A Hero for the World Go green, man. Thats all I can say.

-Steve Fugate

I think the green community would agree with me when I say Steve Fugate is a renewable energy hero. Steve is well know in the renewable energy and biodiesel community, mainly because hes a volunteer, a teacher, an advisor, and and to lots of people, a hero. Id like to relate this paper back to my Belief Essay. In the interview I took with my dad, Steve Fugate, he spoke of how he was interested in renewables from a young age. Yes, he did use his common interests to become what he considers to be a biodiesel demigod, in his own words.

The interview took place at 8:30 p.m. Sunday night. Please do not judge me by me procrastination, I had a busy day. I gave the interview face to face in the dining room. The thermometer on the wall read 72 degrees fahrenheit. Gusting winds rustled the leaves on the trees, howling coyotes were off in the distance, probably on a night hunt. The television was on a low volume in the background. Steve sat at his computer checking e-mail. I had just finished leafing through the weather forecast. We were now lounging at the dining room table. The last cicadas of the year were croaking out as many melodies as they could, before the cooling temperatures killed them off for the season. Outside there were dark looming shadows of the late twilight, but inside the smell of apple cake drifted through the air. The inside of the house was lit with a golden hue.

I asked for a brief overview of why Steve is involved in renewables, and changing our ways for the better of the planet. He responded with a well rounded answer. I believe it will act as an introduction to the rest of this essay. Petroleum is a finite resource. So is coal and fossil fuels. They are of limited supply and they are very, very, very, dirty. To me renewables are the obvious answer and the speed and dexterity of which we adopt them will become increasingly important. I also believe that it should be democratic. All people should have access to it. There should be a do-it-yourself component, people should be able to do it themselves and not have to hire extremely expensive professionals. I think that it should be a strong community support function, where people get credit for doing the right thing.

I found it interesting to hear of how different the mind set was back when Steve was a kid. Next, he shares about how environmental concerns and renewables were looked at back in the day. Well ,I think Ive always been interested in renewables. When I was a kid we still had polution. Like, the air was so bad you couldnt breathe. We also had an oil embargo, where the Saudis cut off the oil supply so gas prices really spiked, so even at a really early age I was kind of interested in renewables, it just kind of made sense. Back then you could see huge smokestacks bellowing all the time and just the idea of renewable energy seemed like great idea. Even in junior high I was in J.A. (Junior Achievement). We built these hot air collectors, like a big board thing youd put out your window to collect hot air. So Ive kind of always been interested, but I got really motivated when I was working for a restaurant, and we had a lot of oil,

and we live out in the country so I use lots of fuel. Diesel engines kind of peaked my interest, so thats how I got into diesel and biodiesel and became a biodiesel demigod.

His childhood anecdote was quite interesting. Steve makes an excellent point about how we know hot to solve the problem, but were either to stubborn or dumb to do anything. If people were aware of the environmental and pollution problems in the 60s and 70s, then why havent we done more, now in the 21st century?

After the interview, there is no doubt in my mind that we need to advance, all of us. We all act like were doing the right thing, but in reality were far from it. Yes, there have been improvements such as large city air quality, waterway cleanup, you get the idea, but there is still so much that could be done. I was kind of surprised that people are so set on their ways and even when they can see obvious and serious environmental degradation, they kind of just continue to do the same thing.

Steve addresses my prior point during the interview. I think there are times where you will see, like in England during the Black Plague, you know the streets were lined with shit, and there were dead people lying everywhere. It was kind of obvious it was gonna cause trouble. Were smart enough to know better, so it surprised me we werent doing a better job.

His statement was as clear as it could get. Yet the statement also reflects to another point I brought up, I was interested to hear what he had to say on the opposing team, those who were quote on quote, ill informed. So say you ran into someone who completely disagreed with the fact that renewable energy needs to be progressing and overpowering the other energy sources, what would you say to them if they obviously didnt agree with that, I asked. Well I would wonder why, the only reason i know of for someone to say something like that is theyre ill informed or theyre paid to say that, so I would be curious as to their motivation. Do they not believe in a resource constrained future? Do they not believe in pollution? What part of the equation dont they understand? So, I would look for common ground, and build from there, he replied. I found his reply interesting, yet I had to agree 100 percent. Im starting to seriously doubt that society can change if we dont have more people like Steve out educating the lesser informed.

The next few minutes of the interview focused on the mindset of the public, and what trends Steve saw while working with renewables. What sorts of mindset tracks do you see working with people? what sort of trends? I asked. Well, I would say renewables are catching up with many other technologies. Weve had disruptive technologies, trains, per say, used to be all steam engines, and then eventually became diesels and became much more efficient, and completely transformed the industry. Here we hear Steve bringing his background knowledge of biofuels into the conversation.

I would think that cell phones did the same thing. Cell phone technology is an algis with renewables, with in that there were none and the original ones were very expensive and very big and bulky. So were in that kind of exponential growth phase where well see radically increasing implementation of renewables very very quickly. While there are new technologies the cost has come down profoundly now that economics have changed substantially.

His statement made me think of the infinite possibilities, ten, twenty years from now; how the renewable energy industry could change. Focusing even more on the public eye, I asked the following question. If you had more control over the way people used renewable energy, what would be one thing you would change about it, or how people use it?

His answer sounded slightly negative towards society, but it was the truth; plain and simple. I would have the people have a better understanding of it. And its true cost externalize the factors that people do not have understanding, were incredibly fortunate in this country, even in modern nations the power goes out daily.

Think back on your own life. Compare many of our first world problems to third world problems. Now imagine economic issues, more quickly that slowly begin to turn to more commonly third world issues. That should help clarify the next bit of dialogue. Its the same thing with water, everything is more scarce than it is here. So, I wish people werent so blind to what is happening throughout the world. Just because you live in heaven doesnt mean hell doesnt exist. Out of sight out of mind. I think the things that come

easy or free, you tend not to think of. I think people are stupid and often times lazy. Until theyre faced with some sort of harsh reality, theyre not willing to accept alternate paradigms, where as I think if we look at the future a little more carefully we would decide to be knowledgeable about the impacts we have in our environment. We would all realize exactly how finite these resources are.

This is exactly what I believe more people should be doing. Unfortunately it seems the ignorant outweighs the experienced and professional when it comes to renewables. Steve gave me a very good insight, very well worded, on why he helps the community and others willing to learn. I would help people to understand but most people are too busy wondering whos going to win American Idol or who in america has talent. People are easily distracted. As harsh as it sounds, its a reality, one that just as Steve said, people refuse to accept. With as much information I got out of the interview, it barely grazed the surface of how much complexity there is to the matter. The information seems as contagious as the flu. We cant expect people like steve to change us, we have to change us. There is probably a much more graceful way of wording this, but we need to dig our heads out of the sand, and get in the game. What Im trying to say is that if we dont change our ways and turn our environmental standpoint around, things are going to get very ugly, very quickly.