She is 16 and I am 71 — but we are in solidarity!
Dear Fellow Earthlings, Increasing numbers of people are using airplanes to travel anywhere they want quickly and efficiently. Many of these people have either greatly reduced -- or have given up entirely the driving of automobiles. Many of them now feel that with the money they aren't spending on automobiles, they can now afford to FLY wherever they wish. In addition -- so they think -- now that their carbon footprints have been reduced -- they can begin flying all over the world with impunity.
In just one day a person can travel anywhere on Earth by taking the necessary sequence of plane flights!
What many people fail to realize, however, is that they are actually polluting the air in a much more insidious way because exhaust released at higher altitudes pollutes more readily, since the density of the air particles diminishes with increasing altitude. Thus, the pollution released at higher altitudes serves to block heat from escaping even more so than at lower altitudes.
We have got to stop polluting the air at 10,000 meters just as we have to stop polluting it at sea level, at 500 meters elevation, and so on.
We need to stop flying as though it is no big deal! FLYING IS POLLUTING OUR SKIES JUST AS DIESEL TRUCKS, GAS POWERED AUTOMOBILES, AND COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS ARE!
So, if we can't use airplanes, how can we travel?
By using sailing vessels (either on the surfaces of Earth's waters or by using dirigibles propelled by winds through Earth's atmosphere), we will still be able to travel, albeit slowly. However, jet lag would no longer be a problem, since our bodies would adjust rather smoothly as they are transported at speeds of between 40 and 120 kilometers per hour rather than at 900 kilometers per hour.
Just as paper bags must replace plastic ones, glass bottles replace plastic ones, and plant fiber-based clothing replace plastic-based clothing, so too should our long distance transportation machines use wind and solar power instead of fossil fuel power!
The Swedish girl Greta Thunberg is 16 years of age, and everybody is enraptured with her. She is angelic. She is wonderful. I am one of her biggest fans. However, let's change the "6" to a "7" and reverse the "1". Now you have MY age. But our messages are similar. Greta refuses to fly because she knows flying pollutes the air further. She, unlike so many others, does not boast of having visited 27 countries in 16 days -- using jet fuel to do so!
We can spend years traveling slowly -- and never once feeling jet-lagged. Thanks to the internet, we will be able to communicate with our far-away friends and business associates from on-board our slow moving, environment-friendly transportation machines.
Furthermore, distance will once again be something we can savor as we make our ways to our destinations.
Steve Walker
Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.