The question may well be, "What does this guy know about combustion?" "Not a lot," will be my reply, but what I want in cars just happens to be what is good for our environment and in turn, for the generations to come. What our country needs is to end dependence on polluting energy sources; foreign and domestic. The unfortunate status of the modern mind is that it runs like the silo-centric media approach to news casts, websites or papers:
arts and entertainment, auto, social issues, economy, environment. Issues are separated out as if it were possible for anything to be exclusive of everything else. What is personal is political, and since Earth is where we live and laws govern everything on earth, then it's all political. Bottom line is, all these things are connected and the conversation needs to take place at the intersection of all of these areas, because they bleed, people! It's time to be very global in our thinking in every sense of the word.
I have qualifications for this that could seem irrelevant to many who may read this, but I read, a lot, and I really don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to sit the people you love in front of you, simultaneously look at social and economic issues and prioritize what right decisions are that need to be made based on future generations--the people we claim to care about, actually thriving, rather than just surviving.
First, we need infrastucture for alternative fuel sources, and not the kind that require drilling or filtering or processing. I'm talking electric. We need sustainable localized electric sources based on those conditions relevant to that region that will have minimal impact and intrusion into our environment: solar in the deserts, wind in high wind areas, wave energy for coastal cities, improving existing damns for fish runs, etc. I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that seem least intrusive to me, compared with drilling and processing. There also needs to be a revamp and update of electric delivery grids.
Second, we need to limit our consumption. My greatest concern on the issues of alternative energy is that we would continue on that path of irresponsible waste of energy because it's there and it seems unlimited. There also need to be extended programs like those in supermarkets where you bring your own bag to carry things home. Think about all the plastic and cardboard that goes to waste. We need to move back to long-term use containers for all kinds of things. Recycling is great, but imagine a steel container dumping bulk anything into a store's steel containers, and then you bring your container to the store and refill it, and take it home in that re-usable container on a weekly rather than throwing containers away every week for every item.
Third, we need a worldwide education program on basic budget and basic mathematics when it comes to sex. Imagine for a moment that our world is a fish bowl and there are 20 ants living off the available land. Let's pretend for a moment that they have a god who says, be fruitful and multiply, so they do. See they believe that having sex out of wedlock is a sin, but they end up having it anyway and then the religion says that they can't prevent unwanted pregnancy by birth control and also prevent them from having terminations of unwanted pregnancies. So they multiply, and multiply and multiply. Just because Jesus, Allah or Yaweh have all given you the ability to pro-create, doesn't mean that you should have a child every year of your childbearing life. Is it moral for a man to continue to pro-create with his wife, for which he does not have the resources to support, but continues to bring 3-10 children into the world? It's your life, right? Doesn't impact my life, right? What is the resource and economic toll? Quality of life?
And fine, teach abstinence, but there also needs to be a real conversation about a balance between the number of people who die each year and the number of people we're bringing into the world, which is why I ask the question, As our population, housing, asphalt, waste and pollution infest every hectar of Earth, how long before we're eating each other? I'm sure even then the corporations would find a way to make money off of that. WE NEED TO WRAP IT UP PEOPLE!!! This is an economic policy meant to make money for corporations, but on the global scale, just like the economy, there is no such thing as unlimited growth...unless they can keep people breeding like flies. Now, there's a thought! Sounds like an economic policy wraped up in morality...or at least a short-sighted, grotesquely distorted morality that will eventually destroy us all.
I bet you thought I forgot about the cars. We need electric cars, not hybrid, not 35mpg...we need clean all-electric. Check out the following sites for more information on up and coming electric innovations:
