Month: September 2008

NOW WILL YOU BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING?

^{Picture courtesy of The Daily Mail September 15th 2008}

Filed under: Then there was one

The wreckage of Galveston,Texas, lies strewn over many square miles after Hurricane Ike sauntered through the low-lying township, whipping up seas and tearing apart houses. Thankfully, mandatory evacuation orders meant everyone got out alive before the storm broke.

Except, that we hear today of twenty-three thousand residents who didn’t go anywhere. They stayed behind, put their lives, and those of others, at great risk. Then they had the nerve to demand rescue, food and shelter, after their homes were badly damaged and water and power disconnected.

In English, the definition of “mandatory” is ‘obligatory’, ‘constituting a command’. In Texan, apparently, it means something completely different.

Those from Galveston, who disobeyed the mandatory evacuation order, obviously spared little thought for the danger they imposed on the people required to rescue them when their overactive egos and Texan bravado ran out, and they dialed 911, pleading for assistance.

Over three thousand 911 calls during the night, according to one report.

Perhaps, in future, ‘mandatory’ might mean a hefty fine for those who choose to disobey. Freedom to lose one’s own life is fine; freedom to possibly cause the deaths of others, is not.

Meanwhile, further west in Los Angeles, they’re clearing up after the most deadly train crash in California’s history. We learn today the driver of the passenger train ignored a red signal. He was an employee of twelve year’s experience.

Human error is not tolerated well in modern society, particularly when it leads to such carnage. Nevertheless, whether on the road, in the air, or on the tracks, no matter how good the training, how reliable the machines, human error will always come back to haunt us from time to time. Human beings are not machines, even though their employers often demand they must be.

To overcome human error and help save lives, for four decades rail designers have been building a fail-safe system into their machinery. It’s called ‘Positive Train Control’. Most rail systems throughout Europe are fitted with PTC. It will stop a train if it runs a red signal.

The American National Transport Safety Board has been pushing for this system in California for a long time. Unfortunately, the legislation to allow that to happen is, according to the BBC, “hung up in Congress.”

After the Placentia, California, rail crash in April 2002 the NTSB issued a statement that included this damning remark from Chairman Ellen Engleman:

“The Safety Board has issued recommendations on Positive Train Control since 1969. The technology these systems provide are the best approach to reducing human error collision,” Engleman said. “The Board’s strong interest in this issue was further demonstrated when we placed PTC on our Most Wanted list in 1990.” [my bold]^{1]

It begs the question: why has Congress made no effort to pass this legislation since 1969?

It’s not necessarily true, to quote Alexis de Tocqueville, that “people get the government they deserve,” but when one brings together the irresponsible inhabitants of Galveston and the even less accountable politicians who have sat on their well-padded backsides in Congress over the last forty years, and done nothing but pass pork bills, then mayhap de Tocqueville’s quote contains an element of truth after all.

^{[1] NTSB, October 10th 2003}

Filed under: People or politicians?

Sparrow Chat receives on average around 500 – 750 hits each week. That’s not a bad statistic, until one realizes that Sparrow Chat’s popularity is down to one post written in January 2008. The post was entitled “Smart Car, But No Smart Gas Mileage”, and was an attack on the US motor industry for producing engines that returned mileage figures way below those of similar vehicles in Europe. (You’ll note it is No 1 of all-time Popular Posts)

Frankly, Sparrow Chat couldn’t give a damn about the cost of gas to US motorists. For decades, Americans have had the benefit of cheap fuel while the rest of the world paid through the nose to subsidize them.

Sparrow Chat is all about people. Real people. The people who really matter, whether they be Americans, Brits, Asians, Africans, or the Inuits of the far north.

This world is in catastrophe. Global warming will annihilate us all, except for the wealthy and powerful, of course, unless we band together and make our feelings known to politicians worldwide, who seem hellbent on ensuring our destruction, even as they make personal plans to survive the holocaust bearing down upon us.

Americans are their own worst enemy. All they care about is whether they’ll be able to continue running the gas-guzzling SUV’s General Motors and Chrysler have been shoving down their throats for the past decade. So concerned are they, that offshore drilling has become a major election factor in 2008. According to polls, a majority of Americans are in favor of drilling for oil on the US continental shelf, making a Republican presidential election victory more than just a gleam in Karl Rove’s eye this 2008.

As global warming dictates less use of fossil fuels, Americans vote for more, just to satisfy their selfish desires.

Here are the facts: America produces only 3% of its present oil requirements. George W Bush (and John McCain/Sarah Palin) advocate offshore drilling to offset foreign imports. It will take a minimum of ten years to bring any offshore oil online. At best, that additional oil supply will add 1%-2% to America’s overall consumption. The effect on global warming will be far higher.

Here’s the question: how much do Americans really love their kids?

Are they prepared to sacrifice their children tomorrow so they can continue to run their gas-guzzling SUV’s today?

Have you found this page by searching Google for cars with low gas mileage? Perhaps you’re thinking of buying a Smart car and want to check out the mileage figures? Sparrow Chat will let you into a secret: you’re being conned. The American Smart car does no better than any other small American car. It gets about 20 mpg around town.

You need a car that runs on hydrogen. Why can’t you buy one? Because the oil companies won’t let you. Hydrogen cars are available, but the oil companies feel their gas stations shouldn’t accomodate clean, hydrogen-powered, vehicles.

In order to protect their obscene profits, oil companies are happy to put the survival of the people – Americans, Brits, Asians, Africans, even the Inuits of the far north – at risk.

If you’ve come here to find the car that’s cheap to run, light on your budget, go elsewhere. This website is concerned with saving the planet, it’s people, it’s cultures. The politicians aren’t interested in such matters. They’re concern is serving their masters – the corporates.

If you’re not in favor of that, then stay awhile. Perhaps, just perhaps, you’ll read something that resonates.

Filed under: Gas, or planet, mileage?