When the red bus known as Canola pulls off the highway for fuel, it heads straight for the nearest diner.
There, the tank is filled with used oil from the restaurant’s fryers.
The vegetable oil-powered bus is part of the Climate Change Caravan, a cross-Canada trek organized by students from Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B.
The bus and about 30 cyclists left Tofino, B.C., on May 7 and plan to finish their trip in Halifax on Sept. 20.
Kate Kennedy from Lillooet, B.C., is part of the caravan designed to raise awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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“We are very frustrated with the federal government’s response to climate change and so we’re calling on Canadians to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent,” she said during a stop at the Saskatchewan legislature in June.
Kennedy said they are betting that Canadians can do what the government cannot.
At each stop the cyclists are distributing leaflets outlining “The Bet.”
The brochure lists 15 things people can do in their own homes and lives to cut emissions and asks that participants choose seven to save between 25 and 60 percent of total household emissions.
The list includes reducing the amount you drive by 6,000 kilometres, replacing dryers with clotheslines, turning down water heater temperatures and eating vegetarian.
The group also promotes the use of alternative fuels and energy sources, hence the bus powered by used cooking oil. They call ahead to make sure they can get oil and Kennedy said they have actually received more than they can use. The bus is quieter and more powerful than it would be on regular gasoline, she said.
Kennedy said the caravan gains momentum at each stop and seems to have more effect in small towns, where it is perhaps a more unusual sight.
The caravan organizers will send a representative to Germany next week, when governments meet to try to finalize the Kyoto Protocol that sets out each country’s targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
The representative will take along promise flags from Canadians who have committed to halve their household emissions.
“These promise flags will be a visual symbol to the international negotiators that the federal government does not represent Canadians on this issue,” said the caravan website.
Canadians who want to take the bet and have their names on promise flags can register on-line at www.theBET.ca.
