‘ZERO EMISSIONS’ RACE SETS OFF FROM GENEVA

TEAMS PUT ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGIES
TO TEST IN ROUND-THE-WORLD, 80-DAY TOUR

GENEVA (AP) - Teams from three continents have set off from the Place des Nations in Geneva with their electric cars for the longest and greenest race of all time: the ZERO Race. These tams from Australia, Germany and Switzerland have set off from Geneva for what they hope will be the first carbon neutral race around the world. Participants are using custom built two-seater electric vehicles that will be charged from regular power outlets along the way. At the same time they are feeding electricity generated from solar and wind plants into the grid. Australian Jason Jones says his team expects to pay only a little over $350 for the electricity needed to power their three-wheel car around the globe. The race will pass through 16 countries and 150 cities including Berlin, Moscow, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Cancun before returning to Geneva in January after 18,642 miles (30,000 kilometers) on the road. The race is organized by Swiss inventor Louis Palmer, the first man to drive a solar powered vehicle around the world.

The international teams are aiming to prove it’s possible to tour around the world in 80 days with emission-free, electric vehicles. Already, an American team that was supposed to compete lost its vehicle to a fire, while a South Korean team is expected to join later after running into battery trouble. The aim is to complete the 30,000-kilometre trip without pumping carbon into the atmosphere, a goal that Louis Palmer, the race organizer, believes can be done. Mr. Palmer should know. Two years ago the Swiss inventor and former schoolteacher completed his own round-the-world trip in a solar-powered taxi without using a single drop of gas. “Technology has developed a lot since then,” Mr. Palmer told reporters as the vehicles lined up at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva. “These are capable of doing 500 kilometres a day.” Mr. Palmer said he hopes manufacturers will soon embrace some of the green technologies and incorporate them in their cars.


This zero race wants to make a tour around the world in 80 days using their electric vehicles fed by electricity generated from solar and wind power. It is encouraging to see that scientists are looking for solutions like electric cars and renewable energy. Everything belongs to the Supreme Being, so we must care for the environment because nothing is ours, but all is God's property.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In all the inventions or devices we produce, all the ingredients and resources that we use are all given by God. The elements we need to make big buildings, bridges, ships, cars, or the fuel to operate them, are all being given by God, and we need to show the proper respect. To think we are the proprietors of everything is the illusion. It is our pride that makes us think we are so intelligent when actually the very brain with which we think is not created by us but has again been given by God. ... The imbalance in nature, such as the green house effect, the changing climate and weather patterns, are reflections of the imbalance in the consciousness of humanity. Once there is balance and harmony in society’s consciousness and the way we regard and treat the ecosystem, this will then be reflected in the balance in nature. Then many of the storms, natural upheavals and disasters will begin to cease.

Dr Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Environmentalism According to the Vedic View”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/environmentalism_according_to_the_vedic_view.htm