"JUST AS EQUINE ACTIVITY ONCE THREATENED TO STOMP OUT CIVILIZATION, THERE IS NOW FEAR THAT HUMAN ACTIVITY WILL DO THE SAME."
-Steven Levett & Stephen Dubner, Superfreakonomics
 Chicago Street. Lemen.com. Unknown Date. |
 Crowded Freeway. egetfit.com. 2009. |
A Modern Parallel
There are more than 600 million cars on the road today. Cars
have become a part of modern culture, but that may change, just as the
role of horses changed a century ago. Like horses, pollution caused by
cars has now become a significant public concern. It is not difficult
to imagine how a new crisis––perhaps one caused by environmental
concerns or limited resources––could lead to another transportation
revolution.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on the parallel between the current slump in electric car sales
and how the Great Horse Manure Crisis pushed consumers to embrace the automobile.
Energy for Tomorrow Conference, The New York Times. April 11, 2012.
and how the Great Horse Manure Crisis pushed consumers to embrace the automobile.
Energy for Tomorrow Conference, The New York Times. April 11, 2012.
While the Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894 created one impetus to find another form of transportation, over a century later we find ourselves in a similar situation with the car. Runoff from oil and exhaust contribute to 13 percent of all river contamination and some scientists predict that with current oil production levels, the finite resource that fuels our cars could be depleted by 2055.