Two years ago - HIgh Speed Train

So in the time that it took Barack Obama to run for president, get elected, get everyone excited about this Hope thingie, propose the first high speed rail network ever, and then get sucked into a political quagmire and recession and have everyone in the country basically forget about the whole environmental thing...

2009:


...China had a huge earthquake, recovered from it, and built some thousand plus miles of high speed train tracks, including a short line from Chengdu to the northeast that conveniently stops by our town now. (Oh, and had an accident and attempted coverup that was fairly controversial, at least on the Chinese internet.)

2011: