Revolution Green: A True Story of Biodiesel in America, which screened at the Hollywood Theater on December 6, is a film everyone ought to see. Produced, directed and financed by Stephen Strout, it traces the story of Bob King, a Maui diesel mechanic who began Pacific Biodiesel in 1996 by turning waste cooking oil – that would otherwise would discarded in a local landfill – into a useable alternative fuel.

Since then, King has helped start ten other biodiesel production facilities within the U.S., like Sequential Biofuels’ plant in Oregon, based on the model of a sustainable, community-based operation. Using either locally grown seed oil or recycled grease from nearby restaurants and commercial food manufacturers, the vegetable oil is converted into fuel that can be used in a conventional diesel engine.

The film explores King’s eventual partnership with Willie Nelson, who was also inspired to work to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil imports, support independent farmers and rural communities, and provide a renewable, more environmentally-friendly alternative fuel. King and Nelson’s affiliation with a Texas truck stop that has created its own biodiesel production plant leads to the story of independent trucker Mark Frybarger, who fuels his truck with biodiesel.

A recurring theme throughout Revolution Green is the idea that it is possible to take back our energy future from multinational corporations while putting production into the hands of small, individual community operations. Today our nation imports two-thirds of the more than 20 million barrels of oil that are consumed in the U.S. every day. This massive outflow of cash has financed corrupt regimes, threatened our own security, and fostered further dependency on an environmentally destructive, non-renewable resource. Unfortunately, the film does not offer details on the environmental advantages of using biodiesel over petroleum – such as much less CO2 and cleaner exhaust emissions – and the environmental destruction fossil fuels cause, which many green-minded consumers would likely appreciate.

The world’s energy future will look much different from that of today, so it is critical that we participate now in shaping that future by choosing and using fuel carefully. Revolution Green shows us how we can grow our fuel instead of pumping it out of the ground until it’s gone for good, close the carbon cycle which reduces climate-changing emissions into our atmosphere, and allow for the use of a non-toxic and biodegradable diesel fuel with distinct advantages over petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is only one small part of a diverse renewable energy portfolio, but it is a step we can take today to move the world towards a more sustainable energy future.


Richard Weber contributed to this review.