Realistically, Aviation & Water transport (aka Cargo/Passenger Airplanes & Cargo Ships) are already on their way toward biofuel, electric propulsion, or other sustainable upgrades. Even replacing a massive ship engine from the 70's that runs on crude oil to a 2010's one that runs on diesel has a huge environmental impact -- and more importantly, cost savings.
Trains are not popular for moving people & lighter-weight goods around, because airplanes can do it faster, & time saved is worth money. Why would you pay the same amount to take a 7 hour train ride when you could take a 1 hour plane hop?
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Faster & cheaper is always going to win over environmentally friendly, because humans hate waiting & companies love money. Luckily, electric motors & hybrid systems are becoming more cost effective & many companies don't want to pay for gas when they could just pay an electricity bill.
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TL;DR: People wanna go fast & are willing to pay for it. Environmental travel is becoming cheaper = more profit for companies = financial incentive to go green.
ReleaseTheZacken t1_j6zwvrp wrote
Reply to Are cultural changes more important than technological ones to solve environmental and capitalism issues? by G-Funk_with_2Bass
You described a train.
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Realistically, Aviation & Water transport (aka Cargo/Passenger Airplanes & Cargo Ships) are already on their way toward biofuel, electric propulsion, or other sustainable upgrades. Even replacing a massive ship engine from the 70's that runs on crude oil to a 2010's one that runs on diesel has a huge environmental impact -- and more importantly, cost savings.
Trains are not popular for moving people & lighter-weight goods around, because airplanes can do it faster, & time saved is worth money. Why would you pay the same amount to take a 7 hour train ride when you could take a 1 hour plane hop?
​
Faster & cheaper is always going to win over environmentally friendly, because humans hate waiting & companies love money. Luckily, electric motors & hybrid systems are becoming more cost effective & many companies don't want to pay for gas when they could just pay an electricity bill.
​
TL;DR: People wanna go fast & are willing to pay for it. Environmental travel is becoming cheaper = more profit for companies = financial incentive to go green.