While Earth Day is officially April 22, I took part in efforts and celebrations over a few days. It revolved around a neighborhood cleanup and an IPA release party at Sketchbook Brewing Company.

Each of the volunteers spent time cleaning a street or park in a one-mile stretch by Sketchbook. Several local businesses also provided free treats for all volunteers. The real reward, though, was working with others to make our area cleaner.

Photo courtesy of Sean Simpson – LanzaTech.

An extra bonus was Sketchbook’s IPAwesome release party. IPAwesome is the result of a collaboration between Sketchbook and CarbonSmart company LanzaTech. It’s a refreshing West Coast IPA made with orange peel that the LanzaTech team helped create and brew. The LanzaTech team was on hand for the release party, demonstrating its carbon recycling technology.

Photo courtesy of Sean Simpson – LanzaTech.

Biotechnology company LanzaTech takes recycled fuel captured from smoke stacks to make fuel and other products. They utilize the power of an ancient microbe, expose it to gases from the smoke stacks and ultimately turn it into ethanol. Making a fitting connection to Sketchbook Brewing Company, LanzaTech co-founder Sean Simpson stated, “It’s like a brewery. It’s as simple as that. In traditional fermentation, we feed it sugar. In our case, our organisms don’t eat sugar. They eat gases.”

IPAwesome was a big hit with the crowd. I really loved the added flavor the orange peel provided.

It was great to see the community come together to clean, celebrate and support local businesses. I enjoyed all of it, especially learning about the impact LanzaTech has on fuels.

— John Wroblewski, online writer