Most Americans know we’ve got a problem: an addiction to oil that taxes the environment, entangles us in costly foreign policies, and threatens the nation’s long-term stability. But few are informed or empowered enough to do much about it.

Enter Josh Tickell, an expert young activist who, driven by his own emotionally charged motives, shuttles us on a revelatory, whirlwind journey to unravel this addiction from its historical origins to political constructs that support it, to alternatives available now and the steps we can take to change things. Tickell tracks the rising domination of the petrochemical industry from Rockefeller’s strategy to halt ethanol use in Ford’s first cars to the mysterious death of Rudolph Diesel at the height of his biodiesel engine’s popularization, to our government’s choice to declare war after 9/11, rather than wean the country from fossil fuel.

About the Film
Never minimizing the complexities of ending oil dependence, Tickell uncovers a hopeful reality pointing toward a decentralized, sustainable energy infrastructure like big rigs tanking up on biofuel at Carl’s Corner Texas truck stop, a new Brooklyn biodiesel plant serving three states, a miraculous Arizona algae-based fuel farm, and the Swedish public voting to be petroleum free by 2020. Sweeping and exhilarating, Tickell’s passionate film goes beyond great storytelling; it rings out like a bell that stirs consciousness and makes individual action suddenly seem consequential.

About Josh Tickell
Josh Tickell, a leading expert on alternative fuels, grew up in Louisiana, where members of his family suffered from diseases linked to pollution from oil refineries. After discovering biodiesel, he earned an MFA in film from Florida State University’s School of Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts to chronicle and vitalize the green-energy movement. He has been working on Fields of Fuel for 10 years. Tickell also authored a controversial companion book, Biodiesel America: How to Achieve Energy Security, Free America from Middle-East Oil Dependence, and Make Money Growing Fuel.

Josh Tickell is one of the nation’s leading experts in sustainable biofuels. Growing up near oil refineries in Louisiana, Tickell experienced first hand the health effects of pollution from oil processing. Tickell first saw sustainable biodiesel while working on an organic farm in former East Germany during a semester abroad.

Tickell’s best selling book, From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Fuel, jump-started the US biodiesel movement. The American biodiesel industry now produces over 850 million gallons per year and supplies biodegradable biodiesel to commercial fleets including the San Francisco Fire Department, the Navy and NASA.
In 1998, Tickell organized Green Mountain Energy’s California Tour and its Pennsylvania “Know Your Power” concert, featuring James Taylor, Sean Colvin and Kenny Loggins. Over 50,000 people attended the biodiesel powered event.

In 2000, Tickell worked with Washington D.C. Earth Day event organizers to power the April 22nd Earth Day Event and Concert on the Mall on biodiesel made from used cooking oil. The 200,000 person event was at that time the largest single event ever to be powered with completely renewable fuel.

In 2003, Tickell began work on FUEL, the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winning documentary film that investigates the possible replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy. In 2006, as a precursor to the film, Tickell’s second book was released. Entitled ‘Biodiesel America: How To Achieve Energy Security, Free America From Middle- East Oil Dependence and Make Money Growing Fuel’, the book offers a complete energy roadmap to wean the United States from fossil fuels.
At the time of the book’s release, Tickell founded the Biodiesel America Organization (now The Veggie Van Organization), which was selected by President Bill Clinton as an inaugural part of his Global Initiative on Climate Change. The organization mounted a biodiesel relief effort to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. The biodiesel-fueled relief ships delivered supplies and 20,000 meals to the hardest-hit areas of the disaster zone.

Tickell has consulted with companies and organizations including the Arizona State House of Representatives, Solar Energy International, Quicksilver, Clif Bar, Green Mountain Energy, Greenpeace, Volkswagen, Universal Studios, Woody Harrelson’s ‘Go Further’ Tour and The Indigo Girls. He has spoken at colleges and universities including MIT, Ohio University, Bard College, and Vassar College.

His media interview list includes The Today Show, Dateline NBC, CNN News, The National Geographic Channel, The Discovery Channel, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Weather Channel, Maxim Magazine and Mother Earth News.
He holds an undergraduate degree in Sustainable Living from the New College of South Florida and an MFA in Film from FSU’s School of Motion Picture TV and Recording Arts.