BRAND BUZZ

Volkswagen might take the planet towards another Ice Age

Anything underlining the importance of the saying “nothing is permanent but change” seems to be an understatement. Change is an entity that works everywhere from cosmic drama to the minute scale of genetic mutation. Whatever we do to keep the balance eventually tips the scale. Our planet has seen many global warmings and ice ages. The efforts to reverse the current global warming cycle are most likely to plunge the earth into another ice age. In this planetary scheme of things, a company as big as Volkswagen has a role to play.

The days are numbered for combustion engines. Rising global temperatures, depleting fossil fuel reserves, and the fast thinning of the protective Ozone layer are reasons enough to go green. The world is already doing away with combustion-based vehicles and shifting to electric automobiles. Companies like Tesla Motors are giving commuters a taste of what is yet to come. Volkswagen like other automobile manufacturers is in a transitional phase from combustion to fully electric vehicles. Volkswagen hybrid cars and SUVs are the stepping stones for the future.

Recently, Volkswagen has announced that they will not be manufacturing and selling combustion engines from 2035. All major automobile giants like, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Honda, etc. are committed to embracing the future that is electric. The majority of the models coming out of the factory are hybrid.

Volkswagen electric cars.

In 2020, when COVID-19 was ravaging the world, virtually the entire planet was in a state of lockdown. The streets were deserted. Passenger planes were lying idle in their hangers while huge production units churning out thick clouds of Co2 came to a standstill. It cleared the atmosphere and had a very positive impact on the environment. Some people even believed that it helped the ozone layer to recuperate a bit. Controlling Co2 emissions alone can save the planet from a global catastrophe.

Volkswagen will bid adieu to combustion engines by 2035. Most automotive brands would have done the same by that time. By 2050 only electric vehicles would be allowed to run on the road in China. By 2075, it can be safely imagined that all commercial planes would be using an alternate source of energy to take flight. By the year 3000 fossil fuel would be a relic of history. After almost a millennia Co2 levels might not be a cause of concern. Sea levels could drop allowing vegetation to claim more land, giving back huge deposits of oxygen to the environment. In such a scenario the temperatures of the earth could start dropping until it becomes alarming for human civilization. Planet Earth could be threatened by another ice age. If an ice age hits the world in some distant future, would anyone say that it happened because Volkswagen had decided to save the world from becoming too hot? Is it just a decision in the long chain of decisions and an unending loop of cause and effect?