Daily Skiff

Doug Fine, author of "Farewell, My Subaru," will speak to the campus community about living green, sustainability and how it dramatically changed his life at the Dee J. Kelly Alumni Center tonight.

"Farewell, My Subaru" is Fine's real-life account of how everything can go wrong when an average man tries to cut oil out of his life. Fine struggles with coyotes eating his chickens, a near-death experience while installing solar panels and many other challenges of going green.

Fine lives with his goats on a farm in New Mexico - Funky Butte Ranch - where he can get everything he needs from vegetables to milk. Fine has altered his truck, which he calls "R.O.A.T." (ridiculously oversized American truck) to run on vegetable oil. He also installed solar energy panels for his home.

Keith Whitworth, a professor in the sociology department, said he hopes students, staff and faculty will learn from Fine one or more ways of how to make sustainability a lifestyle within the context of their everyday lives.

"He chose to radically alter his lifestyle, but we can all create a smaller version of our own Funky Butte Ranch," Whitworth said.

Fine grew up in Long Island, N.Y., and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in journalism. Since graduating, Fine has freelanced for the Washington Post, Salon, U.S. News and World Report, Sierra, Wired, Outside and recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

In 2004, Fine wrote "Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man," which is about his experience in trying to adjust to rural Alaskan life and the unique hardships he had to face.

This event is open to the public and starts at 7 p.m. Thursday. For more information contact Keith Whitworth at 817-257-5941.

"Farewell, My Subaru"
What: Doug Fine presentation
When: Today from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Kelly Alumni Center

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