Eve is in her seventies and lives in Deal, England. Her
children live in London. She enjoys living near the train station because she
doesn't want to drive into the city anymore.
Ana is terrified
of flying, but has to travel from London to Madrid about 4 times a year. She
opts for the overnight train to ease her anxiety.
The Martins live
in Grants Pass, Oregon which is similar in size to Deal, England. They tend to
drive everywhere, but wish there were more transit options like there are in
Portland.
Giuliano Scarsi
wishes he felt safe walking in Nashville, TN when he comes to visit his wife's
family, but notes, “There are no sidewalks!”
Clearly there is
a cultural difference when it comes to transportation here versus abroad. The
aim of this film is not to demonize our car culture, but to continue the
conversation about our pressing infrastructure needs. Our population is growing
at a rate that is not going to make it very pleasant for every American to own
their own automobile. As Stanford Professor, Anne Ehrlich, notes in the film,
“Having a 120-lb. person driving a 4,000-lb vehicle to get the groceries doesn't make a lot of sense.”
America needs to
lead by example when it comes to climate change solutions. Investing in more
passenger rail and building the California High-Speed Rail network will show the rest
of the world that we care about our children and grandchildren's futures enough
to evolve.
We let our passenger railroads deteriorate, and now our
roads and bridges are falling apart, too. What should we do? Do American
passengers want more and more people to drive on our already-congested
highways? Or, do they want the option to ride?
We don't think
history will remember the Marco Rubio's of the current political system, who say
there is no point in doing anything unless everybody does something. History
will remember the leaders that tried to make America a healthier and easier
place to, simply, live. People like Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer, who tried
to pass the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007.
In fact, it seems
that climate change deniers are fine preaching Big Oil's tired diatribe that
climate change is not a threat when other countries are actually doing
something. Are we really going to let China surpass us on energy solutions like they already have in high-speed rail technology?
Why can't we commit to a robust, noble message about climate
change? Why can't we take steps to advance by investing in passenger rail? I
mean, honestly, the worst that could happen is we'll have cleaner air and less
stressed-out commuters.
After making this
film, we believe that the current public support for more sustainable and
efficient transportation options will result in a successful attempt to pass
progressive legislation concerning rail.
To quote President
Obama in his 2013 State of the Union Address, we need to “act before it is too
late.” The Forward on Climate rally was successful in exposing the dangers of
the Keystone XL pipeline. Rallies like
that are necessary to turn our government's silence on climate change into
action, and we hope films like ours will continue to further that aim.
As far as where
you can see the film, at this point we're trying our luck at the film festival
circuit. It would be nice to have a distributor acquire the film, but to do
that we need help from other rail enthusiasts to get the word out and garner
support for its release. If you would like to purchase a license to screen the
film for educational purposes, please send us a message. Check the website for
upcoming screenings.
Together, we are Trainsforming America!
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