Save the Planet, Wage Peace - one car at a time

Posted on | April 28, 2009 |

Last night on TV I came across a road test for a Honda Clarity, available only in California as yet. It’s an electric car with a difference. It fills up on hydrogen and has a converter that changes hydrogen into fuel for the electric motor. So you have a truly zero emissions car that can be filled up at any converted gas station with an ultra cheap eco-friendly energy source. Performs well and can travel 300 miles before needing a refill. Unlike conventional electric cars it doesn’t require hours to recharge after it’s done 200 miles. Just a two minute fill up.

The engineering details were not forthcoming, probably because they’re still rather secret, but the car exists and can be available commercially in no time at all.

So why isn’t this being shouted from our rooftops?

If we reduce our dependence on Middle East oil we reduce our need to be a military meddler in that volatile region. If the Middle East is not hell-bent on selling oil perhaps they’ll think about how to create a sustainable economic balance that doesn’t depend upon stripping the lands of non renewable resources, which then send money into the hands only of the very few. If we don’t buy their products so voraciously they’ll have a chance to think about how they want their society to be shaped and ordered internally.

This realignment could be happening right now. It would lead to some important changes, perhaps even greater peace. But…. the powerful oil companies would take a huge hit. And they”re holding on to the money train as long as they can.

What causes international conflicts can, sometimes, be traced back to just a very few people in boardrooms who are very very greedy indeed. Isn’t it time we protested against this tyranny?

So, to return to this Honda car. It won’t be cheap. It’ll probably seem outrageously expensive when the sticker is finally made public. But we have to stop thinking ‘expensive’ . War is far more costly. Political instability is much more voracious of cash. We have to put our money up front and invest in a better world for the long term. But those old habits of save a dime today are hard to break.

It’s time to break those habits.

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