Mothers and other good citizens in fracking country -- New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and beyond-- are ardently protesting the dangers and
foolishness of violating the earth and its precious groundwaters to squeeze out
the last of once vast oil and natural gas resources that we have burned through
over the last century. Little reported
in mainstream media are mothers who have gone to jail over deep convictions
that we need to get off fossil fuels ASAP.
DC-based World Resources Institute (WRI) points out how growth-stimulating
it will be to aim for a world “net-zero” on carbon emissions by mid-century. That’s
a dazzlingly bold assertion in the US. WRI is speaking to world leaders who are
expected to conclude an agreement next fall in Paris. Some question whether
even so radical a shift is enough. The damages of Climate Chaos are already
upon us!
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| The Top 10 emitter countries account for 70% of the world total. |
Getting Our Heads around the Problem
How do we as individuals understand this? Here’s a
dimensioning game to help bring it to daily personal life. Imagine a ton of carbon dioxide. It fills a balloon
of 32 feet (10+m). Each day, about 60,000 of them are added to Father Air,
who loves Mother Earth so passionately, for each and every American! (That’s based on UN estimates of
world annual GHG production at 49 billion tons. World per capital estimate is
20,000. Americans are voracious energy users, although others are worse. Tripling
the world figure gets a fair guess of 60,000 for the US average.)
That’s a lot of
bubbles in the sky! A progression Southern California clean services company is
helping us this by its Emissions Time Bomb. It is a 32-foot inflatable balloon
by EcoMotion.
Transportation is only part of this world-transforming
upsurge in greenhouse gases that is altering our climate in ways that are already costly. Power generation dominates GHG generation.
Estimates for the share of all modes of transport are in the low twenties. So urban transport accounts for “only” about one-fifth
of total GHG generation.
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| Will we look up to a sustainable future? |
Seeing a Way Forward for Podcars
If WRI has its way, all GHG generation will need to be
phased out. Clearly that includes
transportation, and more specifically urban transportation. More travel should be walking, biking and
shared modes. All vehicles need to be electric and the power source cannot be
fossil fuels.
Cars are already getting smarter and cleaner. SUVs and all
kinds of road hogs may soon follow. Batteries are a big deal due to their
weight and range limits. Inductive power from roadway infrastructure to vehicle
may solve the problem, but it’s not here today.
A Bubble A Day
Today we have lots of cars. In years to come, they should
increasingly be electric. That does mean battery weight and chemical disposal needs.
It also brings on operator recharging or replacement needs. Future electric vehicles will be thirsty for
easy recharging options.
The guideways needed for classical PRT - secured with its own
exclusive powered network of “track” of some sort - can make money if it is open
up to non-system vehicles by purchase “dual-mode” mileage. How many fewer 32-foot
bubbles will pollute our atmosphere?
