Solar car tours the world
source: http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080809/NEWS/975788071/1078&ParentProfile=1062
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- JanforGore
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His car is the Solar Taxi. It's a sleek blue machine that sits low to the road, doesn't make a sound while running and pulls a trailer covered in solar panels. The sun is his fuel, and there aren't any earth warming carbon emissions pluming out a tail pipe.
The solar taxi will be the first solar-powered vehicle to circumnavigate the globe. Palmer, the visionary and leader of the tour, said the big mission is to show the people of the world that global warming can be stopped, and we can be independent from fossil fuels.
Palmer and his team began their journey on July 3, 2007, in Lucerne, Switzerland. They're planning to make it through 40 different countries on five different continents and end the tour at the World Climate Change Conference in Poland in December.
On Friday, the Solar Taxi team stopped in Minturn for lunch at the Turntable. They were getting ready to head over Vail Pass their highest elevation point for the whole trip. The next stop is Denver, then they'll be driving through the Midwest, Washington D.C., New York and ending the North American jaunt in Montreal.
So far, the solar car is performing quite well, Palmer said. It can get up to 55 miles per hour, and is handling the mountain roads fine.
If the car needs to drive more than 100 kilometers a day, they have to charge the battery with additional power, which is just a matter of plugging it into an outlet. To help with that, they have a solar power plant on a rooftop in Berne, Switzerland, that puts solar-generated electricity back into the grid.
This means a zero-carbon emissions trip. Palmer says that this car shows that the technology and ability to drive without depending on fossil fuels exists and that solutions to the world's energy problems are out there.
And if you aren't sold on the environmental pluses listen to the economics. He said about a dollar's worth of electricity is enough to power the car for 100 miles. Think of that next time you fork over 50 bucks for a fill-up.
Photo: Dominique Taylor/Vail Daily
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- groups:
- Green, Culture, Earth and Science, Earth Day
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- tags:
- Culture, Green, Earth and Science, Environment, 14 more
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Relevations
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...For all of you that are trying to come up with positive solutions to the many problems facing Mankind today.....Man Made problems.....thank you.....to those of you that only bring negativity to the discussion.....I would like to ignore you....but I find it increasingly difficult......Batteries need a positive and a negative to function....humans do not......for those that support oil and coal.....you must own stock.....be employed in the field....or have friends or family members therein.....I understand that.....but it is selfish....and you are showing total disregard for those that will be the next link in the chain....your offspring.....stop burying your head in the oil....and look at the damage done to this planet in the last hundred years...by man.......please do not claim there has been none.......join together......United we stand.....is one of the greatest thoughts ever placed before this country......and oh yes....Divided we fall............Golden Ruler....Johnnie Hargrave.........
- 4 years ago
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Relevations
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WisconsinNorm
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Relevations:
Thank you for your comment regarding negativity...I couldn't agree with you more.
Inflammatory rhetoric accomplishes nothing, but creative action initiated by awareness--bring it on!
Everything is not a "great conspiracy" either--another great theme of this site...I don't know how old you are, but you sounded very wise...
- 4 years ago
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WisconsinNorm
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Relevations
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Relevations:
Thank you for your kindness.....hope you will check out my icon and explanation......everything that exists is immortal.....the chain has been unbroken....I am very lucky because the ones that preceded me in my chain...passed along knowledge and Love...with a large dose of Kindness....I know that everyone has not been that lucky.....so I am old...just like you..and everything else...hoping to get older.....if everything is not destroyed.......Golden Ruler...Johnnie Hargrave......
- 4 years ago
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Relevations
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Bren589
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Dang I want one . and i don't care what it looks like , as long as its not costing me gas money to drive it
- 4 years ago
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Bren589
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WisconsinNorm
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One more time. Forget cars...
A solar engineer/contractor told me it costs $20,000 to $30,000 to make a HOME virtually energy independent as we speak!...Who is supposed to bear the ultimate responsibility in installing these units to the home you presently reside in?
When is the construction to begin? Will you pay the extra rent to offset the reduced utility bill?
If I "'do it" without any damn governmental subsidy, will you guarantee someone will pay "more" for my home if I move? Of course you can't...
Doesn't everybody deserve solar? Therefore, everybody must DEMAND your banker or your landlord initiate the process NOW!
Correct?
Individual responsibility--it sucks! But you can sleep at night...usually with a good natured 51% liberal...who wonders why you are a 51% conservative...
- 4 years ago
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WisconsinNorm
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elegua
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cool, does it have a dvd player?
- 4 years ago
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elegua
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HiImGuss
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Can't wait for more of these to come out.
- 4 years ago
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HiImGuss
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diode
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dress it up and make it a little more efficient and you'd have a deal for most people
- 4 years ago
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diode
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plainjane
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"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people
who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."— Dale Carnegie, writer and lecturer
- 4 years ago
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plainjane
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rightbrain
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plainjane:
Oooh, good quote.
- 4 years ago
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rightbrain
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plainjane
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I think this is way-cool and agree it does look a little weird. But then I didn't like the look of the Aztec either. What about the battery? Is it just as bad for the environment as what's in a hybrid, which is worse than our standard vehicle battery. Also, this is about $$$$. I want to save $$ and have it to spend/use where I choose. Besides, where is the scientific proof that man is causing the carbon emission problems??
- 4 years ago
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plainjane
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bluestranger
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No, it doesn't look sexy. But I don't think these folks were trying to win that particular competition.It's transportation. Transportation is a vehicle that gets you from point A to point B. Great transportation gets you back to point A. When we realize this we might be able to sqeeze a couple of hundred more years out this planet, as a species. Great post Jan.
- 4 years ago
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bluestranger
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MeganMcKenzie
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This article is uplifting and brings me hope. I feel frustrated because inventions are not something that comes easily to me. I want to work towards solving our problems just like the folks in this solar car are doing.
- 4 years ago
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MeganMcKenzie
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JanforGore
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rightbrain: I don't see why we can't do that either... and on cargo ships as well.
And in general, sure, the design may need a little work for the consumers who would drive them on highways, but the bigger picture here in this particular story is that this man has driven all over the world and spent not one penny on gasoline on a zero carbon trip. That tells the detractors who say we can't do this in no uncertain terms that we can, and that is an inspiration.
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore
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rightbrain
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JanforGore:
'Zero Carbon Trip' I love that. I think you've coined the golden term for the 21st century.
- 4 years ago
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rightbrain
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rightbrain
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With a little ingenuity and the right capital, someone could easily enhance a hybrid semi truck by putting solar cells on the top of tractor trailers.
What's to stop us from putting solar panels on top of all cargo vehicles? - 4 years ago
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rightbrain
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kDrew_Productions
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The design is flawed for hwy driving for for short jaunts around towns/cities, this can work.
If it can be done for a reasonable price to the consumer, there's a market there. If they try to jack up the price because it's going to be trendy and cool, it won't.
Consumers have to be able to afford it.
I'd buy one.
- 4 years ago
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kDrew_Productions
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Flying_Camel
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I'm a big fan of solar energy but I doubt we will solar cars in the future.
Instead we will probably have electrical cars with massive batteries that will allow greater range and speeds, and perhaps the source for this electricity will be stationary solar panels + other renewable energy sources
- 4 years ago
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Flying_Camel
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jubal
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Great Idea but the design needs work.
- 4 years ago
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jubal
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regjoeschmo
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We will never get productive research on alternate energies if we leave it up to the oil companies to invest into them.......
- 4 years ago
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regjoeschmo
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mjsmith11
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Very cool. Maybe I can see the Solar Car when it cruises through Washington D.C. at the end of this month.
- 4 years ago
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mjsmith11
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JanforGore
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Manmade pollution isn't a lie nor is climate change. Or are you stating that coal is clean and doesn't cause asthma or cancer or pollute our air and water? It isn't just about global warming/climate change that we need to get off fossil fuels. It is about saving this planet and ourselves from the toxic waste of coal and nuclear and other dirty energies, and the oil that does nothing but lead us to perpetual war. And yes, capitalism is great when entrepreneurs like him aren't bought out or muscled out by larger companies...
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore
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wislogger
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JanforGore:
We have plenty of coal and oil for now if congress would just get out of the way. Yes we do need to find alternatives but it seems some would like to bring our economy to a halt before alternatives are ready to take over. We put ourselves at risk by requiring costly technologies while the rest of the world keeps on burning fossil fuels. All we are doing by requiring that America uses higher priced energy is giving a leg up to countries like China who don't really care. Considering that not all scientists agree that global warming is caused by man it seems silly to give countries like China a leg up on us for no reason. We must protect our strong economy, without it we are vulnerable.
- 4 years ago
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wislogger
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allIknowis
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JanforGore:
WOW is there ANYTHING you don't whine about?
So we never had a war before oil was discovered or nuclear energy. What does Hiroshima have to do with nuclear energy? Chernobyl was an outdated design when they built it. You ever hear of cutting edge Russian technology? Oh yeah, so we had clean water and air before nuclear and oil?
Water and air in this country is cleaner than it's been for about 50 years, sure it's not where it was probably in the 1800's but look what it got them the average life expectancy was about 45 or 50 years.
I think the solar car is a good experiment, but try to park it at the mall.
Joking. We DO need to clean things up a little more, we do need to wean ourselves off of oil, if only to tell the arabs to shove it. Nuclear is a safe reliable source of electric generation. Wind and solar are good backups or also feeds to the grid but aren't reliable enough to depend on exclusively. - 4 years ago
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allIknowis
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wislogger
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This does'nt look like a very safe or comfortable way to travel around the world. Considering man made global warming is lie. But if it cheaper to operate and they can make it affordable it is probably not a bad idea. I wounder does it come in a 4 wheel drive suv style? Then I might consider it. I hop this guy makes a windfall profit. is'nt capitalism great!!!
- 4 years ago
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wislogger
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JanforGore
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Perhaps that will happen when subsidies and tax credits aren't continually voted down by this Congress for solar energy while they give all our tax dollars to coal and nuclear, and when people actually demand it. This at least shows that we do have the technology and capacity to accomplish what those who would rather see us in negativity about progress state to the contrary.
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore
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wislogger
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JanforGore:
All subsidies should be ended oil, coal, and nuclear! If solar, wind, and ethanol are that great people would purchase this technology on their own. It is not the governments job to pick winners and losers. The government needs to get out of the way and let the market decide!
- 4 years ago
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wislogger
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JanforGore
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JanforGore:
They would purchase it if it were allowed to enter the market competitively. For that to happen OIL and COAL companies need to stop strangling alternate energies as what happened to the electric car. The market can't decide when the market is stacked against alternate energy out of greed.
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore
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Dmitri_Molotov
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JanforGore:
What do you have against nuclear?
- 4 years ago
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Dmitri_Molotov
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wholefreespirit
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JanforGore:
Some info on what I have against Nuclear.
- 4 years ago
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wholefreespirit
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JanforGore
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JanforGore:
Oh gee, where to begin...perhaps those who love it so much for whatever reasons should ask someone who lives in Hiroshima or Chernobyl why nuclear is not feasible. But let's just list a few things... cancer, poisoned water, cancer, poisoned fish, cancer, dead fish, cancer, poisoned land, cancer, terrorist threat, cancer, NOT renewable as it takes great amounts of CO2 to extract uranium that poisons waterways, and cancer...And any country with nuclear power plants is sure to then have nuclear weapons. NO nuclear means peace. NO nuclear means no toxic waste. NO nuclear means cleaner water and water for those who now live in drought. Nuclear uses great amounts of water in cores. Nuclear will also never be safe, and I don't care what lobbyists for it tell me to the contrary.
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore
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Dmitri_Molotov
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Can somebody just once make a solar car that doesn't look like shit and go at a decent highway speed?
- 4 years ago
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Dmitri_Molotov
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RonenA
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Dmitri_Molotov:
The looks and the speed aren't a CHOICE, their a limitation.
- 4 years ago
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RonenA
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Greenpointer
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Dmitri_Molotov:
Can't help but chuckle and agree... seems like this one might look better if the solar panels were the roof of some kind of seating area for passengers...
It is, after all, a taxi, isn't it?
- 4 years ago
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Greenpointer
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asherp
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Dmitri_Molotov:
whatever, I'd drive it in a heartbeat.
- 4 years ago
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asherp
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Dmitri_Molotov
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Dmitri_Molotov:
The design is clumsy, inefficient, and inconsiderate of other drivers. I can't see how anyone who would drive this high-volume vehicle could ever complain about how much space Hummers take up.
Think efficiency, think Japanese! - 4 years ago
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Dmitri_Molotov
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asherp
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Dmitri_Molotov:
Comparing a zero emissions vehicle to a HUMMER?
Is your brain broken?
- 4 years ago
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asherp
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gentjim
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more proof, thanks to creative people.
thank jan for spreading the word.
- 4 years ago
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gentjim
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huntre
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gentjim:
I tip my green hat to you, Jan.
Having hope spreads hope.
The truly cynical will catch on in time (we can only hope). - 4 years ago
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huntre
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stopnoise
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Wow! Way cool. Great idea!
- 4 years ago
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stopnoise
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JanforGore
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Am I wrong to be hopeful of the future? Am I wrong even in the face of what I read which at times brings me to tears to actually still have faith that the human species will do what we must do to continue the sustainability of our only home? I don't think so, and the main reason for it is my child. I have someone in my life whom I love more than life itself and who gives me a reason to live and to care about this planet who will inherit it from me... and I will be damned if I am going to disappoint him.
So in that spirit I look for stories now that challenge the imagination and make us see that even in the face of adversity, even though we make it, we DO have the power to reverse it. Humans are capable of such terrible nightmares as we see daily, but also, we are capable of beautiful dreams and in coming together for a common purpose. The climate crisis is that purpose for me. All of humanity now rests on the next decade. I say, let's turn that adversity into an opportunity for hope. We may be very surprised at what comes of it.
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore
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JanforGore
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Solar Taxi website.
We can do it.
- 4 years ago
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JanforGore