We fly.

It is possible to reduce the need for roads and improve their durability at the same time. There are Roman roads still in use today and they are built of simple techniques involving gravel, sand and stone.

The making of concrete is a separate dilemma but much manufacture should get taken off world IMHO. Solar requires a pretty large focused array but can be done in more tropical climates but the production levels needed would require a massive retooling of industry and those solar ovens would be better just driving turbine generators with a closed loop phase change liquid.

The use of fluidized beds to incinerate biomass and trash would allow a certain amount of energy to be created using a two for one approach. Also I think a better way to address the problem of carbon emissions is coming through scrubber technology. I think it is possible to convert CO2 to solid forms of nanoparticles for industrial reuse. These could be fullerenes and nanotubes that can be recycled into building everything from microelectronics to graphite engineered materials for vehicles and advanced building. Even cellulose from wood based products is now being used as a source material for a new generation of water based resins.

There are many problems of scale and transition and frankly current trends are way too little and way too late. The problem of greenhouse gas is no longer just CO2, it is methane that is emerging from the thawing tundra and it threatens to accelerate the process dramatically over the next few decades even as the the population pressure mitigates conversion with increased demand.

Back to the roads.

Mass transit is one obvious solution to the demand as well as far better road tech that requires less repair but also it is long past time to stop major roads construction and limit growth as urban sprawl. However now back to flying.

A new generation of solar powered dirigibles is coming sooner than most can imagine. It is slower but allows for VTOL operations for loads equivalent to freight trains and cargo ships not just trucks. These can operate point to point and not be bound to ports.

There is a need to reduce the single and two passenger vehicle to a smaller size that also reduces the wear and tear on the road system as well as congestion. These HPV hybrids would allow for all weather operation at competitive speeds but not only get well over 200 mpg they would could operate as multifuel vehicle capable of using alcohol and synfuels from biomass, agro waste, and sewage reduction more than agriculture directly.

Though some crops will be tailored specifically for fuels as time progresses like castor bean, hemp, and rape seed to mention a few. Soy is even better than corn in this respect and many of these can produce end products like biodeisel. Some plantings can even be used to clean areas of toxic spills this way.

The problem of carbon is that we cannot stop using it but we must make its use vastly more efficient.

Lastly in this mix I suggest the application of biomimetic technologies that augment the human form sufficiently to give a person in good shape access to personal flight at speeds competitive with today's cars. These personal flight suits would be operated on new power sources like flexible solar PV fabric and body heat conversion as well as the new tech of ultracapacitors for power storage. These are one tenth the weight of lead acid and can be charged faster and more efficiently any biomimetic technology operates on significantly smaller current demand of low voltage and less amperage. What matters more is a balanced machine/man technology.

Where there is a will there is a way. What is still sadly lacking is a common goal and popular will. When that is changed the means will follow. Here is a start Roy. What we need is understanding and the recognition is that there is still hope but it must come with the tenacity of will to be relentless in the struggle to demand change.