A study published in Science Advances has found that asphalt-related emissions are a significant source of gases that end up as air pollutants. Most people think of paved roads when they hear asphalt, but roofs also use the petroleum-based compound.
Emissions from asphalt peak during the hottest and sunniest times of the day/year. As peak temperatures during summer creep upward, the volume of emissions will also increase.
Let’s spin this forward, accepting global warming as a given. What if asphalt becomes so hot and releases so many gasses contributing to air pollution that it’s decided to get rid of paved roads altogether?
In other words, the end of the automobile’s reign over city design. What kind of world would this be? And what kind of story would take place here?
A seemingly utopian world, connected with nature and self-sufficient, with a dark secret that lies beneath the surface? One option could be a small town turned upside down by murder, setting off a mystery story.
A better story would involve the automobile’s next evolutionary step: the hovercraft. The vehicles don’t have to fly high enough to reach skyscrapers, just high enough to not need paved roads. Then, these could all be eliminated.
The story could derive from a hovercraft’s inability to brake quickly or turn on a dime, the technology’s most considerable weakness. A wealthy, upstanding citizen who accidentally hits and kills a person then goes on trial.
The hero would be a lawyer who’s been chewed up and spit out by the system. Someone who looks forward to the end of the workday to go get a drink. He wants justice for the family.
The twist comes in when he begins dreaming about victory’s ramifications, which would result in the citizen being put behind bars and justice for the family of the deceased. He finds out that the citizen will go on to save many more lives.
It becomes a philosophical question, a twist on the trolley car problem. Since the person has already been killed, is it worth throwing the case to save more people? Can his own pride let him do it? Should he trust his dreams?
This could be the first in a series of cases the individual takes up. Probably more of a private eye instead of a lawyer, so there is less legal jargon to learn and use in the writing of the story. A Philip Marlowe in a sci-fi setting.
