The Union of Concerned Scientists has set up a page that makes it very easy to send a message to your representatives to let them know that mandating stricter fuel economy standards is the first thing we should be doing to help with the climate crisis and put an end to the oil wars. There is a bill currently working it’s way through committees right now so it’s important to send your message ASAP.
As I’ve mentioned before, if we took a serious approach to reducing oil usage in cars alone, we could go to the OPEC nations and tell them that we no longer need their oil and that, unless they clean up their house, we won’t buy their oil. Is it simplistic? Maybe, but hitting them in their wallet has always been a good strategy.

This is very cool: a car whose engine runs on compressed air with no emissions, high mileage, a top speed of 68 KM and a range of ten hours- suitable for urban driving. The compressed air would need to come from a station meaning infrastructure would need to be built but this infrastructure carries none of the complications you get with gas or hydrogen delivery. I would imagine each station has its own compressor so no global delivery system is required (saving huge amounts of fuel and emissions).
The car is ’smart’ in every way imaginable, runs off a keycard in your pocket and includes cost-free air conditioning because the air exiting the engine is very cold. It is built of new materials technology including a glued frame and fiberglas body.
After seeing the number of very small cars in use in Paris because of extremely limited parking options and high fuel costs, I think this car can make a real go of it. There is already serious interest in India, in part I’m guessing, because the fuel delivery system is simple.
This kind of technology that comes out of left field is one of the most exciting outcomes of rising fuel costs.

According to the International Herald Tribune, New York City has a real problem and there is no simple solution. In this article about NY’s reaction to rising ocean levels, a few facts stood out (note that I referenced ‘facts’ not speculation). First, all of the home insurers are changing their business models radically to protect against flood and hurricane losses. For example, Allstate will no longer renew homeowner’s policies in eight downstate, waterfront counties including the NYC area. This may represent the most concentrated chunk of premium waterfront residential real estate in the world. They’re no longer taking that bet. Last fall I drove down the Jersey shore from Atlantic City and the housing is impressive. Also impressive is the fact that all of it is built practically at sea level on what are obviously reclaimed dunes and salt marshes. Now it is increasingly difficult to insure this property which, in turn, means you can’t mortgage it.
The second fact is that lower Manahattan is built on sand so fine you can’t pile it up on a table- it just slides off. For the many older buildings whose foundations rest on sand (like all the brownstones) this means that a single flood event could wash away their foundations, leaving them uninhabitable. With a five inch rise in ocean levels predicted by 2030 and increasingly intense hurricane seasons this is a real possibility.
The ’solutions’ are equally drastic. A thirty foot high wall wide enough for a four lane highway around Manhattan? I doubt those who paid a very high premium for waterfront property are going to go for that.
New York is one of my favorite places. If you haven’t been, you have to go- it’s an amazing testament to the vitality of humanity. However, when you look at it from the perspective of climate change it is a very vulnerable place. Things could change there very quickly.

There is an idea, a meme really, that is gaining traction out there because it is a relatively simple solution to a problem that is accelerating global warming. As the ice caps and glaciers melt, they expose open water and soil which does not reflect heat away from the earth the way ice does- in fact the darker surfaces absorb heat. There is now a movement to start regaining some of that reflective surface by literally whitening manmade surfaces that face the sun: roofs, highways, parking lots, etc. Walmart is doing this as part of their plan to improve the efficiency of their real estate.
We should be looking to residential roofing manufacturers to come out with reflective products in the near future. I am facing a major roof job on my house this year and since solar is still too costly, I’d at least like to have the option of a reflective material.

I just Googled ‘Reflective Roofing’ and they’re way ahead of me: EnergyStar for example.