us had ever heard of biodiesel.

I know that tonight the room is full anarchists, and angry raw food vegans, and people who have invested considerable energy righting the injustices of the establishment.

Which is why I wanted to get Larry here tonight. He is the genuine article. When you are waiting at the curb for him to arrive, and wondering what type of vehicle he’ll be driving, it won’t be an SUV, like everyone else. It’ll be a hybrid.

When you go to his office for a meeting, you’ll notice all of his employees turn the lights off when they leave the room. And bring your own coffee mug, by the way, since there is no Styrofoam provided. Larry Shirley walks the walk, he’s a marvelous speaker, and his office contributes both money, and brainpower to biodiesel efforts in North Carolina.

We are delighted to have him here tonight:

And after Larry has finished, I plan to launch into a discussion of What is the Grassroots Biodiesel Movement:

I got an email from Joe Jobe the other day. He’s the Executive Director of the National Biodiesel Board.

He has been following this conference from afar—he said he wished he could be joining us on the train ride to Florida—and he was reflecting on some of the issues that have arisen between NBB and grassroots activists in the past.

The last time a bunch of grassroots activists showed up at the annual NBB convention, they were wearing some laser printed stickers that said B100. And they were pushing for increased fuel quality. And they wanted NBB to open source their human health effects data. And they wanted a voice for small producers.

And NBB responded. They put together a small producer’s working group. And they came out with a small producer’s membership that was half price. By the way, eight small producers have joined the NBB since they passed that membership category in July.

And they tabled discussions of quality policing until another time.

From their perspective, they listened to what the grassroots community had to say, and instead of getting a “Thank you,” they were vilified for their failure to pass quality regulations.

Something you have to realize is that the NBB has a devil of a time speaking for its members. It’s members are diverse, with their own agendas, and their own axes to grind, and some of them would no doubt love to live in a world in which there was no grassroots agitation.

And something the NBB has to know about us: no one speaks for our membership. We are diverse, with our own agendas, and our own axes to grind. And some of us would love to live in a world in which we could sell fuel, unfettered by the NBB.

The reality is that NBB has to put up with us. And we benefit from the existence of the NBB. We are strange bedfellows, but we are in bed just the same.

I would love to give you some perky, upbeat message about how great it would be if we could all just get along. But it’s not that simple. Let me read a dark passage from Kumar’s blog, Fueled for Thought:

On one side, there are giant petroleum/chemical/ag corps that produce poor quality fuel consistently, and have created a national lobby that exclusively focuses on incentives, repeatedly quashing attempts at real understanding of sustainability and quality control.

On the other side, we have a sea of enthusiastic progressives, 99% of whom are unaware of the ramifications of small-scale production, legal, safety, environmental, and otherwise.

Sure, Kumar is over simplifying the position of both sides, but in doing so he makes the point succinctly.

We don’t need to agree with the NBB. Those in the room who share enthusiasms for both Linux and biodiesel will probably never agree with the NBB’s basic value proposition that derives from access to proprietary data. But you know what? I argued that point with Joe Jobe in Palm Springs and he listened. Genuinely listened.

We can be critical without being hostile. We can be appreciative when things go our way. And though we may not have one voice that speaks for us, we do not need biodiesel to deteriorate into factions. The NBB knows we are here. They know we are the ones in the classrooms. They know we evangelize the fuel. They may have members that think we are impossible to approach or deal with, but as an organization, they are ready to talk and to listen to our ideas.

What is the Grassroots Biodiesel Movement? You’re looking at it. It’s in this room tonight. We are in the backyard, and we are in buckets, and we are the ones driving around on this fuel. We write the blogs, and we live on the lists, and we know our biodiesel. One of my blog readers once wrote: ““Let them tear the ears off your favorite dog before you succumb to the tortures of biodiesel registration.” That may sound a little extreme, but you know what? It girded Piedmont Biofuels at a critical moment and helped us move to the next level. The Grassroots Biodiesel Movement is supportive. Supportive of one another, and of the fuel.

And having said that, I’d like to open this up to a general discussion. What do you think the grassroots biodiesel movement is?

Posted by Lyle at January 28, 2005 06:05 PM