https://xcancel.com/nytopinion/status/1829879853165765055
https://archive.ph/lxKBc
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/opinion/heat-wave-air-conditioning-climate-change.html

  • quarrk [he/him]
    ·
    17 days ago

    Meanwhile air travel is the only practical way to travel in this country. A mode of travel which is unlikely to ever be electrified on any meaningful scale — not to mention the amount of battery waste that would require.

    China’s basically solved this problem already with high-speed rail. It doesn’t need batteries because the power is delivered to the track. Far more sustainable.

    • Belly_Beanis [he/him]
      ·
      17 days ago

      High speed rail would make sense in the US, too. Like everything between Montana, Texas, and Kentucky is flat. You could build rail lines that are perfectly straight with nothing in the way you'd have to make a turn to go around (causing you to slow down). Such a line could probably hit 300 mph. If the line was fron LA to NYC, it could make that trip in about 9 hours (probably not because eventually you have to go around the Rockies, Appalachia, and Sierra Nevada).

      But no. Let's continue using shitty tubes passengers get crammed into where we limit how much stuff they can bring and can't leave their seat except to go to the bathroom.

    • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]
      ·
      17 days ago

      They're gonna clown on us with nationwide hsr, massive EV adoption and infrastructure and fusion

      The enlightened west is about to look like the old west