The Low Hanging Fruit Of The Climate Crisis

 

People may think I'm a little too into rail, but it is the low hanging fruit of the climate crisis, since transportation GHG emissions are 28 percent of our total in the U.S. It is something we can do fast by bringing back routes that disappeared in the 1950s and 60s. The rails are still there, we just need to add trains.

You wouldn't know from the election, (the Democrats still have Al Gore locked in a shed somewhere and the Republicans have decided to create their own reality) but we are on track for a climate like nothing humans have ever seen before and some say we are already there.

 

Putting 1000 people on a train from Fargo to Minneapolis like the proposed Amtrak extension, gives a more climate friendly option than the short haul flights and solo car trips those same 1000 would be compelled to take. The efficiencies of scale can be seen in the graphic below. People are waiting for leadership to give us options to lower their individual impact and get from A to B comfortably and efficiently, as evidenced by the off the charts response to recent new rail extensions like Brightline and Amtrak Borealis.

 

Once the route is established, greater efficiencies by electrifying the route (the Eurostar in the graphic below is electric) make it impossible to beat. In some ways, we are just recreating a system that existed 80 years ago, so the routes are already there and we have a template to follow.