by Egarwaen
Wed Feb 8th, 2006 at 02:29:32 PM EST
The Way We Do Things Now
Like our short-range transportation, modern long-range transportation is very reliant on cheap oil. Both the United States and Canada are webbed with a massive continental highway system. Jet airliners gulp down massive amounts of fuel as they race between major cities with humans crammed into uncomfortable seats. Massive cargo vessels move shipping containers between ports. Diesel locomotives haul long trains of containers from said ports to their final destinations.
Once again, we see the same factors at work: a reliance on cheap, high-pollution energy; an unseemly obsession with speed over comfort or safety; and transportation over unnecessarily long distances. With the age of cheap oil drawing to a close, things are obviously going to have to change. But how?
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