h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Liberator of the masses? Or a novel way of subjecting the planet to a slow, sticky death? The common or garden 'car' is such a good idea that everyone wants a piece of it. This had led to congestion, pollution and the grinding madness of being stuck in traffic. More people have died on the roads than Attila or Genghis ever laid their clammy hands on. What's to be done?

Interesting question! People who campaign against smoking just don't seem to realise how much respiratory disease is caused by the infernal combustion engine! A disaster for the earth, too.

Now now, we still don´t know what causes global warming. But just sucking in the stuff myself is enough to want to stop it. I remember being in London where the smog got stuck to you hair and smeared on your pillow at night. Yuck!

unfortunately it's not just your hair it sticks to... try blowing your nose...

when i see how black my kleenex end up i really don't like to think about what's lurking in the bottom of my lungs.

Got to say, I love my car. Couldn't manage without it.

Not everyone agrees that the planet is warming up. NASA say its about constant.

No, it´s true not eevrybody agrees it warms up. But I read that NASA should have been measuring the amount of light the Earth has reflected on the moon for many years, and that it should be decreasing. Which would mean global warming.

Can you elaborate?

Well, it was just a short article I read. From what I understood NASA has been looking at the moon for years, seeing how much light is reflected on to it by the Earth and other things. The light reflected by the Earth is of course the sunlight. But they should have shown that the amount of sunlight reflected onto the moon has decreased, which means the Earth is keeping more heat. Wether this actually supports the sunspot theory I don´t know, but that is the one I believe in. I see no reason why it should be manmade.

You get more atmospheric pollution from volcanic eruptions than all the internal combuston engines in the world.
The stupid idea that motor cars cause global warming is just an excuse in this country to increase taxes on petrol.
Aircraft cause more pollution than motor cars !
Global warming (and cooling) has been going on ever since planet earth was built and will only stop when we are blasted from the universe to make way for that inter-galactic highway.
And hi there brain dead geordie - have a bit of stottie cake from from a fellow geordie

Jazz

Good man. Nice to hear a bit of truth in an argument where everone seems to try and be green. Most people I speak are convinced that cars cause global warming they have never considered that it might not be true.

Nice one Jazz!
Airplanes do cause a lot more pollution than cars, but that doesn't mean either is good or entirely necessary!
So can I throw The jet engine in this category as well and stick two fingers up at local hero Frank Whittle?

Z.

Nice one Jazz!
Airplanes do cause a lot more pollution than cars, but that doesn't mean either is good or entirely necessary!
So can I throw The jet engine in this category as well and stick two fingers up at local hero Frank Whittle?
And 3sm, I don't blame cars or airplanes for global warming, I blame them for lots of pollution!
Z.

Actually, there are far more products besides cars and aeroplanes that cause the Greenhouse Effect: the stuff that used to go into fridges contributed to it; aerosol anything (the propellants); petrol-powered lawn mowers and other power-tools.....essentially, anything that generates carbon monoxide, carbon sulfide and a whole host of other chemicals that are chucked into the air.

People get bent out of shape around this because we've become 'dependent' on cars and planes. Taking away the creature-comforts feels wrong to a population that cannot imagine life without them. The issue is really the drive system on these products. Making cars electric will reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses they produce (provided that the batteries are something other than lead/zinc, which is polluting for a different reason).

I don't know what to power a plane with aside from jet engines or other petrol-burning motors. Certainly elastic-bands won't work, but you get the point:commercial planes carry up to 300 people in one go; cars usually carry 1-4 people each.....simply the volume of cars on the roads is part of the problem.

I don't own a car, although I do have access to one; yes, they're VERY convenient, and during the recent bus strike in Vancouver, essential. But they're dispensable....provided that there's a commensurate increase in mass-transit and other services to get people commuting.....which may also be reduced as more people work from home.

Just find a suitable substitute for the petrol-powered engine that's equally non- or -reduced pollution and things will gradually change.

Fruitbat

I was in Vancouver in June when the bus companies were on strike so everyone was using cars or taxis.
I didn't get very far other than on the coach tour around the city but I did a lot of walking! Lovely City
Jazz

Eric,
I agree that many other things contribute to clobal pollution/warming/cooling etc, *but* the electric for elecric cars has to come from somewhere and most electric production is harmful to the environment.
Did you see/hear/read about the solar powered aeroplane the other day?

Z.

Yeah, at the moment there's always a trade-off isn't there?

I've been rhetorically asking what'll happen to all of those dams, atomic-plants or coal-fired burners (which currently generate electricity) when wind, tidal power, orbital microwave-transmitters and other alternate sources of fuel come along.....would they be taken down?
I saw the un-people'd solar plane on the cover of a paper, though I didn't read the details....

BTW: the bus-strike is over now. Government forced the hand of both sides.

Fruitbat

"Actually, there are far more products besides cars and aeroplanes that cause the Greenhouse Effect: the stuff that used to go into fridges contributed to it; aerosol anything (the propellants); "

No no, that isn´t the green house effect. That is the ozone layer it removes. That is something different. Though also a bad thing.

The green energy sources still aren´t very good. We still have to use the others for a long time. And besides many of them aren´t as harmful as they´ve been depicted.

Re 'what do we use instead of the internal combustion engine' did any of you read the article on anti-gravity in the Sunday Mail this week?

If there is any truth in what the writer says we could do a lot worse than atmospheric pollution.

Jazz

While both planes and cars cause pollution (I, too, have suffered from London-dweller's black bogie), planes at least tend to be flown by responsible persons. I can't deny air accidents happen, but usually not because of wilful, selfish piloting.
I'm a cyclist in Cambridge, and I have to put up with a small minority of idiots in motor cars attempting to kill me on a daily basis. There's always someone who is too impatient, too macho, too witless to pay attention to the fact that other, more vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and small children need time and space to be safe. I've lost count of the times that someone has carved me up on a roundabout or junction or accelerated past me at close range, just so they can get to the next traffic queue ten seconds quicker.
Of course, I accept that not all car drivers behave this way (and that not all cyclists are as careful as they should be), but to all you dangerous drivers out there - Grrr!

God 183280 I bet you wish you could go back and re-write your first paragraph after last Tuesday. What a terrible mess !
Our comisserations and sympathy to all those who lost loved ones.
Jazz