It has gotten to the point that making fun of the climate change cultists is a nice palate cleanser for me. Yeah, they still irritate me, but they’re actually lighthearted fare in the pantheon of leftist lunacy these days. I hope that me writing that doesn’t put something weird out into the universe that makes them start gluing themselves to priceless works of art again.
It’s not a daily read, but every time I check out the “Climate” section in The Washington Post I know that I will immediately read something that makes me shake my head. At the top of the page on Thursday morning was the headline “Why these start-ups think zeppelins could be the future of air travel.”
More often than not, I bail after the head shake. This one intrigued me, however. I needed to see how these entrepreneurs planned to make the pre-Hindenburg 1930s great again.
The Washington Post:
A century ago, zeppelin passengers soared across the Atlantic Ocean in luxurious gondolas hanging from humongous hydrogen-filled balloons — the biggest aircraft humanity has ever built. Then, in 1937, the Hindenburg crashed and burned, and the future of the airship industry went up in smoke.
The new zeppelins would be much safer, the involved companies say, thanks to materials, technology and weather forecasts that aviators in the 1930s could only dream of. And boosters argue that modern airships could offer a low-carbon and inexpensive way to transport goods and travel.
Whereas airplanes burn thousands of gallons of kerosene per hour in their jet engines to stay in the air, the zeppelins in development need a few dozen gallons of diesel fuel per hour, in combination with battery power, cutting harmful emissions by up to 90 percent, companies claim.
It certainly is a comfort to know that they should be able to build a better Hindenburg 88 years later. The question is why they’d want to. Yeah, I get all of the smaller carbon footprint hoopla, but this seems a bit goofy.
One thing it is is on brand. Climate change cultists love making old things new again. Their way forward always seems to end in the late 19th or early 20th century. I’ve seen some of it first-hand.
At the end of 2010, I was invited to go to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún. I believe it was Americans for Prosperity that sent me. They wanted me to live-tweet a 20-minute speech that was given by my friend, the late, great Andrew Breitbart. Other than that, I was there for five days to soak up some sun and mock the crazies.
Yeah, the Tea Party years were fun.
We went to the conference expo one day to tour what they were calling “The City of the Future,” or some nonsense like that. The idea was that everything in it was sustainable and eco-friendly. Here’s a partial list of some of the game-changing ideas: dirt floors, washboards, and camping-style latrines dug into the aforementioned dirt floor.
There was more, but I’m doing this from memory and those are the ones that stick out lo these many years later.
Apparently, becoming more primitive is the key to saving the world. Other than the infant mortality rates, those pioneers sure were sustainable, weren’t they?
These zeppelins are going to top out at about 80 miles an hour. The article says that means that “They could beat trucks crawling along interstates in traffic.” LOL, not here in the southwest.
It’s mind-boggling that there are multiple companies pursuing the revival of the zeppelin. This whole idea reeks of impracticality, which makes me wonder where the start-ups are getting their money. The only thing that makes sense is that some bored lefty billionaires are looking for a new toy to lord over the riffraff.
“Savannah and I will be going to the neighbors’ for cocktails in our new zeppelin. Do make sure that my flying trousers are pressed, Gunther.”
One thing is certain: zeppelins will never be “the future of air travel.”
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were unavailable for comment.
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