CAT is one of the first words a child learns to speak and spell and hopefully the meaning will shift from our feline friends to the new class of compressed air powered cars. Developed by Guy Negre in 2002 Guy’s fundamental shift in design moves away from distributing fossil fuels across vast distance to fuels that are arguably the most abundant, air. C.A.T. (which stands for compressed air technology) cars would be able to fill up virtiouly anywhere in the world for pennies per mile, only the cost to compress air which could be supplied by renewable energy. Within urban areas the car uses compressed air up to speeds of 50 km/h with ZERO pollution. Highway transit uses a mixture of fossil fuels and compressed air. Imagine a world where the resources are so abundant and renewable and accessible that everyone could afford a car and there is little to no pollution and most importantly wars are not fought over resources.
Emergency Lighting
The next time that the lights go out they may just glow. A company has created lights that are able to glow blue-green once the power is cut. Originally designed for the U.S. navy, the lights can be repurposed for any building.
This means that during a fire or some other mishap people will still be able to find their way out of buildings. If the light tubes break they will still glow – so they can be carried around – and what’s more is that the glowing is bright enough most people’s eyes need not adjust.
Alaskans Trying to Freeze Government Powers
The United States’ Transportation Security Administration has been violating the privacy rights of American citizens and as a result group of Alaskans have filed a lawsuit. Under Secure Flight, the program in question, personal information is collected then read by a private company to figure out if you are a threat to American airspace or not.
The group is comprised of people from various backgrounds that all feel that government is sacrificing freedom for little-to-no security benefit. On their website they state that the “TSA promised not to use commercial data, but they did. TSA isn’t allowed to keep secret databases on Americans, but they have. TSA promised to comply with the Privacy Act, but they haven’t.”
It is about time that American citizens challenge this since the program has identified babies as terrorists. The TSA has even been told by the American government that they are in violation of the 1974 Privacy Act.
Anti-War Movement in America Grows
MoveOn.org has some excellent coverage of the 1,627 vigils which were held on Wed. to support Cindy “Peace Mom” Sheehan. People all over the United States gathered to show their support for Sheehan and mourn those who died in Iraq.
Undoubtedly her protest outside President Bush’s ranch has sparked much needed debate in the United States.
Sustainable Cities in China
China has started a pilot project for sustainable cities in Liaoning Province named the Cradle to Cradle Village.
“The design of the village aspires to draw power from the sun, to maintain materials in closed-loop systems of technical and biological nutrition, and to create an intergenerational community of people productively engaged in restorative commerce. Its goal is to provide a higher quality of life for the villagers and to exemplify a more hopeful future for the children.”
For more information the BBC has a good article looking into sustainability in cities.