:: Meet the Crew
We are a group of 15 Dartmouth College students out to change the world — one waste vegetable oil powered bus at a time. Some of us are new environmentalists who have become concerned only recently, others have grown up with a deeply ingrained environmental ethos. Although we are many different things, we are united in a common belief that a group of enthusiastic, informed individuals armed with the right information can change the world for the better. So we’ve chosen to spend the summer together to teach Americans about climate change and the energy issues facing our nation, as well as — and this is the important part — what they can do about it.
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Mike Wood '10 Hometown: Bethel, Vermont |
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Kari Cholnoky '10 Hometown: Darien, Connecticut At Dartmouth I am the Director of the Dartmouth Ski Patrol, I have a very hard time matching my socks, and my parents tell me that I was raised by wolves, but we don't have time for that. Hunter S. Thompson once famously stated, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro". It has been reasonably established that the going has officially gotten weird. With this in mind, as a member of the Big Green Bus crew of 2009 (which is the weirdest group of students ever assembled) I have decided to turn Pro. I'm going to educate the living daylights out of anyone that comes my way in an effort to raise awareness of environmental issues and help people make smart decisions on how to live more sustainably. Why not? Get it on. |
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Anna Wearn '12 Hometown: Portland, Oregon This summer I am stoked to travel with an energetic, adventurous, and passionate family of Dartmouth students committed to encouraging communities across the country to practice sustainability and conservation for personal, global, and environmental benefits. I hope to inspire fellow Americans to re-evaluate our relationship with the environment and make daily decisions with consideration of future generations and the global community in mind. |
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Grayson Zulauf '12 Hometown: Telluride, Colorado The Big Green Bus allows me to take the values I learned in my hometown, Telluride, Colorado, and talk about them with the rest of the country. Respecting the environment, love for travel, and and an active lifestyle are all things that my parents and the surrounding community have ingrained in me, and I can't imagine a better venue to share these passions than the Big Green Bus. My love for the environment was cemented during my gap year which I spent working with a non-profit called Earth Train in Panama, reforesting jungles destroyed by irresponislbe cattle ranching. I hope to see you on the road! |
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Matt Smith '12 Hometown: Moultonborough, New Hampshire As a lover of travel, the outdoors, and living on buses for months at a time, I consider the Big Green Bus the ideal way to have a positive impact over the summer. Despite my lack of a life plan, I know that environmental stewardship will always be a top priority of mine. Talking with people from all over this diverse nation about environmental issues will, for me, be the most exciting aspect of the bus experience. I'm a firm believer in education through dialogue, so let's start talking! |
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Sarah Rocio '10 Hometown: Weston, CT Major: Engineering When I was little I was fascinated by technology and I constantly attempted to take apart appliances around my house thinking I could put them back together again. I was wrong. And my mom and dad got mad. I dont think they thought a future in engineering was imminent. Regardless, my curiousity led me to study engineering, and at Dartmouth I have combined this with a newly discovered passion for environmental sciences. My mantra for the summer was told to me by a wise man (hey Scott Stoeke!): "There is no such thing as free lunch!". Literally, it's hard to come by unless you are on Dartmouth's campus. But even more important is the message that In there is no "ideal" solution. As stewards of this planet we need to make decisions that minimize the consequences of our actions by taking responsibility for them. This is the mentality I hope to convey during our epic cross-country road trip. I can't wait to see what the summer will bring - it is going to be unreal... |
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Merritt Jenkins '10 Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Growing up in a Philadelphia suburb, I mysteriously developed a passion for the outdoors and the environment. The Big Green Bus is the perfect outlet for combining those passions, and I am excited to spend a second summer on the road with the '09 crew. While the Bus consumes most of my life, I enjoy boxing and climbing in my free time. This summer on the Bus, I hope to help educate our nation on the interconnectedness of our economy and the environment. After I graduate next year, I hope to pursue my interest in clean energy or, if I don't find a job, bike across the continent of Asia. |
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Annabel Seymour '09 Hometown: New York, NY Major: Comparative Literature, with a concentration in French and Film As someone born and raised in New York City, I never really got a chance to make a strong connection to nature as a child. However, being at Dartmouth for four years has made me completely fall in love with the outdoors, and the effort to protect all that we take for granted on this earth. I spent most of my time at Dartmouth performing improv comedy, experimenting with film and working on a thesis in comparative literature, but this summer, I want to get my hands dirty. I could not be more thrilled to be joining the Big Green Bus this summer. I see this summer's trip as a chance for me to try things I've never tried, meet people I've never met before and understand the country in a way I never thought I would. |
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Marissa Knodel '09 Hometown: Rochester, Minnesota Growing up in Minnesota, I became inspired at a young age by the honest conviction, passionate leadership, and grassroots activism of Senator Paul Wellstone. For me, activism begins with education and consciousness about the consequences of our choices and the interconnections between each other and the environment. Hopefully, this conscious awareness may transform itself into actions that make a more equitable and sustainable world for present and future generations. I was inspired to join The Big Green Bus because I see it as activism on wheels. I am looking forward to learning from the people and communities we visit as well as providing the inspiration or assistance needed to make their daily lives and communities more environmentally-conscious and sustainable. In addition to environmental activism, I try to be as open-minded and spontaneous as possible, always looking for new and unique opportunities to expand my worldviews and push my body to its limits. I enjoy hiking, martial arts, farming at the Dartmouth Organic Farm, reading, listening to live jazz, wine tasting, miming and acting, and spend most of my spare time reading cookbooks, exploring local farmers' markets, and performing culinary experiments in my kitchen. |
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Kawa Amina '09
Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai'i, I grew up immersed (quite literally, I love surfing) in all the natural beauty that the great outdoors has to offer. Consequently, the continental US has always been an enigma to me. This summer as we circumnavigate the country, I look forward to being both a student and a teacher of how we all can make America lean and green. The Big Green Bus isn't your normal mishmash of college students, we're out on a mission to educate through innovation, teach by example, and learn with laughter. I love photography and the camera rarely leaves my side. As the summer progresses, let my lens be your eyes and travel with us through the hilarity, wonder, and excitement that is the Big Green Bus. The Big Green Bus: Vehicle for Change. |
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Ben Gifford '10 Hometown: Newton, Massachusetts Ben Gifford was raised according to strict, Teutonic principles of child-rearing. He summered at the Rainbow Hotel, frequently pretending he was a trout, sometimes for days on end. To break him of this practice, Benjamin was, for months at a time, restricted to a diet of boiled potatoes and throttled carrots. At the age of 11, he developed a severe case of halitosis. This, combined with his sleep apnea induced his parents to enroll him in a militant, British boarding school that stressed the importance of lacing ones' shoes according to astrological signals. Benjamin thus spent his formative years. |
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Kate Parizeau '10 Hometown: Wellesley, Massachusetts I came across a tiny article about the bus the summer before my freshman fall at Dartmouth and announced to my sister, "I want to do that before I graduate." October rolled around and I had signed myself up for a summer aboard Big Green Bus 2007. Mission accomplished? Apparently not: three months of sharing a tiny space with lots of other dirty college kids must be my kind of thing, because I'm back on the bus for another summer. As a geography major and education minor, travelling the country while talking about a subject I love is the perfect combination. When not living on a bus, I can be found in Hanover running, reading, or studying global health. Because personal and social health are so intertwined with our surroundings, environmental responsibility and sustainable action seem like natural and obvious ways to create a safer, healthier world. Riding on the Big Green Bus is my way of being a part of that! |
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Tessa Murphy '09 Hometown: Chesapeake, Virginia "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." As a busser, I hope to learn more about what we can do to protect this pale blue dot of ours and to share whatever I may learn with as wide an audience as possible, both in person and through film. As a soon-to-be graduating senior, if I'm not working on the bus, wandering around in the woods, or watching TED talks, I am probably chugging coffee at the bookstore and valiantly attempting to reconcile my interests in bioengineering, English, and wildlife filmmaking into a coherent career outlook. |
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Dylan Nelson '09 Hometown: Bellevue, Washington I've wanted to do a cross-country road trip since I graduated high school and to have the opportunity to do it now with 13 other amazing people and an amazing purpose makes it so incredibly happy. At Dartmouth I've been a leader of the DREAM Mentoring Program, a member of the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, a tour guide, and a brother at Sigma Phi Epsilon. I am excited about what comes after graduation, but I'm happy to put off the real world for a couple months while I travel the country! |
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Lucas Schulz '08 Hometown: Johnson, Vermont
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