CAR-bon FREE DAY today...
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It is another RED LETTER DAY today. But the red is the 'other kind of red' at which we freeze in alarm and stop in our tracks -- literally! One hundred years of 'progress' with the hydrocarbon engines... and what have we got? Virtually all from six to sixty are in agreement that the Planet is wheezing and sneezing and feeling 'hot' and threatened with the accumulated carbon-related emissions. Hence we have today the CAR-FREE DAY, the CARBON-FREE DAY....
Everybody is in agreement--except that is the car majors and the oil barons, who are probably busy funding another 'expert study' to tell you that a car free day can do pretty little to alter the carbon footprint! We know for a fact that they have not shut down their assembly lines or the refineries, or for that matter any of their umpteen oil wells for a day. But we are curious to know what exactly are they doing for us, for the Planet, today at least. Are we on a futile campaign? Quite often you feel that you are bashing your head against a stone wall, but then we all know that it is something that can move even stone walls.
One hundred years of 'engineering refinement' has given us shorter and shorter times in which to reach the magical 0 to 60 mph acceleration. Or, is that exhilaration? Truly. But at what cost? The hydrocarbon-powered, carbon oxide-spewing autos have taken over--at first our cities, then our countrysides and now our Planet, altering our lifestyles and affecting our lives in many unseen and unhealthy ways. The damage is done and it is irreversible.
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THE CAR HAS ARRIVED!
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The car aficionados can rightly be proud of the achievement of the last one hundred years of 'development'. From the chugging curiosities on the dirt tracks of the last century, the car has been transformed into the quintessence of engineering perfection and luxury that man can devise. The induction of computers as engine management controllers and their increasing role as 'overall' controllers for air-conditioning to entertainment to road safety and navigation has indeed converted the typical car into a 'smart' entity. Breakdowns and malfunctions are only a distant memory for most of the car users. All these and more are undeniable facts and we can say with pride, yes the 'smart car has arrived'. This IS the 'smart' era when everything from phones to lavatories are endowed with the 'smarts' --except perhaps their users!
Look at today's car. You can say the engine has 'not changed much' from its ancestors. But is that the truth? The engineering that has gone into today's engines has made them veritable marvels. The same goes for transmissions, brakes, lights and such like. What about creature comforts like air-conditioning, entertainment systems and satellite navigation? Some of the car entertainment systems easily surpass the average home hi-fi systems! And sat-nav has empowered the driver like never before, whether he is on home turf or on unexplored territory. Vehicle safety has taken the front seat with anti-collision systems and anti-locking brakes and air-bags and other safety devices like 'reversing helpers'. Baby, today's car has come really far, we have to admit.
But pause to take a look at the basic tech that powers the car. No major changes, none. We had the 'anti-knock-additives' scare in the last century. It was lead and it led to many health hazards. So today we have lead-free fuels. Then we had the pollution problems caused by carbon dioxide and the more poisonous carbon monoxide and the oxides of nitrogen. Millions of tons of all those life-threatening pollutants spewed out into the atmosphere was causing everything from respiratory diseases to acid rain to global warming and aberrations in the Planet's weather. So they tacked on catalytic converters and other such gizmos, and slowly brought in legislation to 'improve' the quality of the fuel. So far so good.
But was there any light really at the end of the tunnel? Were alternative technologies being investigated by institutions or governments? Not that we heard of except the ‘half-hearted’ attempts that were cobbled together for the sake of "public relations". Every car company has an electric ‘in the works’; but sadly, the technology is not mature enough for implementation now, according to the pundits. The systematic 'burial of the unborn' was the one policy in sight all along despite the laudable efforts of many.
And the writing on the wall now?
We ARE committed to one thing, and that is the hydrocarbon fuels; nothing else is good enough.
THEY have decided for US.
Do we want to accept that lock, stock and barrel... hook, line and sinker?
Baby, we have another thing coming!!
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(more to follow)
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