Welcome to the Green Gearhead

The Green Gearhead -- your site for informed comment on transportation and the environment.


Who am I?

Well, I'm a "Green." The Original Earth Day, 1970, inspired me to chose a career in Environmental science. I remember when the air was brown and the water down at the harbor was a rank green, foul-smelling stew. I've seen the great environmental laws of the 1970's make the world a better place. I've seen these laws under assault by people who care more about short-term profits than about the world their grandchildren will inherit. But I've also seen that this assault has not really succeeded. Unfortunately, though, the challenges that face the planet are more complicated than we realized. Which means that it's going to be harder to maintain our environment than we though in 1970.

And I'm also a "Gearhead." That is, I work with automotive engineers who are attempting to design more low-emissions cars and trucks, and with transportation planners who are attempting to reshape cities and towns to keep people moving, yet keep the air and water clean. Not the easiest job to succeed at in a culture that values growth and profits above all else. But we try. And sometimes succeed.

With this blog, my goal is to provide regular commentary on scientific and technical issues related to transportation and the environment. How important is transportation? Very. I maintain that advances in transportation since the industrial revolution have been the ultimate cause of most of our environmental problems. The human conquest of time and space by mechanized transportation has allowed movement of people and goods around the world to a degree unprecedented not just in human history, but also in geologic history. The train, the steamship, the car, the truck, and the plane have caused ecological disruption that far exceeds local pollution of the air by their exhaust gases.

So while. I may post about emissions and so forth, I will also post about (sub)urban sprawl, transportation demand, energy policy, alternative fuels, and a lot of other related stuff.

At this time, I'm only going to attempt to post once a month -- I have a day job, and it keeps me busy enough. Some of the stuff from my day job might end up as grist for posts here, which is one reason why I'm blogging anonymously. Not that I intend to be a rabble-rouser, but I've found that large organizations somethings get upset about the strangest things. However, it should be obvious that all the opinions in my posts are mine alone and don't necessarily reflect the views of my employer or anyone else. As for opinions in the comments, they represent the commenters, and I take no responsibility for them. (Though I will try to weed out spam and slander.)

Again, welcome to the Green Gearhead. Stay tuned. The first post wil lbe on its way shortly.