Green Flight International
Friday, October 23, 2009 at 01:41PM 
Douglass Rodante likes to be called ‘Doug’ by most; it seems to be a way of connecting with him on a much more personal and efficient manner. This comes as little surprise because once you’ve met with Doug and had the opportunity to talk with him for a mere matter of minutes, you realize you’re interacting with someone truly focused and dedicated on making necessary climate and economic changes here in the United States.
Doug, along with an enormous number of scientists, researchers, and number crunchers are aware of the accelerated growth of human induced climate change around our planet, and he’s innately passionate about getting down to work on solutions for our self-created problems.
Probably one of his most amazing and interesting projects so far is the design, testing, and subsequent flight of a jet airplane on 100% biodiesel. Doug’s company that administers this project is called Green Flight International, and it’s a model pioneer in the new wilderness of fossil fuel scarcity and pollution that America finds itself in.
Green Flight International spent well over a year testing, and planning how they could bring their dream of renewable fuel jet flight into the realm of reality. Doug knew deep down inside himself the mission could be accomplished with enough belief and effort, and his faith paid off in 2007 with the first flight of the Bio Jet 1 on 100% biodiesel.
Green Flight International didn’t fly green over night however. A number of obstacles laid in their path. The FAA alone had a number of safety protocols and hurdles that had to be cleared before they would even legally let the jet make a test flight. A really hard landing in Death Valley, California that could have turned very ugly for the project also put the project in peril. But the perseverance and vision of Doug and his colleagues paid off when in late 2008 the Bio Jet 1 made a trans-continental flight from Nevada back east to Florida on 100% biodiesel (for the majority of the flight at least).
As of today, Green Flight International is working closely with the NTSB and FAA to have their test data and research utilized in the formation of an ATSM standard, that will soon make renewable bio-jet fuels common in private and commercial aviation.
Growing CO2 emissions that linger in our atmosphere for literally centuries, dependence on ever-expensive foreign fossil fuel oil, and the vision of a self-sustainable future drive Doug and Green Flight International to new heights by the day, and Go Diesel USA is ecstatic about their efforts and will be following them closely in their future endeavors.
- GoDieselUSA
The Green Synapse
We've been in contact with Doug Rodante gaining more information from him on the growing awareness of climate change on earth. We could detail ad nauseum the facts and figures that show a noticeable increase in global temperatures, but figure many of our readers are already aware of the slowly but surely increasing ambient temperatures.
The debate over whether witnessed climate change is being caused by the direct actions of humans, or if the change in climate is simply a natural occurrence rages on. However, we find it important to dismiss the rancor over 'why' we are witnessing a change in the earth's climate, and focus on what we can do as humans to decelerate or stabilize the change in climate. After all, If you're on board a sinking ship, does it really matter why it's going down? or how you got into that situation? or does it simply matter how you get off alive?
Across the pond, in the United Kingdom, awareness of the accelerated change in climate has gotten some graphical support in the form of a detailed map showing areas of predicted climate change. The map shows the predicted impact of a 4C rise in temperatures across the globe, which many believe could occur as early as 2060 if current global emission levels remain the same. Although 2060 seems quite distant, one must keep in mind the time it takes CO2 to dissipate in the atmosphere... about 100 years.
When contemplating climate change, and the problems it raises, we must start thinking in longer scales of time rather than our current fixation on 'right now'. Once we learn that our existence, our footprint, our future, is much longer than 1 or 2 years down the road, we can really begin to see the urgent need to reduce emissions that trap heat inside the atmosphere, or otherwise harm our atmosphere. Green Flight International under Rodante's guidance is dedicated to raising such awareness, and bringing sustainable, low/no emission jet flight into existence.