Then again, if it's not really helping the environment I certainly don't want one. I'll have to look into that. I have probably until next year (unless Goldbug dies early D: )
The car itself is good, the manufacture is not and in fact worse than making an internal combustion car. I was reading through my dad's IEEE magazine about that. The only way to make enough hydrogen would mean nuclear reactors to make enough heat to separate it from water. The amount of CO2 released in addition to the caustic chemicals that poison water to make the engine are really not worth it.
It's a lovely concept, but it's not easily implemented on a large scale without making it zero-sum. I think we're stuck in a half-step, with popular science telling us that greenhouse gases are the real problem, when in fact our amount of consumption in general is. It's not bad to cut down trees, as long as you grow enough back. It's not bad to throw things away as long as you can make stuff from them.
Also, YOU may not worry about cost effectiveness, but unless it's something that most people can afford, you are really doing nothing. Even buying it won't do anything because you're just the group that can afford it.
I mean, I may sound rather skeptical, but that's only because even in something as fun as educational gaming, shit does not make a difference unless it is marketable. I mean, your whole "the cost doesn't count" type of thinking misses the point. It's like saying "let's just quandruple the price of cars so that only certain people can afford them".
Europe did that. They don't have mass transport because it's better, they did it because they forced a two class system.
And the US really wouldn't go for that because we are an individualistic culture. It means you get stupidheads and idiots at times, but then it also means there's less of a class system. It's there, because despite the fact that anyone can technically start from nothing few people have the right combination of will and education to do so, but that's crazy sociology theory that I read too much on.
Really, reducing the amount of stuff you throw away and your dependency on plastics (particularly the flimsy kind that can't be recycled) is the best thing you can do for the environment. If you're so guilty about your car, carpool. Or bike. Or walk. But that requires you to lose your independence a little, doesn't it?
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Date: 2008-03-14 11:57 pm (UTC)The car itself is good, the manufacture is not and in fact worse than making an internal combustion car. I was reading through my dad's IEEE magazine about that. The only way to make enough hydrogen would mean nuclear reactors to make enough heat to separate it from water. The amount of CO2 released in addition to the caustic chemicals that poison water to make the engine are really not worth it.
It's a lovely concept, but it's not easily implemented on a large scale without making it zero-sum. I think we're stuck in a half-step, with popular science telling us that greenhouse gases are the real problem, when in fact our amount of consumption in general is. It's not bad to cut down trees, as long as you grow enough back. It's not bad to throw things away as long as you can make stuff from them.
Also, YOU may not worry about cost effectiveness, but unless it's something that most people can afford, you are really doing nothing. Even buying it won't do anything because you're just the group that can afford it.
I mean, I may sound rather skeptical, but that's only because even in something as fun as educational gaming, shit does not make a difference unless it is marketable. I mean, your whole "the cost doesn't count" type of thinking misses the point. It's like saying "let's just quandruple the price of cars so that only certain people can afford them".
Europe did that. They don't have mass transport because it's better, they did it because they forced a two class system.
And the US really wouldn't go for that because we are an individualistic culture. It means you get stupidheads and idiots at times, but then it also means there's less of a class system. It's there, because despite the fact that anyone can technically start from nothing few people have the right combination of will and education to do so, but that's crazy sociology theory that I read too much on.
Really, reducing the amount of stuff you throw away and your dependency on plastics (particularly the flimsy kind that can't be recycled) is the best thing you can do for the environment. If you're so guilty about your car, carpool. Or bike. Or walk. But that requires you to lose your independence a little, doesn't it?
~Cendri