Saturday, December 6, 2008

It's been awhile

How about the current state of affairs? We're going to have a new president and things are changing as always. Yet things also remain the same or are getting worse right? Our oceans dying, the globe showing signs of strain. One of the things that really get me is the irony of some of the situations I've been encountering on the news. For example, the Chronicle features a story on the dying salmon runs and then on the next page there's an article on Bush's attempt to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Go figure. A combined effort of 20 years of Republican and anti-environmental efforts it's a wonder that we even have the ESA.

Recently, I've been studying gas mileage on current vehicles and I'm sad to say that cars have gotten worse gas mileage on average since the 80's and early 90's. For example the Honda CRV H got 50 mpg and my old 82' Jetta got close to 40 and we're supposed to jump for joy at a hybrid that gets 45mpg? I know some of this has to do with catalytic converters and other factors but I distinctly remember a Humboldt State University engineering professor completing an engine in his lab that got 100mpg! Where's the promist of the future amazing gas sipping cars? I'll tell you that it won't happen until it's convienent for the gas companies. It's up to you to push for something better. We have some serious options that people are promoting and I hope that they come out soon with something that people can handle!