Dear Medea Benjamin, Please stop promoting jet air travel...

[aztc]

Dear Medea Benjamin,

I am writing to urge that you discontinue encouraging jet air travel on your website and instead encourage travelers to take the train instead.

The science is in, climate change induced by global warming will change life as we know it on earth.

Pardon the pun, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand how thousands of jets burning kerosene by the ton could have an impact on our atmosphere. Visible evidence commonly known as contrails is readily available on any clear day, and scientific studies conclude the greenhouse effect attributable to jets is two to five times that of other forms of transportation burning the same amount fuel.

Peace Training

YOUR travel choice matters.

We don't have time to not have time.

Trains use half as much energy and don't leave contrails.

Jet contrails and emissions double the greenhouse effect of burning fossil fuels on the surface.

Most locomotives in service now could readily run on vegetable oil pulling trains in excess of 100 MPH.

http://peacetraintodc.com

[hobbit709]

1. Sounds good

Until you realize that most places are not serviced by rail anymore and how do you get across the ocean?

[aztc]

2. Trains used to go everywhere

1) As the heavily subsidised airlines have grown the rail network has shrunk however it used to go everywhere and in fact the Right of Way's are still in place - just not used.

2) Boats and lighter than air-craft can easily cross the ocean. In fact, sailing is a very low impact mode of transportation.

Any more excuses to avoid this reality? Medea and her staff have been avoiding the question for weeks!

PS: Please visit www.PeaceTrainToDC.com to learn more.

[hobbit709]

3. If you have to be

in places thousands of miles apart in a limited time frame, just how fast is that boat. Yep, there's lots of rail right of way but have you examined the condition of the tracks. I grew up up in Europe riding trains but I'd feel safer in some third-world countries careening down a mountain road on a bus than I would on some of the tracks here at any decent speed. I have many used means of transport(some I won't do again) but reality bites. To get from here(Austin) to visit my mother in OH would take two days on Amtrak and the closest city would be Cincinnati(120 mi away). Columbus would only be 40 miles from her but guess what-no train. The town she lives in has four major railroads but no passenger service at all. Public transportation in the US sucks.

[aztc]

4. You sound like slave owners

Slave owners absolutely could not imagine a world without endless cheap labor (still do in fact), likewise many people cannot imagine a world without an endless supply of cheap energy. What if the price of your air ticket included the full cost - effectively more than tripling the price - then would you consider riding that train to within 40 miles of mom?

[hobbit709]

5. Thank you for feeble attempt at insulting me

Obviously you didn't read what I said. I WOULD take a train if it got within 40 miles, bur it only gets to 120 miles. And Amtrak ain't much cheaper

[aztc]

6. No insult meant - flying in jets same as owning slaves

I didn't intend to insult you at all! I was comparing the institutional mind set that life cannot go on without this equally deplorable practice. Yes, I am saying flying in jets is like owning slaves. Please, think it through - have you an argument to disprove what I am claiming? Cheap energy has replaced slaves in Cheney's non-negotiable American Way of life. Why are we even arguing about this? Is there some question remaining or is global warming real? Is war in the Mid-East about oil or not? If what I am saying is true, why do people insist on continuing to fund war for more cheap energy - is flying off to see mom, eco-tourism, vacation, business, whatever, really worth it? Not to me! In fact, I insist on a hefty carbon tax from the jet set to compensate for the true cost of this gluttonous and damaging form of travel. Will you support a carbon tax? If your jet ticket cost 3-10 times as much, THEN would you be GRATEFUL for the train that would get you to within 25-50 miles?

[kestrel91316]

10. Can we count on you NEVER using a jet for any reason for the

rest of your life, then?

Implying that people who fly are like slaveowners is a bit over the top.

[SheilaT]

7. If there were even semi-adequate train

service I'd be taking it all the time.

I live near Kansas City. Amtrak runs a whopping two trains per day from Kansas City to St. Louis, and one train a day heading west, eventually to California. Several years ago I took the train from KC to St. Louis, and what should have been a five hour trip (which is drivable in three hours) took ten. That kind of a delay means it would not be possible to make connections in St. Louis or Chicago.

I would LOVE to take trains regularly, but in much of the country -- meaning outside of the northeast corridor -- it's simply not very practical. Plus, look at the fares for an overnight room. Luxury hotels are cheaper by a lot.

To add to all this, several years ago on a driving trip through North Dakota, I stopped for a while at a small museum contained in what had been the passenger train station in some small town in South Dakota, and they noted exactly when the last passenger train passed through, which was sometime in the late 60's. How sad. Those who live in such places have to drive many miles just to find a small airport. So if they want to go anywhere they probably drive. Is it any wonder that so many people have never traveled outside of their own region, let alone to another country?

[aztc]

8. Empty seats - New Athena project

There are already too many empty seats on trains to justify more frequent service. Increased demand will improve service. Buying a jet ticket will never improve train service.

Consider in the early 1900's a steam train went from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 12 hours, the same trip today is scheduled at 14 hrs, but usually takes 18 to 24 due to congestion from freight trains. Yet we have people living in space?

What if we had a New Athena project to build a world leader style rail system?




A project to upgrade the nation’s passenger rail transportation system.

Riding home from Washington DC last year on the Empire Builder, I had a conversation with a long time railroad employee regarding his perception of the original intent of the national highway system.

He told me that the original plan included right of way for passenger rail along the same corridors used for the highways. My first reaction was that this seemed unlikely, but that has changed now and I believe it to be a fantastic idea.

This project would finally separate passenger rail from freight by laying all new tracks along right of ways that already exist, the national highway system. The new railway will be built to accommodate high speed travel with reduced consumption of energy and increased employment and business opportunities.

I believe there are plenty of smart people that would love to get to work on something BIG, that will do a LOT to reduce oil consumption and provide JOBS while engaging TECHNOLOGY for a ‘man on the moon’ level effort to turn back climate change without sacrificing the quality of life we enjoy now. In fact, freed from the stress of ‘The Daily Commute’ people will be happier, healthier and more productive.

OPTION: Let freight have the high speed network and dedicate the existing system to passenger service.

[SheilaT]

9. So you're suggesting that the next time I want to go

to St. Louis or Chicago or, wait, Tucson is a place I go to regularly. Let me go check out the schedule . . . Okay, now I'm back from the Amtrak site, and I could take a bus from Kansas City (yes, they actually show the bus in their schedule) at midnight to Oklahoma City, board a train there to Ft. Worth, Texas, and then another train from Ft. Worth to Tucson. It only takes 34 hours and 51 minutes. Assuming everything is actually on time. Let me check the fare . . . wow! A mere $227.00 one way for a reserved seat. If I want to hold out the possibility of getting a little sleep in that day and a half I can book a roomette for an additional $329.00, although apparently two adults can make use of the roomette for that same low fare. Or, if I have money to burn, I can get a bedroom that actually includes a sink, toilet, and shower (which the roomette doesn't have) for $629.00 more than the $227.00 fare. Again, two adults can use the bedroom for that same price.

Flying? From here to Tucson I can go first class round trip for $940, and the trip takes between 3 and 5 hours, depending on the connections. Or, if I'm feeling economy-minded, I can go for under $300.00 round trip. I can get some pretty nice hotel rooms with the money I'd save by flying coach. The really sad thing is that it's cheaper to fly than to take the train, even without considering the time element, or booking a roomette or bedroom.

Don't get me wrong. I take public transportation whenever I can. I lived my first seven years in the DC area without a car, and this was before the subway system opened up. I hate living in a metro area without decent public transportation. And I fully support improving our passenger train system. But we have to be realistic about what's really available to the potential train-traveling public.

There is no point in trying to persuade me to take an inconvenient and expensive train trip because if I do so they'll improve capacity. The reality is, if they improve capacity and on-time performance more people would take the train. But there's a deliberate policy to kill passenger train service, and it's too bad.

I would love to see the New Athena project happen.

[kestrel91316]

11. I would love to take the train on my annual visit to WI to the only

living family I have. Unfortunately, if I want a bed for the over 48-hr trip, it will cost me WAAAAYYYYYY more than plane fare. Also, because the trip takes so long, I would only have 2 days to visit, rather than 4 plus parts of two more.

I've calculated my overall carbon footprint. It's quite low.