At 48STRAIGHT, we believe that people who make small individual changes to their everyday routine can make a big difference to the environment. Check out the great and upcoming innovators that are helping to make the planet a better place to lead:

+ Resorting to Madness, a film by Darren Campbell and Hunter Sykes

+ Shred Wagen, the mobile brainchild of Jesse Swing, founder of Heal The Snow

+ Wagonit, the vegetable oil-fueled car created by Derek Taylor, editor of Powder Magazine

Darren Campbell: Jeep 48STRAIGHT Environmental All Star

In the documentary, Resorting to Madness: Taking Back Our Mountain Communities, first time filmmaker Darren Campbell and his partner Hunter Sykes look at the impacts of the modern ski resort industry on mountain communities and environments. Worried that the traditional ski bum lifestyle and culture will vanish as real estate prices rise and 8000 square-ft homes take over the landscape, Resorting to Madness examines the culprits of excessive development, the impact it is having on our environments and what exists for possible solutions. 48STRAIGHT caught up with Campbell to talk about the challenges he faced as a first time filmmaker, why making the documentary was important to him and his next project, The Next, Best West.

In the first film you ever made, “Resorting to Madness: Taking Back Our Mountain Communities” you discuss the negative impact that development has had on ski towns both in terms of the environment and local communities. What inspired you to make this movie?

There were a few factors that really inspired us. I think the final impetus was watching the barrage of high-end development coming to the Truckee/Tahoe area, seeing a generic and uninspiring village built in Squaw, and watching East-West partners spread their empire throughout the area with little resistance. The watershed at Northstar was absolutely hammered, we’ve seen a handful of new golf courses (all too expensive for your typical local to play) wipe out prime wildlife habitat and open space to sell vacation homes. It does not pay in the long run to auction your natural resources off to the highest bidder from out of town. East-West is creating exclusive gated communities, turning restaurants into private clubs and importing workers to do the work.

A second motivation was the disappearance of the ski-bum culture and lifestyle. A friend from Mammoth area, Paul McFarland, explained it well when he said that “most ski towns have been built off the energy that comes from an active community, and we’re just not seeing it anymore.” The families and young people that give these areas the character and energy are quickly disappearing, as they cannot afford it anymore. Resort communities were riding the wave, the real estate boom, which was bound to collapse. For most of us who live here, the majority of our friends are either realtors or contractors of some flavor. Now we are watching them struggle or leave town as home sales and housing starts screech to a halt.

Underlying all this is just a love for the beauty and power of mountains. I lived in Colorado when Vail and the Eagle Valley began a major expansion, and to drive through that valley is just unbelievable. When people need to ride escalators to reach the chairlift, something is wrong. When people need 5,000 or 8,000 square feet for their second home they use 3 weeks a year, something is wrong. Our mountains deserve more respect, we can do better and not undermine our way of life, in fact it could enhance it. But in a rush to cash in, people leave their values behind and undermine the ability of future generations to appreciate what we once enjoyed.

What did you discover were some of the major environmental impacts that are occurring in ski towns today and what is causing them?

Everything we do has an environmental impact. It is our inability to reduce or even consider or acknowledge that impact that often frustrates me. Our corporations today spend millions fighting environmental regulation. Why not invest this capital into new technology instead of fighting something that actually benefits society? We are seeing the impact today of our inability to invest in the future in the past.

For ski areas in general, the most significant environmental impacts would be reduced water quality and watershed health, wildlife habitat loss, fragmenting of wilderness (roads, infrastructure, new development, etc), reduced air quality (from traffic impacts), to name a few. Much of this is caused by poor planning and sprawling development, weak regulation or poor enforcement or just disregard by government officials or planning staff, and overzealous developers looking to spread their empire. There is a competition, likened to the arms race that has been spreading across the continent, to be the best of the best and the biggest of the big ski resorts, because this what people seem to want. People should demand quality over quantity. The real problem is, as long as people buy the product, someone will try to build it. We need to demand more environmentally and community sensitive development. The baby boomer generation, at the height of their income earning potential (and inheriting wealth from parents), are the primary consumers of the high-end resort market. The questions remains as to whether the next generation will have the same disregard.

The movie portrays Vail Mountain in Colorado as a poor example of mountain town sustainability while applauding Aspen Mountain. What is the fundamental difference between the two resorts?

While there are other issues that factored into our reasons taking the approach we did, there is one fundamental difference. Aspen is a private corporation, and Vail is publicly held to a large degree. When you are a publicly traded company, you have an obligation to keep your shareholders happy. They generally want to see consistent growth, on a quarterly basis. There is no short-term advantage to spending capital on long-term planning. This is a fundamental flaw in the capitalist system. Long-term viability is valued less then short-term growth, which is big reason we are seeing our banking system at the brink of collapse. Short-term profits are pursued at the expense of the public as it is often public lands that are pillaged (after land swaps allowed the land to be developed).

Vail has quickly followed Aspen’s lead in some cases and jumped on the greenwashing bandwagon. They’re planning to build the ‘world’s largest ever green ski resort development’. Aspen, though they are far from perfect, has begun to think more holistically about what it means to be sustainable over the long-run.

Auden Schendler, Aspen’s Director of the Environment, is his own worst critic in reviewing their environmental progress. He has been quoted as saying that skiing cannot be sustainable. We just have to do the best we can. To this degree, Aspen welcomed our analysis and were eager to join the conversation, while Vail insulted our motives and refused to address the claims of its critics, saying there was nothing in it for them. Furthermore, Aspen allows Schendler to be outspoken, even critiquing the resorts’ progress in some cases or the viability of the ski industry as a whole over the long-run. Vail seems more worried about Greenwashing, looking good in the public eye, and less interested in talking about what more they could do, or even evaluating their current environmental footprint.

How many different ski towns did you travel to and how many people did you talk to? Out of all the people you interviewed who in your eyes was a real “environmental all-star” or who was the most interesting? Why?

Well let’s see, we didn’t go to all the locations together, but I’d say about 14 different towns. We’ve been to a lot more towns since screening the film. Some places have really latched onto it as a tool, including several small resort communities in the Adirondacks.

We interviewed 45 people and had about 60 hours of interview tape to go sift through. We would just let people talk sometimes. We had a lot of good stories that didn’t quite fit the flow of the film, such as history of the Vail and Eagle Valley, or Mammoth when the current CEO, Rusty Gregory, showed up as a lift operator decades ago. It’s interesting to hear about the cycles of bust and boom that have plagued the industry all along, good economy, bad snow, good snow, bad economy. It is really difficult to build a sustainable economy with the fluctuation there tends to be in a tourism-based economy. Many of the resort areas justify the building of the high-end luxury type amenity as necessary to attracting more tourism dollars to the community and trying to fill out the mid-week and off-season lulls, and often it does help. But in my feeling, the manner in which it is done is often not in the best interest of the community (bad design and/or architecture, ramming proposals through the approval process, exclusivity). Many places are getting better at giving the community more say, more opportunity to review and comment on development proposals/plans so revisions can be made before it goes to the planning commission.

The folks in Mammoth as a whole were fun to interview, I think because we started to get a good picture of the current state of affairs in town (at least on a political level, although you never really know until you are in there). We heard several different sides of the same stories. We chose Mammoth as a central location in the film because there was a lot happening there related to resort development; several new villages planned, one recently built; air service planned for the near future (and now a reality); a huge real estate boom; and the changing of ownership after Dave McCoy sold his majority stake he had owned since founding the resort.

I’d say from an environmental perspective, several folks stand out. But Auden Schendler, Environmental Director (?) of Aspen was probably the most forward thinking of them and really understood where we were coming from. I don’t remember the exact quote, but he said (as I paraphrase) if people don’t zone their communities aggressively, they’re going to end up with the same sprawl as Tucson, Phoenix and Denver. Instead of the community creating the future you want to see, it is going to be imposed on them by developers. I appreciated the word imposed, because that is what it feels like. The generic anywhere buildings that are taking over America were being imposed on us, trampling delicate mountain ecosystems and threatening a way of life.

What solutions does the movie offer to people living in mountain communities who want to protect the integrity of their environment?

The main thrust of the film is really to get up and get involved. People need to stay informed about what is happening in their neighborhood and stand up against what they disagree with. More importantly, communities need to come together to create a vision for themselves, and as Rusty Gregory told us, one that is not just implementable in the short run, but sustainable in the long run. People also need to hold decision-makers accountable for the decisions they make and require they be supported by the community’s vision.

This movie was well received at several different film festivals like the “Banff Mountain Film Festival” and “The Wild and Scenic Film Festival”. How long did this movie take you to make and how did you fund it?

It took us about one full year to make and was paid for entirely out of our own pockets. We are still paying interest on the credit card debt! There were a lot of cut corners that we’d like to avoid in the future.

Did you have any previous filmmaking experience?

Not really, I’ve been playing with video for twenty years, but always a hobby. I think my first attempt at editing was in 1991 between a VHS camcorder and a VHS/VCR machine through an old TV. I have joined some film crews around the mountains and always felt intrigued by video or film, i.e. moving pictures. It took me a while to get here, but I do enjoy the filmmaking process and sometimes wish I had pursued it earlier in life.

What advice would you give to aspiring environmental filmmakers? What are some of the difficulties? What are some of the rewards?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one. Of course I would say go for it, reach out and try to get your film made. The more films that are made that have the potential for a positive impact, the better. I think the important thing is to not dwell on the doom and gloom but give inspiring messages of hope when possible. Empower people, unite people! Help teach others, help find solutions and create an open dialogue.

By far the most difficult part of documentary filmmaking is fundraising, especially when you lack Hollywood connections, or any big time experience for that matter. Anyone can make a film, but not everyone can raise the money to do it right. I am far from being accepted into that league! There is also a lot of competition today as many foundations seem to be cutting back on funding the arts, especially film.

The biggest reward is realizing the fruit of your labor, seeing your work make a difference. When you screen your film and then can get a room of 200 people to talk openly about how the issues are playing out in their town, it is inspiring.

Your next project is called the “The Next, Best West”. What is this documentary about and why do you feel it is important to make?

The Next, Best West is about creating a new environmental philosophy for the American West, although one that is applicable anywhere. The philosophy supports an ethic that redefines the meaning of progress and our relationship to the land. For two centuries, we have treated the American West as a treasure chest to be plundered. In order to sustain the American West and its inhabitants of the future, we must reinvent the notion of progress; one that moves us to a regenerative mindset. Instead of millions of boardfeet sold it could be acres of old growth preserved, instead of dams built it will be dams removed and fish runs restored. Instead of wetlands filled in it for shopping malls it is wetlands restored. Instead of video games it is nature hikes. We need to engage people, especially our young people, in the natural world and embed an appreciation for its abundance.

To present this concept, we will meet 5 or so environmental entrepreneurs. Real folks out there doing the hard work and making unprecedented things happen. It involves befriending unlikely allies, pursuing almost incomprehensible dreams or visions, or just managing the energy to get up everyday and continue to fight the good fight. These will be ordinary people making the planet a better place to live.

I think it is important because we as a society are losing our connection to the natural world; gated communities, massive parking lots, too much TV, too many computers and video games, that people have really lost an appreciation for the land that not only provides them their sustenance but also nourishes their spirit, if they would only let it.

What environmental flicks (besides your own) would you recommend that people see?

I wish I could say I have been watching a lot lately. There is definitely a wide range of films out there, and some never really crack the mainstream but are well worth the time. The 11th Hour is a good big picture film. I enjoyed Who Killed the Electric Car, and King Corn to name a more recent one. Planet Earth, a series done for National Geographic, is not really an environmental flick, but it has some incredible camera work. I am looking forward to a new film called Food, Inc. about the commercialization of our food supply and why we should be worried about it.

Jesse Swing: Jeep 48STRAIGHT Environmental All Star

As the founder of “Heal the Snow” organization, Jesse Swing, a former collegiate ski racer from Sierra Nevada College, turned his love for skiing into a successful non-profit. With the goal of educating and helping people create a healthy and environmentally-friendly lifestyle, Swing and partners created the Shred Wagen--a sustainable, mobile cabin that provides lodging for skiers competing on the US Freeskiing Tour. We caught up with Jesse to get the low-down on the Shred Wagen, the pros and cons of starting your own non-profit, and the future of “Heal the Snow”.

Where did the idea of the Shred Wagen come from?

Naturally, as a ski bum you can ski more if you keep the cost down, that was the idea. Pipe dreams in the backcountry, “what if we had a cabin with wheels on it” Yeah, where do we plug in? We will have to use solar panels, yeah! How do you install solar panels? What about the cost of all this? It was just a pipe dream out skiing in the backcountry with my good friend Tobias who died in an avalanche two years ago while Heal the Snow was in its early stages. All we knew was that there is a kick ass lifestyle that we live traveling around skiing and playing, why not do it right? So now we promote our healthy freethinking lifestyle that promotes local goods, supports our economy and does it all with energy independence. We made it happen with a lot of free Craigslist materials and with some saved up money, we built this solar powered mobile cabin with the mission to educate our friends about renewable energy and show them how easy it is to work with the environment, not against it.

How did you build it? What are some of its unique green "features"?

We bought an old trailer and tore it apart and re-built it Cabin style and gave it a 30inch lift so that we could take it off road out in to the woods and live off the grid while we enjoy some skiing or biking with all our friends. With big hopes of living this lifestyle my buddy Pete and my sister Janni and my brother Blaise saw the vision and began to make it a reality. Built out of waste materials, mostly from free stuff on Craigslist and other junkyard items.

We milled our own wood from the dead city trees of Salt Lake City to build the frame and interior. Everything runs on solar power and the passive solar works fantastic. The lighting is so great that we hardly ever use lights. In the winter it is heated with propane or natural gas and there is enough power to run anything we need .It has 240w of solar pv panels and 625amp hours of storage via gel batteries with an 1800 watt inverter. When its not sunny you can just hook it up to our truck and run it for a bit charging the batteries while running biodiesel, It also has a dc converter so you can plug in to the grid and charge the batteries if the truck is not around. It can also just be plugged in to the grid and bypassing the inverter altogether.

How many skiers can the Shred Wagen sleep? How many people can it sleep? What is the inside like? How many miles to the gallon does the truck get?

We built eight bunk beds that work great, however, with all the ski gear in the winter six is about as many as we want in there. The inside is like a foreign hostel from the 50s; its classy. We put used pages from a 1961 encyclopedia for the wallpaper in the main area. That wallpaper really makes things interesting, there is always something interesting to read, like how rainbows are created or the great mountains of the world, even Dr. Suess. We don’t have a TV, but we watch movies on our computers sometimes, it has a great sound system that rocks. We use a Dodge Truck to pull the Wagen and it does great, specially with our homemade biodiesel from our co-founder Nate Johansing who runs Steamboat biodiesel.

Any funny stories from the road? Did it ever break down? Get stuck in the snow?

We have plenty of stories! The first road trip I took was with Todd Ligare down to the SIA show in Vegas and then to Telluride for the first comp. On the way we got hit with a huge snowstorm and at this time I was still toying with the system to charge the batteries off the alternator in the truck since there was no sun. We were without power and just needed to find a place to park so we thought we would go to a RV site to plug in and get some rest. Instead we got to go get the Wagen stuck in six feet of snow while trying to get to a RV site in the lot. Todd said, “I think you might want to back out of here, I don’t think we are going to make it this way.

I tried to back out, but it was pitch black out, and I could not see anything, and we were sliding all around. Time to put the chains on, good thing I bought chains, sweet we are so prepared! We got the chains on and ripped them to shreds, they broke! Hmm….no wonder I got them for so cheap. Damn! The only way we could get out now was over a steep hill with a sharp turn. I gassed it and did some extreme off road maneuvering in deep snow, we were getting face shots! Snow was flying over the truck and then we were stuck in seriously deep snow. Three hours later after a lot of digging we got the tow truck to tow the mobile cabin out of its entrenched snowy parking spot and got to plug in and have electricity.

What is the next project for Heal the Snow?

Currently we have partnered with Intergalactic Hydrogen, and we are going to be starting the first of many Intergalactic Gas stations. They are a creative collaboration of a healthy lifestyle and an environmental clean fuel solution that promotes a new business model of multi-fuel stations with hydrogen, natural gas, biodiesel, ethanol, electric vehicle charging, propane and gasoline, in addition we upgrade any vehicle to run on CNG (compressed natural gas).

We also provide renewable energy products in our rejuvenating lounge atmosphere that has renewable energy educators to help with your understanding of all clean energy options including wind, sun, hydro and geothermal power applications that we sell and install all while enjoying local goods and produce from the rooftop victory garden that supports our local economy. Our first station will be in Salt Lake City, UT.

What advice would you give a fellow athlete who was thinking about starting a non-profit? What are some of the pros and what are some of the cons?

Anyone wanting to start a non-profit I would completely encourage if it is unique and you have a good community base for support. Since I have started this non-profit I have had the chance to travel all over and meet many others that run non-profits. I find that everyone is really doing what they believe in, which is great but you don’t need to start a non-profit to make a difference. Honestly, it is no different than running any other business.

People have the misconception that they can just ask others for donations which you can, but you certainly can’t count on donations to survive as a business. There are so many non-profits out there doing good all over the world and if you want to really make a change I would advise to look into some other existing ones that support what you believe in and see if you can put your passion and expertise into that non-profit and bring more people together. It’s all about the community and working together. Be the change!

Derek Taylor : Jeep 48STRAIGHT Environmental All Star

While the verdict is still out on whether fuel alternatives like vegetable oil and bio-diesel are a viable solution to the energy crisis, the point is people have to start thinking outside of the box to make changes.

We caught up with Powder magazine editor and skiing ambassador Derek Taylor who recently converted a 1980 Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. “DT” gave us the lowdown on the pros and cons of foregoing the Shell Station. While the verdict is still out on whether fuel alternatives like vegetable oil and bio-diesel are a viable solution to the energy crisis, the point is people have to start thinking outside of the box to make changes.

Can you give us a quick overview of the year, make and model of the car you are driving? How much did you pay for it? Does she have a name?

It's a 1980 Mercedes 300 TD. I picked it up for about $4800 up in Malibu a few months ago, which is a lot for a car that's almost 30 years old. But the Mercedes’ diesel engine from that era has a reputation for running forever, and a lot of people in SoCal have been converting them to run on veggie oil, which has been driving the price up. That engine is super burly and runs well on veg.

My friends all call her Wagonit because that's the license plate the guy I bought her from had. They were kind of pissed when I got rid of the plate. The name has stuck, though, unfortunately. I love the car. I first bought it because I figured it would have good resale value if I ever moved back to the mountains and to save money on gas. Now I don't think I'll ever sell her.

How do you convert a car so that it can run on vegetable oil? What is the process?

When Rudolph Diesel debuted his engine at the 1900 World Fair, he ran it on peanut oil. Thirteen years later, he mysteriously disappeared off a boat in the English Channel while on his way to a diesel manufacturers convention. Remember that when oil companies start clamoring for more drilling rights.

The modern engine is made to run on petroleum diesel, which is much thinner than vegetable oil. But once in the engine, it runs the same, so it's really just an issue of getting it into the engine. I had my conversion done at a place in L.A. called Lovecraft, and it's pretty simple, just a couple of hoses, two new filters and a booster pump. Both filters are heated by coolant so the oil is about 160-degrees when it hits the engine. This system works really well for down here where it's warm all year. If you live in the mountains or where it's really cold, you probably want a two-tank version, where you start the engine with diesel and when it's warm, you switch to vegetable oil. Oil congeals when it gets too cold, which is why some ski resorts have had trouble converting their busses to vegetable oil.

What I like about the one tank system is that I can mix fuel. If I have a half-tank of veg, and need to fill up and I'm away from home or something, I can just go to a gas station.

Where do you go to get the oil? How did you find out about it? What would happen to the oil if you didn't take it?

I get mine from a restaurant in San Juan Capistrano called The Ramos House, which I got in with because I have a friend who works there. It's a really good, high-end breakfast/lunch place with killer food. If you're ever in South O.C., go eat there. It's a really cool, funky place in an old house with outdoor seating. The owner is this super eclectic dude who lives in the house. It's perfect for me, because they change their grease everyday, so the fuel I get is really clean, and they go through a lot of it--more than I can use, mainly because I don't drive that much.

I'm not sure what they do with the stuff I don't take. There are a lot of biofuel companies out there now that are picking up restaurant grease for free and processing it into biodiesel--which is basically WVO and diesel processed so it can work in unconverted engines. Some companies render the grease into pig feed. And sometimes I think it ends up in the landfill. The place I used to work at in Colorado used to just throw their grease in the dumpster. I don't think that's legal anymore.

What do you have to do to the oil before you use it? Does your car drive the same? How many miles per gallon do you get?

I have a drum in my garage with a mesh filter over it. I pour the oil through the filter to strain out any debris. Then the pump in the drum only goes down to about eight inches from the bottom. Anything that makes it through the filter sinks to the bottom and everything I pump is clean. The car actually drives better. Veggie oil is a really good solvent, so for the first 500 miles or so, it was cleaning decades worth of carbon residue out of the engine. Now it runs more smoothly and has less knocks, and it smells better. The mileage, as far as I can tell, hasn't changed much, so about 22 mpg. It has a little more pep, but it's still a diesel so it's still pretty slow.

What made you want to convert your car to straight vegetable oil (SVO) to begin with? How long have you been doing it now? How much money do you figure you have saved?

I had the conversion done last January, but didn't really start driving it until April because it was winter and I was on the road. I needed a new car and wanted to get something that was easy on gas. I saw a film put out by some friends of the guys who work at Snowboarder called Grease Not Gas, and also read a Surfer article about the Malloy brothers driving down Baja on veggie oil. That's where the inspiration came from. From there, I researched a little and found Lovecraft.

I don't think I've saved that much, if anything, once you do all the math. The conversion is about $900, I spent another $250 or so on drums, pumps, gas cans, etc, and I honestly don't drive that much. I live about six miles from work and try to ride my bike as much as I can. Saving money is great, but more important is I'm not spending that money on gas. My money is staying in the country, I'm not supporting foreign wars or regimes that don't like us, and I'm not giving money to oil companies that have been screwing us for decades. I'm stealing this line from someone else I read about, but basically he said he'd gladly spend $2 in the U.S. to keep from spending a dollar on foreign oil.

This also isn't a long-term solution for everyone. If we all converted our engines, there wouldn't be enough SVO to go around. This is just a fun, temporary solution until we as a society develop better fuel alternatives. The internal combustion engine has been around for over a century. In the 70s and 80s, we had workable electric cars and cell phones that were not practical. Look what has happened to cell phones since, and imagine if we had put that amount of innovation into transportation rather than clinging to a technology that only benefits big oil companies?

What advice would you give to someone who was thinking about running their car on vegetable oil? What are the pros? Cons?

One con is definitely getting the oil. It took me a couple of months to find a place willing to let me take it, and to perfect my system for collecting it. Since then, I've had a couple of spills and there's been a fair share of messes. Another is emissions. It's a misconception that veggie oil is carbon free. The carbon output is about the same as a gas engine. Some other emissions are less I think, like Sulfur. But it's far from a clean fuel alternative. There is an argument that it's a closed cycle--that the soybeans use more CO2 to grow than is produced, but that's kind of a justification. Bottom line is we need cleaner engines, and this is not a long-term answer.

The pros are that I'm not giving money to people I don't like, and that I'm reusing something that already served its primary purpose and is now considered trash.

Any funny stories since you have been on the SVO program? Have you ever run out of "gas"? Do the chics dig it?

No funny stories, really, besides a few extra zits from collecting my grease and an oil spill in the back of the car. I don't really advertise that I'm running on veg. There are no stickers or anything on the car, and I don't really tell people about it unless they ask--a few people have noticed from the smell.

In California, they can give you a ticket for this. Since I'm not buying gas at the pump, I'm not paying road taxes, which I'd be happy to do, but I can't find any information online on how to pay without buying gas.

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