I get your rant about saving energy in regards to Alaska Airlines. Having been someone who has taken the train in Europe, that is definitely a interesting alternative. But we must be aware of the differences in Our country and Europe. The population base, terrain, distances between desired travel locations. I for one would be a person to use rail if it was at all dependable and more efficient. So in using your vernacular , I am sure as shit not going to use a broken system like Amtrak when a simple trip to Seattle could turn into an all day affair. The onus falls on our narrow minded weak politicians who have punted on rail over and over. I in no way want to be an apologist for Alaska, but as a consumer at this time I will choose to fly over rail for trips that demand consistency and reliability. Cheers, Fred Vandecoevering
Thanks for reading and writing, Fred -- always great to hear from you. I agree we will never be Europe with respect to trains. I guess I'm just hoping that we can do more than settle for a train system in which cargo dominates and the schedule is as predictable as a sneaker wave.
See thats what I love about our discourse, always civil, and often agreeing in the middle somewhere. Gives me hope!!!! Thank you Kevin for this forum!!!
What am I missing here? I don't think we can fly airplanes burning hemp or vegetable oil. Jet fuel is highly refined petroleum and there is no substitute. If you want to fly you can't plug in your jet and use a really long cord to fly from Portland to anywhere. And where does the energy to run that train come from? Yup, petroleum products again. No one has yet figured out how to move really heavy things using wind turbines or photo-cells. Also, airlines will often fly planes half full to a destination because the equipment needs to be moved to another airport where it will be filled for the next leg of the flight. The airlines are not in the business of losing money on flights so there is a reason some of these flights are not full. Cancel those flights and add more Amtrak trains and some of those trains won't be full either. I am all for cutting our dependence on oil, and we can certainly transition intelligently to non-petroleum electricity generation which will help a lot, but with current technology airline travel is going to need for the foreseeable future.
Seems if you are going to bash Alaska you should include Gore and the other climate pushers who fly around the planet in their jets or perhaps Governor Brown who burns up the interstate daily to return to Portland while attacking the gas industry.
Kevin,
I get your rant about saving energy in regards to Alaska Airlines. Having been someone who has taken the train in Europe, that is definitely a interesting alternative. But we must be aware of the differences in Our country and Europe. The population base, terrain, distances between desired travel locations. I for one would be a person to use rail if it was at all dependable and more efficient. So in using your vernacular , I am sure as shit not going to use a broken system like Amtrak when a simple trip to Seattle could turn into an all day affair. The onus falls on our narrow minded weak politicians who have punted on rail over and over. I in no way want to be an apologist for Alaska, but as a consumer at this time I will choose to fly over rail for trips that demand consistency and reliability. Cheers, Fred Vandecoevering
Thanks for reading and writing, Fred -- always great to hear from you. I agree we will never be Europe with respect to trains. I guess I'm just hoping that we can do more than settle for a train system in which cargo dominates and the schedule is as predictable as a sneaker wave.
See thats what I love about our discourse, always civil, and often agreeing in the middle somewhere. Gives me hope!!!! Thank you Kevin for this forum!!!
What am I missing here? I don't think we can fly airplanes burning hemp or vegetable oil. Jet fuel is highly refined petroleum and there is no substitute. If you want to fly you can't plug in your jet and use a really long cord to fly from Portland to anywhere. And where does the energy to run that train come from? Yup, petroleum products again. No one has yet figured out how to move really heavy things using wind turbines or photo-cells. Also, airlines will often fly planes half full to a destination because the equipment needs to be moved to another airport where it will be filled for the next leg of the flight. The airlines are not in the business of losing money on flights so there is a reason some of these flights are not full. Cancel those flights and add more Amtrak trains and some of those trains won't be full either. I am all for cutting our dependence on oil, and we can certainly transition intelligently to non-petroleum electricity generation which will help a lot, but with current technology airline travel is going to need for the foreseeable future.
Seems if you are going to bash Alaska you should include Gore and the other climate pushers who fly around the planet in their jets or perhaps Governor Brown who burns up the interstate daily to return to Portland while attacking the gas industry.