Udall bus tour promotes green living

Filled with 13 young alumni and a fresh tank of bio-diesel, the Udall organization's "Green Coach" arrived on the UW campus this past weekend for a series of environmental events.

The group has toured the nation, stopping in 24 cities to highlight themes such as Native American communities, national parks and alternative energy.

Kayanna Warren, Udall member and UW alumna, helped plan the trip, which arrived in Seattle July 20 to learn about the campus's food sustainability program. This pertains to locally grown and organic foods.

UW Provost Phyllis Wise and Marketing Accounts Manager Barbara Smith met with Udall for a welcoming ceremony in Mary Gates Hall to discuss some of the school's efforts.

"Every day we're signing new contracts for different foods and replacing our products with organic ones," Smith said.

This year, UW Dining Services purchased $584,000 worth of fruits, herbs and vegetables from Charlie's Produce, a local employee-owned company. There is also a vegetable garden located on the roof of McMahon Hall that UW chefs utilize.

For the visit, Food Services catered a breakfast with organic pastries and

Fair Trade coffee to show respect to the guests, Smith said.

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"They asked if I could come speak here today, and I told them I wanted to get on the bus and do the rest of the tour," Wise said jokingly at the ceremony.

Wise said she believes the group is finding real solutions for people who are determined to help the environment.

The foundation's tour began in early June and includes members ranging from ages 21 to 26, each with a background in environmental work.

Eli Zigas, the group's communications director, lives in Walla Walla, Wash.; he interned with the Union of Concerned Scientists after college to promote campus sustainability.

He hopes the stories of the people and places the tour visits will generate discussion about pressing environmental and Native American issues.

"It's incredible to see how this whole thing went from a collection of ideas to a cross country bus tour," Zigas said.

While in town, the group met with Seattle's EarthCorp to help restore a local park. They removed invasive plants such as ivy and replanted native plants that birds and other wildlife can use.

"We worked for about four hours and put mulch over the areas where we pulled up weeds so they wouldn't grow back," Udall member Bret Strogen said.

Udall also visited the Burke Museum and attended a powwow organized by the United Indians of All Tribes at Discovery Park.

Monday a sustainability panel including members of the Housing and Food Services and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design organization (LEED) was held.

LEED focuses on the pre-design of buildings and how water and energy is used in the building process. Examples of its focus include saving water and using environmentally friendly materials.

LEED representative Clara Simon said the UW's Merrill Hall was one of the first buildings LEED designed.

"From what we saw at the panel, UW is really one of the leaders of these fields compared to other campuses we've visited," Strogren said.

Overall, the group will travel 8,606 miles on a bus running on a mixture of biodiesel and low-sulfur diesel, which offers a cleaner-burning system. The National Biodiesel Board and Department of Energy each have Web sites that mark locations for their fuel.

"The fuel hasn't been very easy to find; some states only have one site," Strogren said. "Fortunately we travel about 500 miles a day."

The next stop on Udall's tour is Portland, Ore., where the group plans to make pizza for children using organic ingredients.

[HTML_REMOVED]Reach reporter Liz Burlingame at news@thedaily.washington.edu[HTML_REMOVED]