By guest blogger Stan Thompson
Bill Thunberg and I, two of the
three founders of the Mooresville Hydrail
Initiative (Google it), are also members of the Mooresville NC, USA, Rotary
Club. Imagine our delight when we received this month’s The Rotarian Magazine with its cover page article, “CLIMATE
SOLUTIONS WITHIN OUR REACH.”
In the featured story, Barry Rassin,
President of Rotary International, points out that climate change does not
precisely fit within any one of Rotary International’s six prescribed Areas of Focus.
“It’s broader than that. We have to look at the world as a whole and how we can
make it a better place. If we’re losing countries due to sea level changes, if
stronger storms are disrupting water supplies or destroying people’s
livelihoods, that’s more people who are going to be disadvantaged.”
Mr. Rassin
knows climate change up close and personal. His hilltop Bahamian home on New
Providence Island could become a beachfront property.
What Mr. Rassin
didn’t know, —but we hope someone
will soon tell him—is that the emerging hydrail transition of railroads to
hydrogen derived from wind, solar, industrial waste, biomass, nuclear energy and
other zero carbon sources may be the single largest climate change mitigation
initiative now active on the planet—and its originators and instigators are
Rotarians.
We convened the
First International Hydrail Conference
in Charlotte, NC, in 2005. Only the USA, Denmark, Japan and Canada were
involved.
Today eight
manufacturers are either building hydrail trains or have announced they soon
will. Twenty countries have hydrail trains running or have announced hydrail projects.
When I joined Rotary
International around 2012 it was at the invitation of our local club president,
Michael Gander. Mike saw then what Barry Rassin sees now.
But what no one
foresaw was that the sharp definition of the Six Areas of Focus would prevent the
Mooresville Club from engaging Rotary International in our successful
world-wide hydrail project.
It would have
been a perfect fit. We have colleagues in China, Korea, India and several
European countries who would, if asked, be delighted to be guest speakers on
the newest iteration of railway traction technology at Rotary Clubs near them.
Rotary
marshaled its world-wide resources to eradicate polio and now that’s very
nearly accomplished. Leading climate change mitigation would be a most
appropriate Act Two. Perhaps Bill and Melinda Gates, who backed Rotary’s polio
commitment, could help focus American attention on expediting hydrail.
So, Mr. Rassin,
if someone calls this blog to your attention, please ask The Rotarian to consider doing a follow-up story on the climate
change mitigation benefits of the Mooresville Hydrail Initiative! We need all the help we can get to engage
caring people in the world hydrail transition.
The Mooresville
Hydrail Initiative is described in this slide presentation to the US EPA’s 2017
Southeast Diesel Collaborative workshop in Atlanta: https://southeastdiesel.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/hydrail-presentation.pdf
