[lbo-talk] Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

[Gar Lipow]

On 5/7/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Marta Russell wrote:
>
> >If the Chinese develop into a middle class country where millions
> >more people can afford to buy SUVs, that will definitely have an
> >impact on energy use and emission output.
>
> I completely agree that the whole world can't live US-style, and that
> the world can't survive the US living US style indefinitely.
> Technology and daily life will have to change a lot, and it's hard to
> get optimistic about that happening.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________

I think we agree. If you mean that poor people have to stay  in
peasant huts and properous workers and the middle classes have to move
into peasant huts ..  but you've never given any indication of
thinking that way.  I suspect you mean that U.S. can't drive giant
pensis instead taking trains indefinitely and that the rest of the
world can't afford to adapt them - which is true. But as you  know
from Manhattan, a decent public transit system that gets you where you
want to go as quickly as an automobile is as attractive a technology
as an automobile.

Actually some of the train systems I favor look more like dicklike
than cars do.I suppose painting them some shade of flesh color would
be too  obvious; but possibly  a good marketer could do something with
the fact that they are  bigger than automobiles/SUVS and can keep
thrusting tirelessly forward longer.