Q.At Lynn Canyon, do we do hiking or some other activity on the tour?
A. There is plenty of rainforest hiking available on our tour.
Q: How do I get to your NorthVan GreenTour pickup location?
A: Our pickup location (in front of the Bean Around the World Café) is 25 metres (or yards) west of the intersection of Carrie Cates Court and Lonsdale in North Vancouver.
From Vancouver, travelers should take the SeaBus across to Lonsdale Quay (ask anyone for directions). After arriving at the North Vancouver side, they should go through the public market (to the right after exiting the SeaBus) to the café (123 Carrie Cates Court).
For further information, click here to view the public transit trip planner.
Q: Your NorthVan GreenTour looks really cool, but I am deathly terrified of heights and suspension bridges. Is the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge mandatory? Or is it possible to skip it and meet everyone on the other side some other way?
A: You can also cross at Twin Falls Bridge. Or, if you prefer, you can hang out at the Ecology Centre. It’s quite interesting, and many people choose not to cross the bridge.
Q1: Do you really run on veggie oil?
A1: Yes.
Q2: Then why do I see you putting diesel in your van?
A2: The veggie oil system we use is a two tank system. We start and stop on diesel to get the engine hot, then the vehicle switches over automatically to veggie oil when it is hot enough.
Q.How do your your vehicles run?
A. Our vehicles run on used vegetable oil- start and stop on diesel and when the engine is hot enough it automatically switches over to diesel
Q. Where did you get your vehicles?-
A. Our van is a 2004 Dodge Sprinter-we purchased it used- we would prefer to not be part of the consumption cycle ,that is why we purchased it used. The whole idea of purchasing”new”doesn’t appeal to us as a company. The environmental costs of manufacturing are quite severe. We expect to be able to continue to use the sprinter van for about 10 years is a comfortable good looking vehicle and is very good on fuel consumption. It also runs very well on used vegetable oil (with the correct conversion, under the proper circumstances)
Is actually a Mercedes vehicle with a Dodge label-it is a very fuel efficient five cylinder diesel engine. It can carry nine persons and one driver-or six persons one driver and a wheelchair or one person one driver and to two wheelchairs.
Q. How you come across your fuel.?
A. We collect our fuel local restaurants.We have built a special filtering machine which is passive in nature and processes the oil as it is disposed of from the restaurants.we consider our filtering technology- our greatest asset.
Q. There are a lot of companies out there that claim to be eco-tourism, and I am just curious as to what exactly that means for your business. Do you operate without a footprint, so to speak?
A. If you mean- “Do we give money to companies who sell offsets?————–Offsets which are highly suspect?—————-Offsets that make theoretical environmental benefits while creating incredible layers of bureaucracy that increase the amount of wasted energy that is theoretically supposed to benefit the environment?- then the answer is “no”
A.If you mean “Do you you use a renewable energy source which is biological in nature that removes 20 times the amount of carbon that is placed back into the atmosphere when it is burnt?”— then the answer is “yes”
Q.Do you educate about environmental issues in the area?
A.Do you mean environmental issues such as proper wilderness/urban forest interface management practices?Then the answer is “yes”
A. Do you mean environmental issues such as the benefits of increased density in urban areas versus the increased cost of providing services to suburban type development schemes?Then the answer is “yes”
A. If you mean -”on going discussion of the actual cost of petroleum fuels versus the actual cost of renewable biofuels-” Then the answer is “yes”
A.Do you mean educating people regarding the volume consumption based fuel taxation system that we have in North America- a fuel taxation system that increases the amount of money that goes into producing more roads for more cars- a taxation system that has zero interest in promoting efficiency because it makes more money based upon increased wastefulness?and discussion regarding how different states and countries have got different types of incentive systems which increase the smoothness of traffic flow?comparing and contrasting it to the types of systems that we have in North America?then the answer is yes
A. Do you mean–do we discuss the idea of present sunlight versus ancient sunlight?The fact that all energy actually comes from the sun in one form or another and goes through various transitions until we capture and use it? The idea that millions of years of energy is captured in petroleum reserves which are being depleted faster than we can renew them?Petroleum reserves that would make an excellent source for lubricants, but may not be the best source for transportation energy? The fact that when people use biofuels, a form of”present sunlight”,they have to be much more”present”to how much energy they are using due to the fact that they will have to grow more if they use it all?Also, if they’re wasteful of this energy that it will impact their food source? Or how using biofuels can dramatically reduce the amount of international conflict that is caused by our foreign policies? How we currently live our lives in a fashion which is unnecessarily wasteful, providing the sole benefit of displaying how powerful we are?when we could just as easily display how intelligent we are?asking the question why do we do it this way?what is the benefit to us?are there other options?are they doable?
Then the answer is”yes”