This planet, this destiny

Koyaanisqatsi
A movie that summarizes the planet we live in

The green status

It is hard to indoctrinate people to the clean and safe concept of gas-free cars, hard as quitting smoking or do charity. We grew too comfortable in pulling up at the gas station and fill the tank with oil coming from another country in the world, we never though of the real impact the our life had done outside our boundaries.

We were lured by the oil companies that no other energy source could power our cars, odd enough the electric car has an old history that was hidden in favor of fossil fuels. In 1914 in the US one of th first electric car prototype spawned in Detroit right after other electric-powered veichles like trains and streetcars that were widely used for the public interest, and for commercial purposes. Unfortunately the pollution-free concept died in early 20th century by the hands of oil companies and major car manufacturer like General Motors. The huge deal that those companies made in that period pushed the construction of major highway across the US, like the famous Route 66 that in 1926 was built, stretching from the state of Illinois to the state of California.

Along that other business like restaurants, service stations and gas stations saw their fortunes soaring. Corporation like McDonald's, Exxon and GM were spread along this major highway creating a status of business familiarity-status for the American people who were traveling from one coast to another, so they could recognize their neighbor fast-food restaurant with the ones across Route 66.

Now we are slowly understanding that we contributed to a major disaster on this planet by continuously using our cars in the wrong ways, and we ignored new technologies that could have helped us clearing the environment from pollution. Pollution-free cars are not a reliable option since the planet felt for the second time in history the possibility of a ending supply of oil.

As Asian automakers like Honda, Toyota and Nissan made the first step towards the commercialization of hybrid and electric veichle, they set the bar for the next generation of cars, vans and trucks; while the American car industry lags behind bleeding millions of dollars each day due to the lack of innovation that they present. North America is struggling to find a solution to improve the fuel efficiency of their vehicles.

Ford has the worst fuel efficiency in the wester hemisphere, GM is not far behind, but the problem is lies in the roots of understanding what impact has a car and who makes it. US car producer still implemented old technology in car engines all the way throughout the 90's, like the old camshaft system that many cars dropped when the carburettor disappeared form can engines.

Car making in the the US is behind the rest of the world by at least five years, but trucks, SUVs and pick-up trucks are still driven by people who do not really need them. How is necessary that a V-10 two-tons truck is driven on a daily basis to work or for groceries when only one person is on board, and now picture that my the millions! The western car market is already in trouble, it is imploding under it's own weight of having more than one brand of car under one single manufacturer, poor reliability, and high costs upon the environment and their owners.

We will see after 2010 how Asian cars will be undisputed leaders in the international markets, with less and less dependency from from oil, and more on electricity and hydrogen.

At the 2008 Detroit Auto Show we saw how the dilemma of hi-performance car and fuel-efficiency is affecting the purchases, as new buyers wants now both since they are now more aware of the ecological situation. Even Ferrari updated their fleet by developing a sport car, the F430 convertible (left pic), capable of running on up to 85% on ethanol. It is another step towards the global acceptance of a green status, that will defeat the ugly image of 'size-brand-matter' that we carry on us like a dead weight.

Further into the future

Things are changing in the technology world, things are becoming like in the sci-fi movie. It is now the time to push the throttle of the new technologies because we are behind other countries. Steve Jobs announces the new products and features of the Mac world, a constant and functional techno-world made of efficiency and practicality. The new MacBook Air becomes the new standard for computer laptops, with the thickness of a finger and the performances of a super computer. Yes, the future is here. This is only one of the gadgets that Apple delivered recently to impress the digital world; it is an innovation that must be considered a milestone. The ITUNES universe is moving big towards the movie industry, Apple is now making movies available for rent through it's web system, and for just 2,99 $ you can watch your favorite flicks with a click of your mouse. Now the real mobile-technology is available, no more uncomfortable bags, because you can carry your media/work in your hand, and use it at any time you want, no restriction applied. Apple just pokes his face into the real future, the others are still watching and discussing whether it is doable or not. Yes, it is! Wake up Microsoft, you can't continue to develop products that are only esthetically good, efficiency is required in this new era! Reliable software are required, it is the key to success, because the world has realized that the blue screen cannot happen any longer, and business are ready to jump towards more reliable sources of ideas. We finally woke up, it is time to embrace the change, and it is going to be the best effort so far!

The new media shape

Since the Dove for real beauty campaign swept the media channels with a total different image of women, it seems that other major corporate labels capt the message and are on board with the same ticket. Canadian advertising went through a major change since it stepped into the new millennium with the introduction of fresh average-Joe faces in tv adds and paper advertising. People like you and me that on a daily basis do nothing different than be the average-Joe, bald men overweight adjusting his squeaky garage door with a can of lube, or the everyday dad that with a full moon runs in the wild with the wolves, and more recently the Slim Fast tv ad where man are OK to use it.



The world changes and so the advertising dimension, it would be foolish to pretend that with the increasing obesity in the US, the well fitted models on tv could represent the average family with no bellies, jelly arms and double chins. But this sympathizing method to tell the viewers "It's ok to be fat, we understand!", has the double purpose of making the public both comfortable with their weight problems, and at the same time implies a major change in strategy and target from the advertising companies.

Playing with our feelings? Yes, and again! It is not the first time that the media takes personal feelings in consideration for the purpose of exploitation, to reach to the inner and most sensible part of the person who is watching the ad. Take for instance the pharmaceutical industry who bombards you with pictures of happy families, and with their cure to keep that image safe forever as long as you buy their products. The ad below shows Dr. Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the artificial heart, who last year was feature in an on-going campaign about Lipitor, a drug made by Pfizer for lowering the cholesterol in your body; and off course with it's side-effects controversial. It seems that so far no charity-compassion has been made by the advertising media over the real issue of health, like hyper caloric food intake, fast-food galore and bad or healthy diets; but a continuous bombardment of quick remedies over how to beat the fat just buying the X product, for an exaggerate amount of money, that will make you hang on the thin hope of becoming thin with no exercise.

The comfort hand of fake caring switched shape surviving changes and hostilities, just like Charles Darwin said "It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the smartest, but the one that adapts better to change.", and so media giants tossed a further step into faster adapting strategies for better sales in a continuous changing reality.

Convection

Because I want to see how you get there!

The end of cheap food

The majority of the people walking on this planet has been indoctrinated to see reality one channel at the time, without the chance to cross examine the fast peaced informations that enter our homes every day. How many people can match the word "Oil" with "Food"? Not many, unless you are either in the media business or in the financial one.

The Economist has an interesting article about how the cost of food has multiplied in the last years, driving oil consumption and prices on the peak. The common relation that had prices soaring lies in the habits that people around this planet have, the increasing consumption of food is driving costs upward, towards an incredible situation of speculations.

Ethanol produced from farms is facing a demand crisis, wheat prices spiking, and a mad cycle where oil is needed to power the distribution of food, and food necessary to oil production. In all this confusion third and second world country farmers and consumers, just like you, are in the middle of this trading storm, which is turning food at higher price levels.

Since when the right of nourishment is being put on a financial scale? The plunge for a food crisis in weak countries in south America, Africa and Asia, is taking place under strict international rules that give little or no freedom to decide who or where to sell the food produced by farmers.

But then we have countries, members of the European Union, that overproduce milk and are not allowed to export it or to sell it to other countries. Another absurdity where politics are dictated by corporate powers, and the results are disastrous.