Lyle Estill "Biodiesel Power" Book Signing
An event I arranged with the author to increase Barnes and Noble Georgia Tech's visibility as a destination in Atlanta for information regarding innovative engineering and economic development
Lyle Estill's Energy Blog entry about the event, April 14th, 2006:
"I just spent three hours on a busy Atlanta street corner, tabling in front of the Barnes and Noble at Georgia Tech. Wild. Tami and I are in Atlanta to see our niece Laura deliver a paper regarding health and disease in popular culture. There is a giant academic conference here in the hotel, and her paper (about Finnish folk tales and holistic healing) was one of the sessions on offer.
Along the way we touched based with Rob Del Bueno of Vegenergy {now Southern Green Energies, ed.}, who has his finger on the pulse of the Atlanta B100/SVO scene. Rob has lined up a reading at A Cappella Books for tomorrow night, and we are hoping that it contributes to the grassroots biodiesel conversation as it has in other towns.
Enter Charlie Mote. He runs the technical section of the Barnes and Noble at Georgia Tech. On first blush I felt like I didn’t want to distract from the A Cappella focus. Neither did he. I found that interesting. Charlie drives a Golf TDI {a diesel Volkswagen which can use biodiesel fuel, ed.} and is a customer of Rob’s. Interesting. Charlie and some friends from Georgia Tech recently smoked GM by pitting their Appleseed processor against a concept car at some Georgia Tech alternative fuels competition. {emphasis added, ed.}
Suddenly I’m torn. My loyalty clearly lies with the Independent Bookstore, and the grassroots biodiesel community, but Charlie has made a convincing case. Tami and I tossed Piedmont’s table top booth, and some homebrew samples, some mugs and t-shirts into the Jetta and drove off into the night. I am pleased to report that there are more people in Atlanta are interested in biodiesel than there are interested in the relationship between the Kalevala and healing touch. But I do feel as if I have just come off a “street preacher” gig.
I spoke to a dozen passersby in a couple of hours, sold a few books, and had some meaningful conversations about energy balance and sustainability and how one might go about meeting their own fuel needs. The nice part was it was not the choir.
And by far the best part of all was talking with Charlie. We covered American culture, the role of ideas in our economy, the Civil War, and Atlanta’s place in the world, and he told me stories of how he was an election monitor during his travels in Central America. It was a fascinating conversation.
I managed to get a coffee, a Yellow Jackets cap, and a sunburn along the way. Now Tami and I undertake the enormous task of educating Laura, and her boyfriend Dan (both Canadians) on the finer points of southern culture. Tami has whisked them off to Pitty Pat’s Porch for mint juleps, and I am dying to jump in…"
This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Energy Blog.
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