Make fuel, not war, says eco-crusader Josh Tickell, who has taken his film Fields of Fuel and the message of American energy independence on the road this year. The film, which was introduced on TakePart back in January, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the Sundance Film Festival, and is now on a 50-city tour across the United States.

“This year, the Fields of Fuel crew will be joined by 10 biofuel-powered vehicles and over 40 professional educators and outreach personnel on a 50-city nationwide tour. The objective of the tour is to bring green energy to the cities and towns of America ““ and just as importantly, to make green energy the #1 issue in the 2008 presidential elections.”

Fields of Fuel incorporates a first person account of Tickell’s childhood relocation from Australia to Louisiana, where the water in the latter was effectively poisoned by the oil and gas industry. The film also explores the history of American’s oil dependence and the fossil fuel industry, as well as how our relationship with the Middle East and organizations like OPEC are framed by our dependence on oil. One particularly notable part of the film illuminates how Henry Ford and Rudolph Diesel designed their cars to run on vegetable oil, but crude oil moguls like John D. Rockefeller killed biodiesel before it had a chance to “get off the ground.”

The film argues that we can, in fact, ditch our dependence on foreign oil, and that biofuels are the easiest and most sustainable way to go about it. Biofuels, Tickell explains, can be manufactured from a vast array of natural sources - from vegetable oil to algae. The argument gains momentum with celebrity appearances by Neil Young and Willie Nelson, who fill their up their tour buses with biofuels, and also by actor/environmentalist Woody Harrelson, who gives us his take on the topic.

by learning more about the biofuel debate. Also, and find out how you can reduce your own oil and energy consumption with these helpful tips courtesy of the Natural Resources Defense Council.