Hello Friends,

We're almost at the end of our second season with Bid For Green supplying us the biodiesel we are touring with. We've been fortunate to have a forward thinking bus company who was brave and thoughtful enough to look at the data, then commit to letting us fuel their very expensive buses with biodiesel. For two summers as well as through last winter, we've never had any problems associated with the fuel and we salute them for taking this leap of faith.

You know once you open the green door it's hard to close it. Over the past couple of years we began to find other ways to be more thoughtful about what kind of mess we created and left behind as we traveled from town to town. For two years now we've been recycling our water, beer and wine bottles as well as our plastic forks, knives and spoons, and all soda cans. We wash and reuse the plastic utensils until they get to where nobody wants to use them, then they go into the recycling container. This is a major change from the past when we routinely tossed everything into the trash chute that led to the big can in the bay of the bus. All it took was becoming a bit more aware, and it's now just who we are out there. Bus drivers are now used to dealing with Bid For Green's refueling dynamics as well as looking for places to dump our bins. There is a small mountain of trash that is missing from the planet as a result of this small change of behavior.

We also began asking local caterers to not use styrofoam for our after-show food and there has been great cooperation there as well.

We were around for the era of drugs, sex and rock'n'roll, trashing rooms, leaving behind mountains of debris and all that went with it, but once you've seen the light as far as what it means to the planet, well, you can't help but minding a few more manners. Some say Mother Nature be a bitch, but I say she still deserves to be treated like a lady!

Onward, brothers and sisters!!!

Tommy Shaw

Yes, we are no longer challenged with the idea of seeking out fuel sources, we are getting it delivered to us at the gig. Bid For Green is doing what needed to be done--creating a data base of fuel suppliers and setting up accounts so that it has been made even easier for us to use biodiesel than to spend the time fueling up in the stinky line at the truck stop, something we've all accepted as part of traveling by tour bus.

The first night we had it delivered was at the Canyon Club in the LA area. It was amazing to walk by the bus which was parked right outside the backstage door with the generator running and there was no odor of diesel fumes! In fact I have not smelled that smell since.

What we are burning right now is "B20" which is a blend of regular diesel and 20% biofuel. Biodiesel clouds at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and since we are going into some parts of the country where this will likely be the temperature outside, this makes the most sense for now. Next spring when STYX goes back out on tour we will switch to "B99" which is 99 percent biofuel. But let's face it, 20 percent of thousands of gallons is nothing to snicker at. Everything counts now. If every tour bus on the road today was taking this simple step...Thing is, most of us musicians are hippies at heart and this is a concept that rings our cosmic bell.

This mentality has spilt over into our new home construction going on now in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. We are insulating with recycled denim rather than the old fashioned spun glass most of us grew up with. http://www.bondedlogic.com/ultratouch.htm. Tankless water heaters are already proving to be energy savers as we go off line with the old gas heater that was constantly running to keep the water heated whether we were using it or not. We will be installing a solar array to take advantage of the clear California skies as we inch our way towards freedom from the grid. Replacing all the outside lights and many of our inside lights with fluorescent bulbs is helping us to use less electricity in the meantime, as well as unplugging some things that sit idle for long periods and time and really don't need to be drawing the small amounts of electrical current that adds up over the course of a month.

Tommy Shaw