Frederick Burroughs wrote:
Tinkerntom wrote:


Since you mention the Interstate Highway system, They were
originally
established as federal defense corridors during the cold war. They
are
designed such that the feds could close them down and block them
off,
and be used solely for federal purposes. I don't know if they could
get
away with that now that a lot of us have got use to using them, but
that was the original plan, as confirmed by a retired federal
emergency
preparedness planner.

So I am sure that to use them as you suggest, is certainly in the
sights of someone. But then the right of driving our car on the
interstate is not assured in the Constitution. Matter of fact I
don't
recall Connie saying anything about cars or driving at all. Must
have
been an oversight.


Interstate commerce is a Constitutional right. The federal highway
system is part and parcel to interstate commerce. Our right to
utilize
roads comes in large part from our being taxed, through fuel and
vehicle taxes, to pay for highway construction and maintenance.

The US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration
has an exhaustive history of highways; See:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/history.htm


Of course that gets me to rivermans big word of "conserve". Maybe
the
best way to conserve would be to just confiscate all the
"unconstitutional" cars and let us walk again. That would probably
solve the whole oil crisis, and at the same time solve the "fat
nation"
problem. I think you could be on to something riverman, unless that
is
not exactly what you had in mind. I suspect the latter!

Conserve is good. Alternative fuel sourse is good. Again do you
have
any practical "black and white" suggestions. To do all this while
we
have reserves to carry us through transition is wise, But who says
we
are wise. Usually we wait until the situation is critical, and then
think that if we throw enough money at it we can fix anything.
Maybe
when the price of oil gets high enough, we will be able to develope
oil
shale, or coal.


I'm extremely suspicious of "alternative" fuels, especially hydrogen.

Hydrogen burns clean, but the production of hydrogen from natural gas

and coal can generate considerable greenhouse carbon dioxide.
Interestingly, the largest US reserves of natural gas and coal are in

Texas and Wyoming.


So the real question comes down to how much are you willing to pay
for
a gallon of gas, in order to keep driving. Maybe the feds won't
have to
close the highway, they will be the only ones that can afford the
gas
to drive their nuke waste trucks on the highway that runs through
Sherwood Forest! But then conservation and the environment will not
be
the hot issue, but how we have enough fire wood to cook our beans
and
stay warm, without cutting down the whole forest!


The real question must be asked by everyone of himself. How much of
the earth's resources does it take to make and run and stock each one

of our homes, and cars and places of work? Think of all the drilling
and mining and manufacturing and energy required to do all of that.
Then, look at all your neighbor has, and his neighbor... We have dug
ourselves into a karmic and spiritual and environmental debt that is
impossible to reconcile. But, the reconciliation begins with the
development of an environmental consciousness, and continues into an
expansion of that consciousness.


There in lies the problem. We each develope our environmental
consciousness at different thresholds of awareness. Who is in the
drivers seat saying we all have to have a certain level of awareness at
a particular time. Usually the only point we have in common is when we
hit crisis level, and then it may be to late. Maybe already if it is
already impossible to reconcile.

I was thinking of the little prairie dogs I saw setting by the side of
the road earlier today. They sat there and watched the buffalo
disappear, and the coming of horses and wagons and now cars. They may
even watch the airplanes fly over. We have learned to coexist with
them, and they to a greater extent, them with us. I see one every once
in awhile run over on the road, and I hear of attempts to relocate
colonies. But when all is said and done, and cars are a distant memory,
and planes no longer fly because fuel cost to much. The little prairie
dogs will still be setting out there eating grass seeds and enjoying
the good life. TnT




--
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me

- From "Ballad of Serenity" by Joss Whedon