With the horrible sound of metal against metal, a small Toyota Camry met its fate, smashed into a pancake by a car-crushing machine.
The machine was designed and painted to look like a monster, teeth on the two plates that were used to compress the automobiles into cubes and eyes above it, baring the words, “Taking a bite out of smog.”
The audience applauded as a bulldozer extracted the remains of the car, placing the demolished vehicle on top of two others. All three of the cars together now took up less space than any one of them uncrushed.
The announcer chuckled for a moment before saying “Now, that’s what you call a compact automobile.”
Thus started the 2008 Bakersfield Energy and Clean Air Business Exposition, a one-day event that focused on educating the public and businesses how to practice energy conservation, and how to cut back on pollution.
The expo consisted of car-crushing demonstrations, hybrid car test-drives, exhibits that showcased different environmentally-friendly technologies and a luncheon.
The luncheon, which was served to officially start the expo, was attended by the mayor of Bakersfield Harvey Hall, who formally recognized the Pacific Gas and Electric Company as the Environmental Business of the Year.
PG&E was given this recognition for constantly switching old technologies to more current and energy efficient models, saving consumers an estimated 10 billion dollars.
The next speaker at the luncheon was Glen Craig, a representative for North High, who was the first school in the Kern High School District to begin using clean air-based curriculum called Clean Air Challenge.
Clean Air Challenge is a new set of workbooks and experiments meant to educate high school students about the many negative affects of air pollution, both on the environment and on the body.
The curriculum can work parallel with many of the current education benchmarks and is easily used in a variety of classes.
North High science teacher Annette Wells also spoke on the subject of the Clean Air Challenge, verifying that she used it in her chemistry, biology and Earth science classes.
The third and final speaker at the luncheon was Cindy Tuck, undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
Tuck spoke primarily on the involvement of the state government with the preservation of clean air in the valley, saying that “it would be irresponsible for California not to act.”
She identified the primary cause of air pollution as being “ozone and particulate matter,” and the reason so much ozone and particulate matter existed in the valley was because of the large amount of diesel equipment both from trucks and agricultural equipment.
Tuck then explained a few bills being put forth to regulate diesel equipment and hopefully lessen the amount of pollution in the valley.
After the luncheon ended, the exhibits opened to the public, showcasing everything from solar power panels that could be attached to houses, to zero-emission cars that were powered by natural gas.