Actor and biodiesel enthusiast Daryl Hannah has been using biodiesel for over five years. She learned about it from her friend Charris Ford, founder of Grassolean Solutions, LLC, an organization that provides sustainable energy information and products. Hannah, who drives a 1983 Chevy El Camino, received the National Biodiesel Board’s Influencer award in 2004 for her work in educating people about veggie fuel, appeared in the film French Fries to Go, and most recently spoke at the UN World Environment Day in San Francisco on June 5. I spoke with her by telephone about her passion for biodiesel and how it’s connected to other social and environmental issues -- by Kathryn Gillick

Kathryn Gillick: Why did you start using biodiesel?

Daryl Hannah: It made sense to me as soon as I found out it was even a possibility because it’s so much cleaner burning. It gets us off of our dependency on fossil fuels and foreign oil as well so we don’t have to go to war for oil.

I live in a place where they are constantly threatening to destroy the landscape for the mining of our natural resources, (so) it’s just something I’ve always been really aware of. The combination of trying to offset both the pollution and devastating our natural resources – which are the kind of habits we should get over. It seemed like the perfect thing to do. It was a no-brainer.

KG: You go around the country speaking about biodiesel. What do you find is the most common misconception people have about it?

DH: Most people are really stunned to find out that the technology has been around for more than 100 years, and that the diesel engine was in fact invented to run on vegetable oil. Rudolph Diesel was dead long before they named that by-product of petroleum they call diesel fuel. It had nothing to do with him. Also, it can run in a regular diesel engine without any modifications. People constantly ask that question over and over and over. They just can’t believe it.

KG: What do you think are some of the most important things for people to know about biodiesel?

DH: I’m excited that it’s a closed-carbon loop – it doesn’t put out any more carbon dioxide into the air than the plants take in to grow the exact same amount of fuel you’re using. So it’s really basically clean-burning.

It has a toxicity level somewhere between table salt and maple syrup. You can carry it around because it’s not flammable, and it’s vegetable oil.

And it’s had a life. The biodiesel we use is 100 percent, it has no petroleum in it. It was already used in fryers throughout our local area. It’s already had one life and now it’s going to be used again, which is nice.

KG: With the rising cost of both gas and diesel, conversations about alternative fuel sources are getting more and more common at every level –- from commuters to the president. Where do you think biodiesel fits in to this discussion?

DH: I think it’s pretty interesting how it appeals to people from all sides of the political coin, which is great. No one really wants to send their kids off to die for oil. There is an end to our natural resources, those aren’t unlimited supplies, and also, they’re there for a reason. There are so many different reasons to start looking at answers and solutions, and biodiesel is one of (those solutions). We need a number of solutions – we need more efficiency and conservation. Efficiency is a big one. I think car companies need to do a lot better in producing more efficient cars. They have the technology, we just need to demand them as consumers. Certainly diesel cars get more efficiency anyway, but if they made hybrid diesels, we would be so far ahead of the game – to get 90 miles to one gallon of vegetable oil, that’d be phenomenal.

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When it comes to promoting biofuels, Daryl Hannah doesn't take it lying down.

DH: It’s not uncommon to do blends, but I kind of believe in using 100 percent biodiesel, and not mixing it with petroleum unless it’s necessary for cold weather or something like that, and you don’t have an engine block heater.

KG: Biodiesel is also praised not only for its ability to reduce greenhouse emissions, but also for the fact that it creates another market for American farmers. Is that one reason you’re attracted to it?

DH: I love the idea that biodiesel has the potential to support farmers, especially the family farms. I’m not so thrilled about the factory farming movement in our country and also pesticides – you don’t want to cut off your nose to spite your face. Who cares about burning cleaner-burning fuel if you’re going to be poisoning the soil and the air with toxins and pesticides? So organic farming practices are something that, to me, are interlinked with the idea of using biodiesel.

KG: Critics will sometimes point out that biodiesel is often made from genetically engineered crops. Is this a concern for you?

DH: Every year at the National Biodiesel Board, Charris [Ford, also featured in this issue, the founder of Grassolean Solutions] and I go there and speak and we bring up those considerations and ask everyone there to consider them seriously because they definitely are serious concerns of ours. We don’t know the ramifications of GMOs yet, and it’s really frightening. The fact is it may be technically impossible to get GMO-free corn because they cross-pollinate through the air. It may be something for the history books, and that’s really kind of scary and sad. That may happen to other crops as well. It’s something we should be a lot more thoughtful about and try to be as pure and clean as possible.

KG: How do you see biodiesel fitting into the overall issue of sustainability?

DH: It’s a piece of the whole issue of sustainability. You can’t just look at fuel and fuel economy as the one and only ways you can contribute. Another great way is riding a bike, or taking public transportation, getting public transportation on clean-burning fuel, walking, and also looking at the rest of your lifestyle, like what you buy. Obviously we’re a consumer nation and you have the power to influence these big corporations who are running the world right now through what you chose to, or not to, purchase.

And it’s how you live. If you feel strongly – as I do, and as Charris does – we do our best to live by our beliefs and get ourselves off the grid, try and grow as much of our own food as possible and shop organic and local, and use alternative power. It’s all integrated. It’s all one in the same. Being a humanitarian, supporting animal rights activists, human rights activists, it’s all the same.

Everything is interconnected. It’s all about living a healthier and happier life and loving life, and making that your focus.

Kathryn Gillick writes from San Diego, Calif.