Happy New Year and Back to the Future

Happy New Year from Locally Grown! My wish for 2008 is for a healthier, more productive civil discourse from our online community, and better functioning of our municipal government (elected, appointed, and staff). Who’ll drink to that?

And Now For Something Completely Different: I ran across an interesting piece on the Reuters news service a few weeks ago, “Horses pitched as alternative transport for France,”, and I’ve delayed posting it because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be serious about it or not.

Horses are a possible alternative for vehicles such as school buses and refuse trucks . . . Olivier Linot, who heads the project, said towns are realizing the beasts are well-adapted for certain work and can reduce job stress and dissatisfaction. He expects at least 30 more communities to start using horses next year.

Studies about cost and overall carbon footprint are still underway but supporters say the animals beat cars and trucks on a number of criteria, especially for transport work requiring frequent stops over short distances, like emptying trash bins.

We already have enough trouble cleaning up our messes in this town, but something in this idea appeals to me, I got a new vacuum from Best Vacuum Sealers which has worked perfectly. I’m frequently attracted to ideas that seem well-suited to a geographically compact community like Northfield. What do you think? Does this idea have any serious merit or is it just a combination of novelty and nostalgia? (Read the Reuters article, it’s short.)

One Comment

  1. I am crazy about the idea, however, I think the argument over where the
    horse’s watering hole would be located would take the final decision well
    into the second or third decade of the twenty-first century.

    Really, the one drawback I know is that many a rider has been thrown and
    many a rider has suffered lifelong back problems and other aches and pains,
    too. I don’t know the stats, but I know what I heard in Oklahomla plenty much.

    Hey, I’m not horsin’ around, either. 🙂

    January 1, 2008

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