I have a great job. I get to go in circles at 200mph in a high tech super powered jet on wheels inches away from other race cars also going 200mph and I race against some of the best race car drivers in the world. We fight each other for every inch of race track and our careers are determined by hundredths of a second. It is a high speed dance on wheels and I love every minute I am on the track. I have been lucky to drive for some great race teams and have been successful enough to earn a license to race some of the fastest race cars in the world. Earlier this year Sports Illustrated included me in their list of the top ten female race car drivers in the world. In August I became the fourth woman in history to race in the Indy Pro Series. I am one of the luckiest race car drivers in the world. I know I have a job that many people dream about. But I feel guilty about it. Because I am also a tree hugger. And a vegetarian. I am a tree hugging vegetarian female race car driver. I know, I know—I’m a bit of a freak.

http://leilanimunter.com

I have been an environmentalist since I was a kid. I grew up in Minnesota riding horses, climbing trees and dreaming of stealing the lobsters from the local seafood restaurant to set them free in the ocean. I earned a degree in biology from the University of California San Diego and while I was there I volunteered at a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. I was become more and more of a hippie. You know I was the girl in college that wore birkenstocks and long hippie skirts. Then my older sister Natascha married Bob Weir, singer and guitarist from the Grateful Dead. He was doing some wonderful things for the environment with his band. The Grateful Dead would play concerts and donate the money from the ticket sales to protect the rainforest. So the crowd I was hanging out with were not just talking the talk, they were walking the walk. I was excited to start making a difference too. But when I got out of college and began racing I quickly realized not everyone was as excited about protecting the environment as I was.

I found it more difficult to be an open environmentalist when I moved to North Carolina. I became what I like to describe as “a closet treehugger.” I arrived in 2002 and discovered quickly that it was an upward battle to explain why I am vegetarian and why I recycle and why green energy is better. Often times the reaction I got when I was trying to ask my racing friends to watch An Inconvenient Truth was “No way Leilani, I refuse to watch Al Gore’s propaganda.” Some of them honestly think that global warming is propaganda. When faced with this reaction, I just didn’t know where to begin. But I knew one thing—there was a lot of work that needed to be done around here. Eventually I started to get more disturbed about what was happening politically to our environment. I finally began to speak up about my thoughts on my blog on my racing site, leilanimunter.com.

As a race car driver my career is completely dependent on corporate sponsors. The colorful stickers on our race cars are the only thing that keeps our cars going around the track. Racing is not a cheap sport and I would not be able to do what I do without those companies. So as a race car driver you never want to isolate yourself from companies that are potential sponsors. It is best to be neutral and not voice your opinion on issues that are emotional—like politics and global warming. So it was a bit of a risk for me to start talking about my political views and the environment on my racing site. I knew that but I did it anyway.

I started to blog about how mad I was that we didn’t sign the Kyoto Protocol at the G8 summit last June. I started to promote An Inconvenient Truth on my website. Not only was I a female race car driver trying to break into a completely male dominated racing series (I am ruffling some feathers with this alone) but I was also being quite vocal about my opinions on politics and global warming. I am certain some race fans were disillusioned by this and I have seen some of them talking badly about me in online forums because of my views. But there were also people defending me and Al Gore’s movie. I had started global warming arguments in the racing community. People were actually talking about the environment in NASCAR forums. I thought that was pretty cool. So what if I lost a few fans, I was helping to get people thinking and talking about the issues. It’s a start.

I had made a monumental decision for my career. I decided that I didn’t care who I pissed off by talking about green energy and climate change. “If a company doesn’t want to work with me because I promote being green,” I told myself, “then I don’t want them on my race car anyway.”

And then something very interesting started happening. Much to my surprise, people in the NASCAR garage started coming up to me to tell me they liked what I was saying. They wouldn’t say it in front of other people of course, but when no one was looking I was getting thumbs up from people. And more people started to read my blog too. It is the third most viewed page on my site after the front page news and my biography. I remember last summer I was at a restaurant and was introduced to a marketing person from NASCAR. “Nice to meet you,” he said, “I read your blog.” I told him, “Sometimes I think maybe I’m a little bit too...” and he finished my sentence for me, “political?” he said with a smile.

That’s when I knew I had people talking and, whether they liked what I was saying or not, they were reading what I had to say.

Then I started getting phone calls and emails from eco-friendly companies. One of those companies was SMART Papers and they ended up sponsoring my car for my first two races in the Indy Pro Series. I was attracting like minded individuals and companies to my racing because of my green thinking.

Thankfully, because of my unique situation of being one of a few female race car drivers in the world, I often times get to do interviews and talk about things I care about outside of racing. I recently committed to purchasing an acre of rainforest for every race I run in the Indy Pro Series. So far I purchased two this year and if I put together the sponsorship (from eco-friendly companies, of course) to run for 2008 Indy Pro Series Rookie of the Year then I will purchase 16 more acres. It’s a small thing, but at least I am getting the issue of the environment out into the racing community. As I move up the ranks of racing and start making more money, my commitment will increase. And hopefully more people will follow my lead.

One good thing I will say is that there are changes being made in my sport. The fuel used in the IndyCar Series is 100% ethanol. I race in the Indy Pro Series—the feeder division to IndyCar where drivers prove themselves worthy of racing in the greatest spectacle in racing—the Indianapolis 500. NASCAR, however, needs to change their ways. They only recently switched from leaded to unleaded fuel. I recently sent a letter to Brian France (the President of NASCAR) asking him to make changes to NASCAR. I personally know a team owner in NASCAR that has an engine capable of running on 100% ethanol. I know he has made Brian France aware of this. What they do with this knowledge remains to be seen. NASCAR has a long, long way to go.

I know some of you might think it is quite ironic for me to be preaching green living one day and the next go out and burn up fuel and tires on the race track at 200 mph. I completely agree with you. I know I am not in an environmentally friendly sport. Driving race cars makes me feel alive. It is my passion. But it does not mean that I cannot work to protect the environment as well. I am working to reduce my carbon footprint by finding ways to become carbon neutral such as using compact fluorescent light bulbs, recycling, donating to green power when I pay my electric bill and most of all, using my voice to educate others. I want to bring attention to the fact that as citizens of Earth, we all need to work together to take care of our world for future generations. So far, we have not been doing a very good job of that. The situation is dire and requires our urgent attention. Now is the time to make a change. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels, commit ourselves to renewable energy sources, and conserve the biodiversity that we have on Earth before it is lost forever. Together we can make enough noise to get the attention of the decision makers in our local and national governments. Let's all do our part to help save our Earth for future generations to enjoy as much as we have. It is our responsibility - and our privilege - to do so.

As Nelson Mandela once said, “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.”

I dream of the world being a different place. A place where coal is no longer burned. Where cars are fueled up with hydrogen and produce water instead of CO2. Where the President of the United States banishes the use fossil fuels. Where energy comes from wind farms, solar panels and the ocean’s waves. A world where people don’t cut down rainforest to make pastures to graze cattle for their hamburgers. A world where I can walk into a fast food restaurant and order a yummy vegetarian meal. Can you imagine that world? I can. So let’s stop having to imagine it and make it happen. One step at a time. One wind turbine at a time. One solar panel at a time. One acre of rainforest at a time. One vegetarian burrito at a time. Let’s do it. Let’s make Mr. Mandela proud. Let’s be that great generation.