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Sean Penn Leads Biodiesel Trek Across America

Reuters   |   April 27, 2008 10:19 AM

Read More: Biodiesel, Coachella, Sean Penn, Breaking Entertainment News
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Sean Penn is fighting the war in Iraq, poverty, homelessness and saving the environment, all from a bus.

The actor, who baffled many when his name showed up on the lineup for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival underway this weekend in southern California, plans to board a fleet of biodiesel buses and take about 300 people on an 1,800-mile trek across the U.S., ending in New Orleans.

Penn's brainchild, the Dirty Hands Caravan, will take off Monday and is expected to arrive in the Big Easy on May 4 for the city's annual jazz festival.

"I see this as a reckoning," said Penn, who's set to appear twice on Sunday at Coachella. "My generation and those that came before have to recognize the numbing of incentive that we've passed on to the change hungry, imaginative, smarter than us youth of today."

Penn said he's simply providing the wheels and the young people are leading the ride.

Keep Reading

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Read about Coachella Friday here and Prince at Coachella Saturday here.

 

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collapse WIDESTANCE See Profile I'm a Fan of WIDESTANCE

what a brilliant idea !

let's make more money by growing food for our cars instead of people

that way, with way less available food on the planet, food prices will continue to skyrocket and lots more third world people will die of starvation as global food aid disappears

at least we'll have cool cars and busses to ride around in while we're patting ourselves on the back and feeling all good about ourselves for "saving the planet"

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:48 PM on 04/28/2008
collapse Gumby123 See Profile I'm a Fan of Gumby123

After Sean reaches New Orleans, he'll fly back to California in a private jet to offset all that nice green activism.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:30 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse Woggles See Profile I'm a Fan of Woggles

I read a book published about 30 years ago, that claimed if every dead, dying and diseased tree was harvested in the Western forests, it would provide nearly all of America energy needs.

I wonder where I put that.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:03 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse frissons See Profile I'm a Fan of frissons

To remove only the "dead, dying and diseased tree(s)" is not cost effective. This is why you see clear cutting all throughout the Western forests. In order to remove the dead and dying, they would remove the living.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:09 PM on 04/28/2008
collapse Earl See Profile I'm a Fan of Earl

Problem is, the forests depend on their own decaying organic material for nutrients. Removing it would kill the forests.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:16 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse PatA See Profile I'm a Fan of PatA

Penn has the cojones that millions of other people won't use. if they have them.
YEA, for Sean Penn. A voice for many and the means to go do it!!!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:33 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Agentlady007 See Profile I'm a Fan of Agentlady007

Phillips had big plans for Sean Penn, and I was not going to stand in his way. He put him in my life, and he also put Vigo and Matthew Macaunahay - all three friends now who can talk about me.

Well, I will let you know when I go back to acting.

Love you!

XO

Agentlady007

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:26 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Agentlady007 See Profile I'm a Fan of Agentlady007

The Hard seriouys part for me about Sean was that in real life he wasn't so religious as he was natural, and to life I mean, and yet this mutual friend saw and agreed with me a raws talent that could not be anything more than star quality forevermore.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:08 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Agentlady007 See Profile I'm a Fan of Agentlady007

Forgive me Father Sean for The Valley Girl Remark. I did not mean it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:05 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Agentlady007 See Profile I'm a Fan of Agentlady007

Wow, it's hard to describe Sean Penn. I guess this is why I knew the man who discovered him ---Donal Phillips who produced Melvin and Howared Academy Award movie including actor - man who onkly started as a casting director, and who says I am the sister type to Sean. Well, you don';t say that to a woman who is about rto fall in love with Sean Penn, who you thought was avalley guy and a Robert DeNiro lookalike. .....Yet in research Deniro and Penn are born the same day. I only spoke to Deniro, ...I made out ( not all the way mets! w/ Sean, and my big time friends said I was " Lucky". I think Madonna wanted him back then, and I felt badly cuz, I thought she was the best thing for him .

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse tiedtothewhippingpost See Profile I'm a Fan of tiedtothewhippingpost

We couldn't run out of oil in 500yrs yet you all still fall for the hype.

"Don't Believe The Hype"

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:09 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Earl See Profile I'm a Fan of Earl

Yeah, I agree. We'll run out of oxygen long before we run out of oil.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:18 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse Keo See Profile I'm a Fan of Keo

Biodiesel can, indeed, lower dependence on oil
But biodiesel shouldn't be on anyone's short list of answers to solving the energy crisis which is upon us.
100 gallons of water is needed to make 1 gallon of biodiesel.
We may need fuel. But water is even more precious.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:42 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Melchedekan See Profile I'm a Fan of Melchedekan

I think what Sean Penn is doing is a great thing. I think we need more people with big names and big money like him to become more active and vocal in social and environmental causes. Seems like alot of you bloggers are all pretty bitter when it comes to being earth-friendly. Perhaps living a self-indulgent life of apathy and ignorance is more appealing to alot of you than being an environmentally friendly lifeform who has concern for the whole of the earth and not just those around them who stimulate and feed their own ego's.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:54 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse goeagles See Profile I'm a Fan of goeagles

I thought Huffington Post was smarter then this. It is a scientific fact that biodiesel is WORSE then oil and the output of carbon to produce it is greater than the offset, it also raises food prices. Sean is an ego person. While some issues I agree with him, if he wanted to save the environment he would have a car that runs off of hydrogen.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:55 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse abouttime See Profile I'm a Fan of abouttime

Bio deisel is a good alernative to petro-oil. Also the hype over corn ethanol challenging the food supply is just that. If farmers are paid to grow better sources of plant matrial (than corn) for the prodction of ehanol and biodeisal, then we wouldn't have this problem. "Mono culture" is an environmentally unsound method of crop production anyway.
The subsidies should be going to small farmers around the country, in regional and community based markets, thus elliminating transportation costs.
These regions, or communities, could devise enegy alternatives of all sorts and become independent from monopolies.
The current corporate cabal dictates government policies in subsidies and costs of food, water, oil and drugs.These mega-agricultural conglomerates depend on us to buy their products created in a wasteful chemically polluting economic system.
It must be broken.
Thanks Sean Penn for all your activism at a crucial time of history.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:15 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Ajita See Profile I'm a Fan of Ajita

This is amusing. I was going to comment about the same subject you brought up, i.e., the merits of biodiesel are over estimated, but your suggested alternative could not be more ironic. Hydrogen, really?
The Bush administration is in cahoots with the oil industry when it promotes hydrogen as the energy source of the energy. Have you not heard about the problems with hydrogen sequestration? The electrolysis process that produces hydrogen from water requires large quantities of energy, making it unfeasible. Think "Law of conservation of energy" The energy to make hydrogen comes from somewhere, usually from electricity. The goal of the administration is to create another industry that can control the power sector for the next power-era. That is why technologies like solar and wind scare them. These are genuinely sustainable sources of energy and with increased research, will become more and more viable. The future belongs to the EV. Im going off the grid as soon as I can afford it.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:45 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Earl See Profile I'm a Fan of Earl

You are confusing biodiesel with ethanol. Also, that vehicle is probably not running on biodiesel, but on waste vegetable oil. Most people don't know the difference between an SVO/WVO vehicle and a "biodiesel" vehicle, of which there is really no such thing. "Biodiesel" is vegetable oil converted into something similar to diesel that any diesel vehicle can run on, with no modifications. So a "biodiesel" vehicle is just a diesel vehicle with biodiesel in the fuel tank. An SVO/WVO vehicle is a diesel vehicle converted with fuel heaters and filters to run on virgin straight (SVO) and waste (WVO) vegetable oil. The vehicle doesn't care whether the oil is virgin or waste.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:17 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse IronMikeHouston See Profile I'm a Fan of IronMikeHouston

I like to know where the buses will be filling up at?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:40 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse Earl See Profile I'm a Fan of Earl

I drive a WVO (waste vegetable oil) car. When I go on trips, I use my portable GPS to find WVO. The "find nearest Asian restaurant command" usually does the trick. A knock on the kitchen door and a $10 bill gets me a 15-gallon fillup and quite often a small crowd around the car to see how it works. I keep a page in my glove compartment with a description paragraph printed out in English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and Thai. About half the time, there is over 50 gallons of oil available, and some of these restaurants have 150 gallons or more out back. If you're planning a trip, you can use google maps and call ahead to make arrangements for oil pickup. And there are also web sites where you can get in touch with other "greasers" who have made contacts with WVO providers who can help you get oil when you are passing through their communities.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:29 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse rwe See Profile I'm a Fan of rwe

Use food for food and fuel for fuel... drill in alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, Nukes and Hydrogen and solar and wind (except of course if it is off a prgresseive/lib compound owned by the Kennedys

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:36 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse SonofKong See Profile I'm a Fan of SonofKong

Go ahead and drill in Alaska. I'll look forward to saving $.02 per gallon in the year 2017.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:51 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse ohiomark See Profile I'm a Fan of ohiomark

Great, we get to smell a rolling vat of french fry grease flying down the highway with Spicoli behind the wheel. I hope he brought his row boat and shotgun to use in New Orleans.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:25 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse frissons See Profile I'm a Fan of frissons

The aggressiveness of ignorance rears its ugly head.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:58 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse JulieSA See Profile I'm a Fan of JulieSA

As others have said here, if they're using waste oil, this is good, but biodiesel isn't completely benign. They're clear cutting orangutan habitat in indonesia in order to plant palm oil plantations for fuel. It's an outrage.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:19 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Earl See Profile I'm a Fan of Earl

I think he should be driving down in a plug-in hybrid.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:18 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Christopher1 See Profile I'm a Fan of Christopher1

Sean Penn is a traitor and anybody who bothers with him needs their head checked...........

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:01 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse mcnote5150 See Profile I'm a Fan of mcnote5150

Who are "patriots" to you? Dick and Rummy? They are the real traitors to America. What's your motto Steal from the poor and give to the rich. It's real Christian of you.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:51 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse SonofKong See Profile I'm a Fan of SonofKong

Translation from right-wing speak:

Traitor = Anybody who dares question Dear Leader and his wonderful plan.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:48 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse totalliberal See Profile I'm a Fan of totalliberal

Judging by your previous posts, you sure are a nasty little SOB. And quite stupid as well.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:28 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse momofsonofwar See Profile I'm a Fan of momofsonofwar

Penn is a true humanitarian and you are obvious a fool

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:26 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse pedrothemigrant See Profile I'm a Fan of pedrothemigrant

this is like smoking crack to stop drug addiction. how bout building a biodiesel plant? or funding a wind farm? installing solar power on 100 homes in NO? what a pathetic ego maniacal look-at-me-i'm-the-center-of-the-world douche.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:21 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse DMSmith See Profile I'm a Fan of DMSmith

And, one wonders, what have you done?

Just as I thought.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:59 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Woggles See Profile I'm a Fan of Woggles

The essentially encapsulates the triumph of emotion over science.

Think about this: If bio-deisel was the best source of motor fuel, why haven't we been making it for the past 100 years? They've know how to make it for at least that long.

Read up on oil algae, probably the only technology that has any promise.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:42 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse Earl See Profile I'm a Fan of Earl

Algae is the same thing, just a different plant.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:19 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse frissons See Profile I'm a Fan of frissons

Using your logic: If solar power and wind power are so great, why haven't we been using them more?

The reasons are many and have little to do with "science" and more to do with "emotion" ( as in, money).

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:47 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse totalliberal See Profile I'm a Fan of totalliberal

Very simple. Oil used to produce 100 times the energy per dollar that it cost to produce.
That era is now coming to and end. Time to move on.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:09 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse frissons See Profile I'm a Fan of frissons

I agree. It is time to move on. BUT, my point was, we knew our supply of oil was limited and solar power and wind power are limitless. We should have been planning all along to shift our dependence away from oil and toward natural, renewable energy sources but the almighty dollar stood in the way.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:20 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse totalliberal See Profile I'm a Fan of totalliberal

I agree wholeheartedly. But we didn't do these things for all kinds of social reasons. Such as everyone wanting a home in a separate building with its own shrubs and grass planted around it. This was easy to do when oil was cheap and plentiful. It is not nor will it ever be that way again. A lot of energy is wasted manufacturing and operating vehicles that will drive many miles per day so that people can live that way. Until we come to our senses and begin living in a far more economical way, wind, solar, or any other alternative form of energy will not make up for this terrible waste.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:05 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse Erdgeist See Profile I'm a Fan of Erdgeist

It is sort of a secret but the Bakken Formation around North Dakota and Montana (200,000 square miles) contains about 418 billion barrels of oil probably worth over 18 trillion dollars. One pool of oil alone (light crude) is 50 miles long and 12 miles wide. Of course most people will never know of it or believe it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:53 PM on 04/27/2008
collapse totalliberal See Profile I'm a Fan of totalliberal

[Erdgeist]


Did you not get the cost to produce part? From now on it wont be spurting out of the ground. Drilling and blasting shale is a very costly proposition.