Since 2009, the Green Living Project’s Mobile Tour has been on the road to promote its message of sustainability. As part of the University of Massachusetts’ first Campus Sustainability Week, the Mobile Tour came to campus to provide tours of its eco-friendly RV and a multimedia and film presentation about the work done by the Green Living Project.
The Mobile Tour seeks to share stories from around the world of people working towards a more sustainable planet. The Green Living Project does work in various countries from South America to Africa, and highlights many of these places through the films they show. The Green Living Project has five areas of focus for its work: education, conservation, sustainable community development, sustainable food/agriculture, and ecotourism. The films shown have components of each to inspire individuals to work for a brighter future\ and to raise awareness about issues.
Evan Schöpke is the representative for the Green Living Project who presently runs the Mobile Tour. He has been on the road in the biodiesel RV known as the Soltrekker since June 7th, and describes the trip as having “hit a lot of cities”. This so-called sustainable adventure vehicle boasts solar panels, rain water collection features, and bamboo paneling along the inside. Schöpke describes the RV as demonstration project of great sustainable technology that can be shown to the general public for awareness. Providing this demonstration as a learning tool for kids is one of the most rewarding aspects of his job, especially children in tough areas. “It’s really exciting for me that I get to visit inner city schools and expose folks to thing they might not otherwise see,” he says.
“I want to inspire folks that come across the tour to take action now in their lives because now is a really good time to be involved in the global sustainability movement,” Schöpke says. He further details how there has never been so much opportunity for knowledge sharing in terms of all types of information, but sustainability specifically.. The Green Living Project seeks to convey its message through various platforms and the Mobile Tour is an extremely hands on way to do so. Through film, multimedia presentations, the Mobile Tour, social media networks and blogging the Green Living Project is feeding information to the public. “It’s just really exciting to share stories with people,” Schöpke says.
