Futuristic travel

This isn't an agrarian topic per se, but transport is important to human existence and sustainability, so I'm linking to a NYT debate on future alternatives to plane travel. I did a report on ultralight aircraft (ie blimps) in grammar school or early in high school, and the idea of blimp cruises has always intrigued me. Also, less luxury versions of blimps might be an interesting option for low-income countries with a poor road infrastructure. In a small, mountainous place like Haiti, I'd bet blimp travel would be as fast as travel over the curvy, up-and-down roads. Even in a bigger country like Tanzania, blimp travel might compare in speed to trains with frequent breakdowns, or travel over torn-up or unpaved roads.

This debate was published in the aftermath of the Iceland volcano eruption that paralyzed travel to and from Europe. Here's another article about the pickle Kenyan flower producers found themselves in when their principal market was shut off from them. Since flowers are highly perishable, the farmers had to rush to find something to do with them before they wilted, and since you can't eat flowers and they're a luxury good, they couldn't sell them on the local market. One more reason to favor food production for local and national markets over export of luxury items.