Anyone like to fly?  Raise your hand.  Don’t be shy.

Yeah, that’s what I thought.  But we don’t have a choice — in this great big country of ours, there’s no viable alternative for most trips.  We spend at least four hours to take a one-hour flight, including getting through security and transportation to and from the airports.  And more importantly, with one cross-country trip, we destroy all the other good work we do to reduce our carbon footprint (air travel accounts for 3.5% of humanity’s contribution to climate change).

But the age of the airplane uber alles may be waning.  Amtrak is seeking support from Congress for a high-speed passenger rail between Washington DC and New York City.  If the plan goes through, it’ll be the first of similar train lines across the country.

Photo via Kris Kros.