In the course of automotive history, there have been countless breakthroughs in research and development. Modern times are no different. We now have cars that can parallel park themselves and obey our spoken commands, but, until recently, they all ran on gasoline. Times are changing, and we now stand on the verge of a major revolution in automotive power.
The Big Three automakers in Detroit have seen into the future, and they are all seeing green. The automakers are finally turning to alternative sources for powering their vehicles, and whether the cause for change stems from the desire to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, help the atmosphere or cash in on the trend of going green, it does not actually alter the truth: change is coming.
With the onslaught of media attention given to global warming or “climate change,” such as CNN’s recent special TV segment, “Planet in peril,” the auto industry could hardly escape. Regardless of the catalyst for change, there can be nothing wrong in turning toward renewable energy sources in the most energy thirsty country in the world.
In St. Louis, there can be no doubt that the need for change is present. The consistent smog problem that routinely clouds the views of our precious Arch could be, if not solved, certainly improved by the use of electric or hydrogen or hybrid vehicles. Continued encouragement for public transportation is helpful, but in a city where a vast majority of residents are commuters with their own vehicles, the new emphasis will soon become alternative fuel powered cars.
Saint Louis University could have a larger role in the trend of going green, and indeed has already stressed the importance of helping the environment with many different projects’ including the building of the new arena and research building. The new buildings are designed to create as small an impact on the environment as possible, and that is certainly laudable, but what of transportation? Perhaps it is time for the SLU shuttle service to go green-Parks College could certainly help in the design and production of alternative energy plans for the University.
The fact is that the age of electric cars being laughed at for their horridly short travel distance and comical design can now come to an end. The age of innocence for our environment and global warming is trudging to its death, and we will soon, all of us, be held responsible for what generations before have done to the world. Too true that the generations to come will be inheriting a world crying out for help, but that does not mean that we simply give up and stop caring.
Car companies have no more social responsibility than anyone else. Independent to act as their boards or their shareholders deem fit, no one person or organization can force a car company to change its ways and begin producing cars that run on alternative fuels. However, the people-consumers who drive the American economy, for better or worse-have dictated the terms of the automakers’ future. As we as a community and as a country begin to take on the responsibility of trying to clean up the mess of the world, we can demand change from car companies through our buying habits and thus clean up the world-one driver at a time.
No one ever said that the transition to a cleaner, healthier world would be an easy one, and it will certainly have roadblocks to circumnavigate and hurdles to jump, but we have to start now. As a university, as a community, we can begin from the ground up-a grassroots effort-and fight a good fight. There will be struggles, but a famous frog said it best: “It’s not easy being green.”
