Errr, can you pay attention for a second. Excuse me? Hi. One way to address the high oil price is to find alternatives to one of its biggest consumers - the motor vehicle, and no one is seriously addressing this issue. Everyone is suggesting everything else, biofuels, hybrids (by the way, hybdrids aren't the answer) hydrogen, any way to perpetuate our motoring madness, but it just doesn't have a future. We're trying to force the issue, but we're losing face with reality fast. It helps to remember that oil is a finite resource. Once you've gotten that into your way of thinking, it becomes easier to let go of our idea that all this stuff could carry on for ever.
Now, as I was saying. Railways. For big countries like the USA, SA and Oz, it's just the sensible thing to do. Problem is, can we really expect people to be behaving rationally, to make rational choices now, when they still aren't even beginning to understand that the shit cubed on the horizon is expanding and advancing at a geometric rate? We all assume that when the shit lands on us, we can just opt out for a cleverer scheme. Trouble is, by the time enough people realise the shit is advancing, there's going to be too much chaos and slippage to allow for a smooth transition to steady state construction of sensible alternatives to how we are running our transport systems.
We really need people to step up now, and start writing checks for a new dispensation, a new bluepint for the wiring of our cities, and how we move around. Rail is the answer, but are resources stable enough, and business leaders sane enough, to make the right choices in time? I pray we do, but I fear we are mired in confusion and uncertainty already.
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