Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Earth Day 2008


Hey Trekker Fans,

Michael Wolbach, the east coast bioTrekker here. This is my first post, so be patient with me as I try blogging on a regular basis. I'm in Orlando, Florida at the present time, but I'll be traveling north in just a few weeks, so stay tuned...

To kick off the 2008 Trekker travel season here the eastern U.S., I participated in an Earth Day presentation at Hunter's Creek Middle School in Orlando, Florida. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science classes rotated out during the day to listen to me talk about my 'Reeducation Upside-Down Pyramid', which is a compilation of waste management terms as well as my own research as an alternative to the buy, use, and throw away society which our world, for the most part, has become.

The young students were very attentive and a few of them asked some very poignant questions, including the debate about using food stocks like corn and soybeans to create fuels like biodiesel and ethanol verses using them to feed an ever growing and hungry population. Another concern was the overuse of water bottles and other 'one time' use products made from petroleum-based plastics verses creating 'vegetable-based' products, along with creating more reusable types.

All in all it was a wonderful day, with eager and creative minds thinking of ways to reduce not only their own personal carbon footprint, but those of their family, school, community, state, country and world, a real 'Think Globally, Act Locally', attitude that we're going to need to help foster in the coming months and years.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Raising the Roof


No, the roof is not on fire, but it might as well be. We were gifted our first big surprise on the SolTrekker build last week when we found out that the entire roof is pretty much crapola. And by crapola, I mean waterlogged plywood. It turns out that if you have a Filon roof (also a synonym for crapola) you should be sealing it at least once every two years, something that the original owner wasn't aware of, either. If you don't, you get lots of pinhole leaks that slowly turn your roof to soggy mushrooms even if you never see any evidence of water damage. It's only when your unsuspecting friend steps through the roof while helping you to remove an awning that you get to experience the joy of discovery. Maybe they should just make the roofs out of fungus right from the start?

Anyway, thanks to the awesome techs at Monaco Coach, we're getting a new roof in record time, but it still sets the project back a few weeks. We're still aiming to be at the Greener Homes and Gardens Show in Portland on May 17, but it'll be tight. Stay tuned.