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In Marin County, walkers, bikers, and hikers rule the road
Chuck Cohen, Christian Science Monitor
...in Marin County, where I live, a certain shame is associated with owning, let alone driving, a car. In the most politically correct 519 square miles in America, if you don't walk, run, or ride a bike, it is as if you are personally responsible for global warming. As if you as well as your car are emitting noxious fumes.

This, no doubt, explains why it is so difficult for Marin County pedestrians to keep sneers off their face as they stroll languidly across the street. Or as they stop to look up and check the movement of the clouds, or reach down to save a discarded spinach leaf from being run over. If, by chance, they happen to glance over at the waiting line of cars, the best you can expect is a sorrowful shake of the head to indicate that you probably also purchase nonorganic tomatoes.

Chuck Cohen, an advertising writer, lives in Mill Valley, Calif.
(23 March 2007)
Every couple of weeks in our area, a careless motorist kills or maims a bicyclist or pedestrian, so I look with envy at the Shangri-La that Cohen describes. -BA

China's Gasoline Consumption to Increase 24% by 2010
David Harman, Interfax-China via Resource Investor
China's gasoline consumption, spurred by a soaring demand for cars in the world's fastest growing economy, will reach 65.44 million tonnes by 2010, which is a 24.7% increase from 2006, an official from a state industrial planning organization said during an oil trade summit held in Guangzhou.

The country's use of gasoline reached 52.47 million tonnes last year, an 8.4% year-on-year growth, after the year's car sales jumped 27% to hit 7.2 million. The forecast for this year's growth is 18%, according to Bai Xuesong, senior engineer with China International Chemical Consulting Corp., which is overseen by the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

... Commentary

A major danger of underestimation in these consumption forecasts. They are assuming a slowdown in growth in the auto industry and no increased usage of existing vehicles. This is at a time when per capital revenue growth continues to increase and, more importantly, is becoming broader based. It would be surprising if gasoline consumption growth up to 2010 was less than 28% and more likely to be nearer 30%.
(22 March 2007)

Open skies deal will undo curbs on CO2, say Greens
David Teather, Guardian
Environmental groups warned yesterday that the open skies treaty to liberalise transatlantic flights could undermine efforts to combat climate change.

The number of flights between the United States and Europe is expected to increase by half over the next five years - an additional 25 million air passengers - after European transport ministers approved the landmark deal on Thursday.

From March next year, European carriers will be able to fly to any destination in the US and vice versa.

Emily Armistead, of Greenpeace, said open skies "clearly goes completely against what the European Union is trying to do to tackle climate change". She said it was "pretty outrageous" that the deal had been agreed just weeks after EU leaders pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.

"What is really worrying," she added, "is that this will cause prices to plummet and that will encourage the kind of binge flying culture that we have in Britain to spread on to the continent."
(24 March 2007)