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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2006)
BIOREGION GATHERING Coming up Aug. 25-27 is a gathering in Eugene that draws eco-friendly folk from all over the country. The 10th annual Northwest Permaculture and Bioregional Gathering is coming to the Dharmalaya Center in the River Road Neighborhood. Registration for the weekend is $50 and includes organic meals. The stated purpose of the gathering is “to advance the visions, strategies and skills for living more at peace in the global com- munity, to develop positive human poten- tial and live within what Planet Earth can provide.” Workshop and panel topics will include peak oil, U.S. foreign policy, climate change, the excesses of modern life, global peace and justice, the environment, (sub)urban redesign, economic conversion, and simply how to “live closer to home with a smaller ecological footprint.” Organizers are looking for volunteers for site preparation Saturday morning, along with organic food donations for the commu- nal kitchen. For more information call 686- 6761, email Jan Spencer at spencerj@efn.org or visit http://eugenepermacultureguild.org GOOD HABITS, BETTER AIR! Gas station attendants in Oregon often ask if you want to “top off” your tank after filling, or just do it without asking, but Eugene-based Oregon Toxics Alliance says it’s a bad idea for several reasons. OTA is currently running a summer campaign to let drivers know that topping off gas tanks: • Allows toxic benzene fumes to escape from the gas tank and nozzle. Fumes then enter your body through breathing and skin absorption. • Releases vapors that also pose a special risk to gas station attendants who are exposed to these fumes constantly. • Contributes to the formation of harmful ozone and smog that contribute to poor air quality in Lane County. • Can cause gasoline to spill out of the tank and harm your vehicle’s paint surface, as well as being wasteful. • Eliminates the extra room needed in your gas tank to allow gas to expand, can foul up your system and cause your vehicle to run poorly and emit more pollutants. OTA has free “Don’t Top Off!” stickers that can be put on gas tank covers. Stop by 1192 Lane County Herbicide Spray Schedule • O r e g o n D e p ar tm e nt o f F or e s t r y (935-2283) plans aerial spraying of Oust, Arsenal, Accord and Forest Crop Oil on 80 acres of state lands near Nelson and Haynes tributaries (#781-50943). • Ro se bu r g R e s o ur ce s (935-2507) contracted F ar m an d Fo r e st He l i co p t er (360-262-3197) to aeri- ally spray Sulfometuron, Imazapyr and Glyphosate on 162 acres near Cedar and Haynes Creeks (#781-50912). • Ro s eb u rg R es o u rc es contracted Or e go n F or e st M an ag e m en t S er v ic es (896-3757) to do ground applications of Sulfometuron Methyl, Escort and Glyphosate on 35 acres near Panther, Haynes, Chickahominy, Wildcat and Liebre Creeks, and Siuslaw River, near Walton (#781-50900). • R o sb o ro L um be r (746-8411) contracted S ko o k um Re f o r e st a t io n (485-3026) to ground spray Triclopyr ester and Forest Crop Oil on 3,250 acres in the Greenleaf/Deadwood area (#781- 50986). • R o hl R es o ur c e s (998-1268) will do ground applications of Arsenal, Garlon 4, Tahoe 4E, Chopper, Glyphosate, Oust, Escort and Velpar on 425 acres and 16,500 feet of roadside near Coyote and Wilson Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers 342-8332 or www.forestlanddwellers.org A Man and His Dinosaur No fossil fuel for this revived fossil. BY HOLLY LEITNER F A Triceratops in the making. or 51 weeks of the year, Justin Lanphear is a landscape designer with an odd hobby: reconstruct- ing a 1970 Frito-Lay van at night. But from Aug. 28 to Sept. 4, the week of this year’s Burning Man festival, his old delivery van will come to life as the bio-diesel- fueled “Black Rock Triceratops” in the prehistoric landscape of western Nevada. “Burning Man is the Mecca for manifestations,” says Lanphear, who makes annual pilgrimages to the desert of Black Rock City, Nev., to join an extreme society where self-expression reigns and personal manifestations are shared. Burning Man is a lifestyle. The art and music festival runs on a gift economy; alcohol, food and sun block circulate freely among Burners. Lanphear felt compelled in his fifth year of “burn- ing” to offer his gift in the form of a potato-chip truck turned triceratops. Lanphear’s vision was to take something prehistoric, “replace the dino-based fuel it ran on and bring it to a more sustainable future.” He hopes the dinosaur will inspire other festi- val participants not to rely so heavily on petroleum-based fuels for their own projects. JUSTIN LANPHEAR percent hazardous stuff and 95 per- cent safe stuff. You may want to think again. Two Eugene groups are leading a legal push to make the EPA put information about hazardous inert ingredients the labels of common farm and household pesticides. According to federal law, “inert” means all ingredients except those specifi- cally designed to kill a pest. Because the EPA treats inert ingredients as trade secrets, pesticide manufacturers don’t have to test them for safety or even identify them on product labels. But Caroline Cox, former staff scientist for the Eugene-based Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, said that many inert ingredients “are neither chemically, biologically, or toxicologically inert and can be hazardous for human and environmental health.” Some common inert ingredients have been linked with cancer, genetic dam- age and reduced fertility. On Aug. 1, NCAP led a coalition of health, worker safety and environmental groups in petitioning the EPA to require that pesticide labels identify almost 400 inert ingredients that have been classified as haz- ardous under environmental laws. Fifteen attorneys general submitted a companion petition, and the Eugene-based Western Environmental Law Center is representing the coalition. — Kera Abraham n a sweltering summer Saturday, Lanphear and a dozen friends gather at the Eugene Sign and Awning Company garage where Lanphear’s right-hand man, Darin Hauer, works during the week. The scene is a mix of hard work and hang- overs. Lanphear wants his alternatively powered silver dinosaur to glow with incandescent red neon lights shooting from underneath its belly, horns, forehead and tail. Partyers will perch atop its top deck as the vessel weaves its way through the desert “playa,” while the host pours from a barrel of Lanphear’s friend’s homebrew, TriceraHops. Lanphear hops around like a painter looking for new perspectives in a portrait, making sure all the angles are correct and checking that the large-scale dino looks like his pet-sized triceratops at the workstation. His eyes seem constantly to be searching for the answer to a math equation, whether he’s visually measuring how the legs will retract or calculating his time before takeoff. Bringing 31-year-old Lanphear’s vision to reality has taken the dedicated help of more than 30 friends, countless 14-hour days and more than $8,000. The transformation involved sanding down the van’s exterior to a silver shine, building a tail, bending metal to create pudgy dinosaur legs, padding the interior — and doing all of this while ensuring the vehi- cle’s safety. Even after 33-hour weekend work binges at the shop, the vehicle still needs work to make it look like its mini-me. Lanphear feels that he couldn’t do this project without the support of his Eugene com- munity. He relies on his friends showing up each weekend to lend their welding skills and creativity. “This town happens to be a great place to network. Pretty soon you can do things that you might have thought were on the edge of possibility,” he says. His own sweat- and oil-spattered jeans show that he’s devoted dawn-til-dusk energy on the project. Lanphear’s car is only one of a three-part fleet voyaging from Eugene to Black Rock City this year. The Black Rock Triceratops will caravan along with Jade Mangiafico-Greensberg’s “Temple of Pure White Sin” and Gaia Tribe's “Voyager,” both shortbuses turned party lounges. More than 1,500 art cars travel to Burning Man annually, but friends are sure that Lanphear’s creature will be among the festival favorites. “Justin’s car will be one of the top dozen art cars at the festival,” says Mangiafico-Greensberg. Soon enough the tools will be pushed back into the corners, witty costumes will cover bodies, and the dinosaur will make its slow, bio-diesel-fueled, less-traveled trek towards the dusty alkaline playa. ew O AUGUST 24, 2006 9
