Best of luck to Andy Pag as he sets off on his truly inspirational journey to Mali in a truck powered by bio-diesel from waste confectionery. Andy is not only delivering an inspirational message to all of us, but is also a leader in remote communications so expect some great digital media on the site.

From the expedition website:

The BioTruck team are attempting the first ever Carbon-Negative driving expedition across the Sahara Desert to Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa.

To do this they will use a mix of carbon cutting techniques, including biofuels and offsetting, and the outcome is being analysed with independent assistance from CarbonAided, using industry standard methodologies to verify the Carbon-Negative claim.

Timbuktu is a city that has suffered from the effect of climate change. Once a river port town, the shifting sands of the Sahara have moved the river 20km away and are now threatening the towns very existence as enormous dunes encroach on the outskirts.

The Expedition will explore and raise awareness of the value of different carbon reducing measures, and will be powered entirely on a unique biodiesel fuel made by Ecotec from waste chocolate!

Ecotec are also donating one of their small scale biodiesel production units to MFC in Mali who will use it to allow local women to re-cycle their used cooking oil into eco-friendly fuel and supplement their income at the same time.

There’s a recycling theme to the expedition too; all the equipment used has been salvaged from the scrap yard and will remain in Mali where it will continue to be used. That includes the BioTruck itself.

Also see The Guardian article published on Thursday 15 November 2007.