Believe it or not, Electric cars

were hot in the 19th Century, especially among

the American elite.

Low power and range was not a problem, with smaller cities, and shorter roads

Gas was expensive, and pricey at the time

Steam was powerful, but unreliable: prone to dying

and hard to start in the cold.

Infrastructure developed, slowly at first,

but America was an early adopter,

and by 1912, electric cars had burst

into the market: 40% of cars ran on electric power, half that amount on gasoline.

But soon came the crash;

Petroleum reserves are discovered everywhere,

it was much cheaper to spend your cash

on oil than batteries.

The electric car fell out of popularity

out went the infrastructure, along with the trees

because as we know now (and as they still knew then)

gas causes far more pollution

than cars that are electric or steam.

Electric cars would linger,

outmatched by gasoline until the 1990's

By then the technology was decades behind

if we hadn't stopped developing them,

we might now find

ourselves in a much better state

in our fight against climate change.

I wish I could change the way we decide what we do here

from fattening our wallets

to protecting our futures.

If we'd protect our environment even when it's less convenient

our grandchildren won't have to ask where all the trees went.

I wish I was able to change people's views

on biofuels, nuclear power, genetically modified foods

Because some of that is good, and some of it is useless

and there's misinformation and poor research and false lists

of harmful effects;

Or beneficial effects, as the case may be.

Whatever the case,

I wish I could change the things people believe

about our environment, and what protecting it means.