California’s High Speed Rail Future
OPS_admin | Mar 03, 2010 | Comments 0
Many experts and industry insiders believe that the United States will have to embrace a future on the rails if it hopes to cope with obstacles and changes in years ahead. By and large our dependence on gas-powered vehicles has proven to be both hazardous to our environment and disastrous for our wallet.
Anyone who has ever traveled around Europe, Japan, or increasingly China, has seen the dependence that passengers have on long rail networks. Railways in the U.S. are almost completely dominated by freight transportation; travelers utilize a small proportion of our network. Many millions of Americans use subways and regional, or municipal, transit; but there is very little infrastructure to travel long distances.
Many experts and industry insiders believe that the United States will have to embrace a future on the rails if it hopes to cope with obstacles and changes in years ahead. By and large our dependence on gas-powered vehicles has proven to be both hazardous to our environment and disastrous for our wallet.
Our nation may never completely break its addictive bond with automobiles, but it could potentially lessen the burden by rebuilding passenger rail systems that have long been an afterthought.
Full Story: California’s High Speed Rail Future | Economy In Crisis.
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If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
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