Whispering into the Future

It looks like just another Formula 1 race. The difference: these cars are whispering around the track. No neighbours upset about the noise here.

As I write, Saturday September 13th, 2014, the first FIA Formula E race is on in Beijing. Why is that something to write about? While the racing cars look like ordinary formula 1 racing cars, they are powered by electric motors. The benefits? Less noise, less car parts, and more importantly, the energy used to charge the batteries could come from any source that can be converted into electricity: wind, solar, hydroelectricity, fossil fuels, and even what is currently perhaps the darkest sheep of the family, nuclear energy.

About a hundred years ago, internal combustion engine (petrol/gasoline) and electric vehicles were equally crude, but the internal combustion engine option was chosen for various reasons. It appears that the planet has taken an environmentally costly 100-year detour around electricity powered vehicle technology and that detour is now literally running out of fuel: crude oil extraction is no longer cheap, and the environmental impact can no longer be ignored. Liquifiable fuel alternatives to crude oil have similar environmental issues attached: in the face of the increasingly difficult to ignore global climate change, carbon dioxide emissions associated with the use of crude oil, natural gas, shale gas and coal appear nothing less than a death sentence for many in vulnerable places around the world.

The detour may be coming to an end, but before it does, a couple of improvements are required as far as the current standard motor vehicle is concerned: lower battery cost and higher battery capacity. Both are improving steadily. As far as lighter vehicles are concerned however, the sun of a new era has risen into view. Examples: electric bicycles in Japan, and bicycles and motorcycles in China already ply the streets in increasing numbers in this silent revolution. For many, the detour is over.

The concrete and the trees

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
Having spent my first five years on the planet in countryside, I have all my life been conducting an enquiry, internally and externally, on what it is that I might embrace as the meaning of true progress. As my life has progressed, I have had to stirke a few contenders from the list. Among these are: industrialisation, a world ruled by corporations, assuring a material paradise for all, absolute personal freedom, wellbeing through expert scientific pursuit only, political rule by a technocracy, central planning and possibly many others in their different forms. As primary goals of any society or civilisation, these are dead-ends it seems. The human reality is a mysterious jewel that will not show its beauty to the visible world unless you shine on it a light of adequate colour, with the adequate intensity, at the adequate time. Ignorance of human subtleties in history have made the difference between times of peace and progress, with their legacy of learning, architecture and scientific progress on the one hand, and times of continuous war, savagery and ignorance on the other. The image above (from my private collection) is of a view in a public park/garden in Tokyo called Yoyogi. It is at such times that the peace of being among nature, while always feeling the pressure of the ever-expanding domain of the concrete-filled world, that one is called to question the apparent paradox of modernisation: should we destroy what brings us peace and indeed sustains us, in order to 'make progress'.

The image to the left (from my private collection) is of a scene in the same park, but looking towards a tower in Shinjuku, trespassing on the peaceful view, and the a lone refugee (bottom left) from the crazy 'busy-ness' of the world occupied with industrialisation. Let us assume that it is desirable to industrialise and create an artificially built environment at all costs. Then we have to answer the question: why is it that those who have enough money to choose how to live in this 'modernised' world will not choose to remain in the concrete jungles any longer than they need to, in order to attend meetings etc, but will create plenty of space around them, through a large home with a garden, by buying a home in the countryside, by flying to distant islands where only the relatively few rich are accommodated, far out of reach of the majority human multitudes? Consider, consider, and it becomes clear that at the very least, urban areas should have a generous amount of space for deep breathing and reflection, which is best achieved through green space it seems. If we consider the paradox on a deeper level, then we move from the mere existence of green space to issues important issues such as mobility and access to the planet. The story goes as follows: for much of history, we have been free to roam the planet, and faced only natural barriers such as water and mountain ridges, which have remained barriers until we devise measures to overcome them - the story mankind. Does this freedom still exist? How many of us can walk freely across our countries from one end to the other (at least the dry land part), in a fit of explorational frenzy, with no barriers but nature's rivers, gorges, mountains weather conditions? If the prospect is hard for you to imagine, as it no doubt is in many of the world's countries, then we should realise that somewhere in the enthusiastic pursuit of modernisation (or less noble goals such as mere industrialisation), we lost the rights and reasons to celebrate our individual and collective achievements. Harshly put, we made no overall progress. It does depress many to raise questions and not propose some answers. Here are some suggestions then. Minimum standards of free access in cities and countries. You must be able to walk or cycle virtually anywhere in a country or city. Why walking or cycling? Indeed nobody is born with a motor vehicle attached to them, many of us in communities have the time and energy, but not the space to explore what we would like to. The desire to move around and do what we like is very human. Indeed, those of us who can afford it often drive to places from where we walk through a wilderness areas for perhaps a few days at a time. Let's give this freedom to all. Can it be achieved? Firstly, countryside trails develop if access is allowed. Private land ownership is not sacred above the common good, so access should be ensured. Secondly, there are cities that have bothered to plan for walking and cycling infrastructure, in contrast to many cities have decided to back the motor car. The cities that have allowed freedom through walking and cycling no doublt reap the benefits of a more content and more productive citizenry. Among them are Amsterdam, Copenhagen and, to a slightly more modest extent, Tokyo and some other Japanese cities and towns. There are other examples. After ensuring basic mobility, perhaps the next duty is to make rapid travel (i.e. motorised) serve the public first, in the form of efficient and affordable public transport systems.

Indeed, mobility and access is just one issue among the questions raised by the contrast between the concrete and the trees. Below are some photos inspiring the move to a world with better access and mobility:

Countryside trail on the way to the top of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
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Bicycles in the Netherlands, from pdf at:

www.renegademedia.info/media/article-pdfs/greenliving-winter-2005.pdf
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Tokyo walk and cycle way (from my private photo collection). This is in one of the most crowded cities on earth, so no, the implementation has nothing to do with space so much as commitment.
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Tokyo again (from my private photo collection)... day and night, the pedals are a popular mode of transport.

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Curitiba, Brazil: it is not common that a city view is dominated by a streamlined bus system, and not cars.

Source: from a pdf available at: www.renegademedia.info/media/article-pdfs/greenliving-winter-2005.pdf

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)