May 23, 2007, marks a "mayday" call for all concerned citizens of the world?
This, although not strictly related to automobiles, strikes me as something that our readership might be interested in. According to current trends, researchers have theorized that May 23rd, 2007 - that's right, just a few days ago, was the date when the world went from mostly rural to mostly urban. Now, when they pick exact dates like this, the statement is not meant to be taken entirely literally, but you get the idea. That means that over 50 percent of the world's population lives in an urban setting. That might lend you to believe that people should need to drive less and use smaller vehicles for their travels, but we know that this is not the case. Perhaps we should say that people could drive less using smaller vehicles, but the masses choose not to, for the most part. Does that equal a distress signal to you, or no? It seems that most urban junk is ending up in rural areas.
If the United Stated had it all to do over again, knowing what we know now, might the landscape be a bit different? Could you imagine urban cities with electric charging stations at street corners instead of gas stations? How about well-designed mass transit options in large urban areas?
[Source: Gizmag]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1985 Gripen 4:33PM (5/29/2007)
I know I'm missing the main point of this post, but the last statement about having an electric charging station on every corner instead of a gas station ignores the fact that it takes several hours to recharge an electric vehicle and greater availability of chargers won't change that.
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Tim Butterworth 6:36PM (5/29/2007)
I just read the linked article hoping to find some clarification, but what criteria do they use to define rural and urban? I would imagine that what counts as suburban here in America might be considered urban in other parts of the world . . . So does anyone know what set of factors they used to determine urban vs. rural?
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Grant 10:22PM (5/29/2007)
Gripen, check out Altairnano's batteries, they can be charged in under 10 minutes in commercial applications, and with enough juice in 1 minute.
http://www.altairnano.com/documents/NanoSafeBackgrounder060920.pdf
They're getting put into these cars:
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/
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Tim 1:39PM (5/30/2007)
One thing I would bet on is that the electic interurban rail and streetcars would have been maintained. Once upon a time the interurbans carried passengers and light freight where the big RR's didn't go etc.
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bill 3:09PM (5/30/2007)
I may be getting counted twice. I have my home in a rural setting surrounded by 109 other houses that are surrounded by very large nurseries and dairy farms. I work in a city that is considered to be a suburb of the larger city near where I work. I may be a wash statistically, or maybe I just need to wash more often. With the growing influx of illegal immigrants I may be going from rural-urban to persecuted minority by car unless we are told we cannot drive anymore.
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