Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think. Here’s how it starts:
>*The air tastes putrid. The traffic is terrible. The engines are loud, the oil-stained roadways ugly and antiquated.*
>*This is Autopia, part of Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland, where kids from around the world come to dream about the future.*
>*If anyone could get away with defending the toxic odor, it might be Bob Gurr. He designed the original Autopia cars in the mid-1950s, working closely with Walt himself. He’s proud of what they built together.*
>*But today the 92-year-old Disney legend says the polluting motors need to go.*
>*“Get rid of those God-awful gasoline fumes,” he told me.*
>*Disney is finally preparing to do just that.*
>*In news shared exclusively with The Times ahead of this column’s publication — after several weeks of my prodding the company for answers on the future of Autopia — Disney officials revealed that pure gasoline engines are on their way out.*
>*“Since opening with Disneyland park in 1955, Autopia has remained a guest-favorite most popular with young kids experiencing driving for the first time,” spokesperson Jessica Good said in an email. “As the industry moves toward alternative fuel sources, we have developed a roadmap to electrify this attraction and are evaluating technology that will enable us to convert from gas engines in the next few years.”*
>*Good wouldn’t confirm whether that means electric vehicles, or if hybrids are a possibility. EVs would obviously be better.*
>*But whatever comes next, this is fabulous news.*
>*And in an ideal world, it will be just the beginning for clean energy and sustainability at Tomorrowland.*
Again, hope you’ll read the whole thing and let me know what you think! If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters at [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)
1 Comment
Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think. Here’s how it starts:
>*The air tastes putrid. The traffic is terrible. The engines are loud, the oil-stained roadways ugly and antiquated.*
>*This is Autopia, part of Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland, where kids from around the world come to dream about the future.*
>*If anyone could get away with defending the toxic odor, it might be Bob Gurr. He designed the original Autopia cars in the mid-1950s, working closely with Walt himself. He’s proud of what they built together.*
>*But today the 92-year-old Disney legend says the polluting motors need to go.*
>*“Get rid of those God-awful gasoline fumes,” he told me.*
>*Disney is finally preparing to do just that.*
>*In news shared exclusively with The Times ahead of this column’s publication — after several weeks of my prodding the company for answers on the future of Autopia — Disney officials revealed that pure gasoline engines are on their way out.*
>*“Since opening with Disneyland park in 1955, Autopia has remained a guest-favorite most popular with young kids experiencing driving for the first time,” spokesperson Jessica Good said in an email. “As the industry moves toward alternative fuel sources, we have developed a roadmap to electrify this attraction and are evaluating technology that will enable us to convert from gas engines in the next few years.”*
>*Good wouldn’t confirm whether that means electric vehicles, or if hybrids are a possibility. EVs would obviously be better.*
>*But whatever comes next, this is fabulous news.*
>*And in an ideal world, it will be just the beginning for clean energy and sustainability at Tomorrowland.*
Again, hope you’ll read the whole thing and let me know what you think! If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters at [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)