Super Eco

Photo credit: whatleydude, Flickr

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants a sexy synonym for "infrastructure." Our obsolete and crumbling infrastructure must be upgraded, rebuilt or replaced, says California's Governor. But he doesn't think the word itself is sexy enough to sell the idea to the public.

"Infrastructure." I don't know where it ranks on the sexiness scale, but when the Governator says it with that Austrian accent, I'm convinced.

Symptoms of the decline and disrepair of America's aging infrastructure are all around us. A bridge collapses, electric power fails, freeways become parking lots—these are the visible signs of the challenge we face to restore and upgrade the systems that hold our communities together. Public water supplies, sanitary systems, bridges and roads need attention. Meanwhile, twenty-first century technology from bullet-trains to real high speed internet to solar power systems and electric vehicles are waiting in the wings for development and deployment.

Recently the nation's governors met and Schwarzenegger gave them some straight talk. "We see a lot of the countries around the world developing high-speed rail, and I think that it is important for us to recognize that our infrastructure in this country is like a developing country, rather than a developed country, because we're falling behind," he said. We're no longer the leader in many areas. Our water supply is deteriorating, our trains go no faster today than they did 100 years ago, one-third of the nation's roads are in poor condition, and the Federal Highway Administration recently estimated that one out of every four bridges is either structurally unsound or obsolete.

The cost of the infra-work in front of us? $2.2 trillion! The value to the economy, the global ecology, and our quality of life? Priceless.