eager_to_edify_the_ignorant jane 3 friends on the road, urging America to jump on green bandwagon Chris Cadelago, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Mark Dixon and Ben Evans were gathering on-camera interviews for Your Environmental Road Trip, their yearlong eco-expedition crisscrossing America, when they met the first of their many students. In Rochester, N.Y., the Stanford graduates encountered a parka-clad woman who told them she hadn't heard about global warming. "I was so incredulous I had to ask her repeatedly if she was kidding," said Evans, 37. "Finally, convinced that she was sincere, I spent the next two or three minutes explaining to her as simply as I could the basic workings of global warming. "I'm sure Mark and I expected to find doubters and a certain level of cluelessness during our travels, but I'm not sure either of us was quite prepared for that level of cluelessness." On July Fourth, Dixon, Evans and Evans' wife, Julie Dingman Evans, packed up their Ford Escape Hybrid and headed west, eager to edify the ignorant. Since their departure from the home of famed environmentalist Rachel Carson, in Pittsburgh, Pa., the road trippers have spent hours educating themselves and the American public about environmental issues, traveling nearly 15,000 miles by car and filling four one-terabyte hard drives with documentary footage. The three greens began with the idea that Americans want to stop global warming and environmental degradation but don't know where to begin and what issues to research. So they decided to create fact-based videos, but ones that rely on comedy to convey complicated information. "We don't model the videos after anything in particular, but we are certainly influenced by media professionals," said Dixon, 33. "Michael Moore, Amy Goodman and Bill Moyers provided examples of credible journalism, and we blended elements of their programs with our own style of humor." In one clip, Evans dresses up as Uncle Sam and quizzes children about ways to help the planet. In their post from Maine about water pollution, Dingman Evans stands behind her husband to give the appearance that he grew two additional arms after eating some of the local catch. Their videos follow a familiar formula, which Dixon explains as: "Get people interested with a joke, hook or captivating comment at the beginning, provide the meat in the middle and then finish with fun outtakes to keep people watching through the end," Dixon said. For the most part, the group has relied on word of mouth and recommendations from the environmental community to promote their Web videos. "The most difficult part of the entire process is simply squeezing five hours of raw footage into a five-minute edited video," Dixon said. Apart from the technical difficulties that come with charging laptop computers and cameras, maintaining a travel blog and editing video while cruising the nation's highways and byways, the group has set for itself a separate set of challenges: refrain from switching on incandescent lightbulbs, use water sparingly and produce only enough monthly trash and recyclables to fill a medium-size shoe box. This does not include toilet paper and feminine hygiene products. "It took some getting used to," said Evans, as he pulled an LED headlamp from his pocket. "Our hosts walk into their living rooms and see us sitting around wearing these." "When we tell people about the shoe box, it certainly sends the message that if we can do this, so can you," added Dingman Evans. Along with the shoe box of trash, they keep biodegradable food waste in the car until they reach a compost deposit. It is this kind of leading by example that strikes a chord with people, they say. They also have been inspired by others. In Elk Bend, Idaho, they met Dugout Dick, who has fashioned homes from caves since 1948. The 92-year-old outfitted the caves with old automobile scraps and driftwood and rents out rooms for around $1 per night. "He lives lightly on the land," Dixon said. "He was a riot," added Evans. "When asked, 'How can Americans be more sustainable?' Dugout replied with a rather longwinded recipe for homemade goat's milk yogurt." In Las Vegas, they met an environmentally conscious Elvis Presley impersonator and marriage officiator with impressive knowledge of local water issues. After he gave them a tour of the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, the roadies were treated to a giant flashing dedication on the chapel's JumboTron "and an impromptu Elvis jingle imploring people to 'uh-reduce, uh-reuse, uh-recycle,' " remembered Evans. In Seattle, they chatted with city Councilman Richard Conlin, "who told us that 30 percent of all collected garbage in Seattle is food waste; his 'zero waste' plan capitalizes on this potential soil resource by collecting it from individual homes and restaurants and composting it offsite. Pretty cool," Dingman Evans wrote in her travel blog. The cyber environmentalists have no sponsors, meaning the projected $100,000 price tag for the year on the road is entirely self-funded. However, friends and family members have acted as hosts, opening their homes to help decrease the financial burden. Also, the Escape Hybrid gets as much as 40 miles per gallon, lessening the blow of escalating fuel costs. Dixon, who graduated from Stanford in 1997 and drew inspiration from a 2003 Al Gore lecture he heard at UC Berkeley, said he saved much of his contribution over the past 10 years working at Akimbo Systems, a Bay Area tech startup. Evans, an actor, comedian and educator who graduated from Stanford in 1994, met Dixon through the Stanford Fleet Street Singers. Soon after, the two began an e-mail dialogue about a possible cross-country trip to address environmental issues. "This was an opportunity to apply my artistic skills to something I truly cared about in just the way I had been hoping to," said Evans. By midyear 2006, all Evans needed to do was persuade his wife to vacate their New York City apartment, complete with a backyard, a parking space and a one-block walk to the subway. What's more, the two had discussed starting a family and already had two cats. Looking back, Dingman Evans said she had always tried to protect the environment on a small scale, by recycling, conserving water and extinguishing lights. "But quite honestly, I did not feel pressed to leave my house and do anything bigger about it until much more recently," she said. "At some point, however, I understood from Ben that this environmental road trip was much more important to him than trying to land another job, and I realized that I actually felt the same." So the couple found someone to take care of the kitties, let go of the car and apartment and put their stuff in storage. Dixon, Evans and Dingman Evans say they have no regrets and plan to return to their normal lives on July 5. The trip's second leg, beginning Jan. 1, will total more than 20,000 miles and ends on (Energy) Independence Day 2008 in San Francisco. "This trip made me more certain about my own future in a wonderful way, reaffirming that the things I thought really mattered actually do, and that it is OK to pursue them," Evans said. "Perhaps, most of all, it's changed my career aspirations from 'movie star' to 'goat farmer.' " To see route maps, watch videos and read blog items from Your Environmental Road Trip, visit www.yert.com. E-mail Chris Cadelago at ccadelago@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle 071128 ... hypocritical nameless dots what's with all the spam of online newspaper articles and google and wikipedia searches? do you have your own words? ........ 071128 ... jane i didn't know blather had rules, sorry 071129 what's it to you? who go blather from