Greasy Rider

Every day the evidence of ordinary people making a stand for an environmentally friendly world crops up. Hybrid cars cruise silently from stop signs, grocery stores sell reusable bags, businessmen ride their bicycles to work. Small steps, all of these, although not meaningless.

In its opening chapters, "Greasy Rider" author Greg Melville portrays himself as an everyman. Perhaps slightly more concerned with environmentally friendly choices, thanks to the influence of his wife, and a little freer to pursue strange fantasies, thanks to his career choice, but really just an ordinary guy from Vermont.

The foundation of the story is so simple that it seems impossible to create a powerful point about the state of energy in our country and in the world. Converting a diesel car into one powered by fry-oil and heading across the country to California with an old college buddy named Iggy sounds more like a Hallmark story of self-discovery and reflection. But Melville avoids this trap, and the story emerges of a man who almost accidentally becomes a proponent of sustainable living.

Inserted into the tale as each new mission is imagined, these secondary destinations are chosen with the goal of finding something that will make energy independence and sustainable living feasible. These follow-up trips to destinations like wind farms in Minnesota, the geothermal climate control system in Fort Knox and a Wal-Mart in Texas build upon specific ideas that Melville began to explore on the cross-country venture.

These later trips sometimes fall into what feels like the middle of a thought, throwing off the steady rhythm of the overarching narrative as Melville and Iggy steadily progress on their pilgrimage to the west coast. The points that these sidebars make are significant, but they tend to throw off the cohesion of the piece.

Ultimately, Melville's novel remains a personal story of discovery. But maybe that's what sets it apart and makes it a significant narrative. It's a journey that anyone could imagine undertaking: the comedy of plans gone awry, the rebuilding of an old friendship, the freedom of the pavement. Melville, an ordinary guy, learns what is being done to send this world in a better, greener direction.

Discovering the price of freedom is what Melville's trip comes down to. What will it take to move towards freedom from the gas pump, from high energy bills and from waste for the sake of waste? As Melville finds, it is the need for a collective understanding that change must happen, a personal revelation that the masses must experience.