Given that the holidays are approaching and Americans will be traveling a lot in the next month, I started thinking about how travel involves the consumption of fossil fuels. I also started thinking about whether it is better to drive or fly in terms on conserving energy. I read somewhere recently that air travel is one of the worst culprits of global warming given the way a jet burns fossil fuels. Yet, is it better for 300 people to fly somewhere on a plane together than for 300 people to drive separately to the same destination? Does the answer depend on whether those people each drive a Prius or a Hummer? Does it depend on what type pf plane is being flown? I saw Modern Marvels a few days ago, which mentioned one high-tech jet's fuel consumption in terms of feet to the gallon, not miles. Meanwhile, an article in the Evansville Courier & Press this morning discussed an ultra light jet, weighing under 10,000 pounds. Does this mean it's fuel efficient? Even if it is, it only seats seven people, so perhaps we're then at the question of whether it makes more sense for 300 people to fly on one large jet than for 300 people to fly on more than 40 ultra light planes.

It is concerning that we will not be able to sustain our habit of air travel, especially since there are business travelers who fly weekly. What will we do when our oil supplies are not so easy to come by, especially if oil-rich areas continue to be tumultuous nations? This brings us back to Richard Branson's commitment to allocating his transportation business' profits to alternative energy. It really seems like this bold gesture is exactly what we need to give hope to the future of transportation. If we don't want to be driving hydrogen fuel-cell cars all over the country due to global warming and instead want to reserve our automobile travel for shorter distances, then we had better figure out a better way to travel by air. In addition, if we want to continue to be able to drive with the whole family across the country whenever we want, we had better figure out a way to do that without exacerbating global warming. If we can conquer both modes of transportation with more alternative fuel technology, we can end this debate (in my mind, at least) of which is the lesser of the two evils in terms of consuming fossil fuels for travel.