Every Morning
Boy, it sure feels that way sometimes, huh?
On a side note, gas prices continue to escalate, with California here being hit particularly hard. And it's quickly becoming a worldwide problem. Buy hey, what can anyone do about it? Well, that's what I thought until one of my friends, Nick, decided to take a little trip. A trip with a purpose. Now Nick is a big Land Rover enthusiast. Always has been, ever since the day I met him. And he LOVES to fix them up and drive the little buggers all over the place. Now he's made a great business of his hobby (hey, that sounds familiar) and founded the Drive Around The World (DATW) organization.
DATW is a non-profit organization established to promote a sense of exploration and environmental awareness. In the past, the DATW team has driven around the world to raise awareness for Parkinson's disease and to deliver medical supplies to underdeveloped countries (and man, he can tell you customs horror stories about trying to drive over border checkpoints with supposed "drugs"). Their latest endeavor is "Zero North", to be followed closely by "Zero South" both scheduled for 2009.
What is "Zero North" and "Zero South"? Well, DATW is trying to prove the viability of alternative fuel vehicles by driving to the South Pole (one vehicle each of biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen and electric). Here are descriptions of both:
ZERO NORTH Expedition
In May 2009 climate scientists from Caltech, JPL and NASA, along with Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, will embark upon the ZERO NORTH Expedition-a 14-day, 1,200-mile traverse across Greenland, from the coast to Summit Station, driving four different types of alternative-fuel vehicles.
ZERO SOUTH Expedition
In December 2009 the same team and vehicles will ship to the coast of Antarctica to begin the ZERO SOUTH Expedition-a 10-day, 1024-mile traverse from McMurdo Station to the geographic South Pole. The expeditions will be filmed in stereoscopic 3D by Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car? for theatrical release in association with National Geographic Films.
Drive Around The World is currently raising money to make this happen and is looking for individual contributors. I've donated $100 and would like to encourage any of my readers to do the same. If you feel compelled to make a difference please feel free to donate.
These guys always do such great work while actually making a difference. We CAN all make a difference and promote alternative fuels, education, science and environmentalism. It's time.
On a side note, gas prices continue to escalate, with California here being hit particularly hard. And it's quickly becoming a worldwide problem. Buy hey, what can anyone do about it? Well, that's what I thought until one of my friends, Nick, decided to take a little trip. A trip with a purpose. Now Nick is a big Land Rover enthusiast. Always has been, ever since the day I met him. And he LOVES to fix them up and drive the little buggers all over the place. Now he's made a great business of his hobby (hey, that sounds familiar) and founded the Drive Around The World (DATW) organization.
DATW is a non-profit organization established to promote a sense of exploration and environmental awareness. In the past, the DATW team has driven around the world to raise awareness for Parkinson's disease and to deliver medical supplies to underdeveloped countries (and man, he can tell you customs horror stories about trying to drive over border checkpoints with supposed "drugs"). Their latest endeavor is "Zero North", to be followed closely by "Zero South" both scheduled for 2009.What is "Zero North" and "Zero South"? Well, DATW is trying to prove the viability of alternative fuel vehicles by driving to the South Pole (one vehicle each of biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen and electric). Here are descriptions of both:
ZERO NORTH Expedition
In May 2009 climate scientists from Caltech, JPL and NASA, along with Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, will embark upon the ZERO NORTH Expedition-a 14-day, 1,200-mile traverse across Greenland, from the coast to Summit Station, driving four different types of alternative-fuel vehicles.
ZERO SOUTH Expedition
In December 2009 the same team and vehicles will ship to the coast of Antarctica to begin the ZERO SOUTH Expedition-a 10-day, 1024-mile traverse from McMurdo Station to the geographic South Pole. The expeditions will be filmed in stereoscopic 3D by Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car? for theatrical release in association with National Geographic Films.
Drive Around The World is currently raising money to make this happen and is looking for individual contributors. I've donated $100 and would like to encourage any of my readers to do the same. If you feel compelled to make a difference please feel free to donate.
These guys always do such great work while actually making a difference. We CAN all make a difference and promote alternative fuels, education, science and environmentalism. It's time.
posted by InkTank at
10:32 AM
6 Comments:
sounds like a cold trip. but very fun
awesome. sounds like a good cause. i just donated myself.
"it's quickly becoming a worldwide problem"
I always find that particularly funny when I read that. US fuel prices are still sooo low compared to ones around the globe. We pay 1.6 euros per liter here. That's $9.46 per gallon.
Anyway, love the comic. It's good to see Inktank back in action again.
Yeah, and when it's having to pick out your job by whether or not you can afford anything else other than filling up your gas tank, doesn't that send out any sort of decent message to those in power?
to steven: yes, but the same logic doesn't apply (us vs europe). first of all, there are great alternatives to driving in europe in the form of public transportation. the distances are also smaller commute-wise. much of the cost of gas in europe is attributed to self-imposed taxes to fund health care, transport, etc. here in the us, we are basically at the mercy of big oil. in fact, we still provide tax breaks to big oil when they are making record profits. oil consumption is up like 20% here since the 80s vs. flat in europe. so you can probably see why the "crisis mode" over here.
TO ANONYMOUS AND STEVEN AND ANYONE ELSE WHO CARES:
Crisis mode?
Ok, here's the UK deal:
It's £1.19 a litre. Sounds cheap, doesn't it? Well, let's do some math...
Firstly a US gallon is made up of 3.8 litres, not like a UK gallon which is 4.54 So that's 1.19 multiplied by 3.8. Now that equals £4.52 and change. So far so good, right? Wrong. We convert that to dollars and, hey presto, you get $8.89.
Here's the figures in $US:
US per litre = 0.394
UK per litre = 1.179
And as for the public transport being oh so much better, there is a problem there when you live in, say the countryside. We may not have great rolling vistas of empty desert between one city and the next, but if you live where I do - Derbyshire, an extremely hilly land locked county where the local transport to the nearest city is a diesel train that runs every hour if you're lucky - you need at the very least a 1.4, with preferably 4 wheel drive, to get anywhere.
The transport system in UK is breaking down in more ways than one and the daily commute for people like myself - I work in a city 18 miles from my home - is prone to failure. WE have an ancient transportation system, with no proper funding for improvement since it was privatised in the 1980's, failing to meet European standards set staggeringly high.
Every other form of public transportation relies on diesel. How can this be easier than the US system? I know we can't compare in terms of size but in terms of problems, ours are the same as yours.
I have recently taken to cycling part of my journey. Mainly to save money, and improve my health, but generally because we can't afford to run any more than one car. It's not just the fuel. it costs around £220 a year to tax a family car to run on the road in the UK. Then add the yearly cost of an MOT required for anything over 3 years old, the price of services these days, and the constant wear and tear on tyres, engine parts etc. All of this leads to a cash cow sitting in the drive way, and one salary in the bank as my wife is doing an amazing job of raising our kids right now.
Life is hard all around. We've all got to make changes, and the first would be to resurrect an electric car, if you ask me.
Anyway, mini rant over and done with. Time for a decaff...
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