Who Said It Couldn't Be Done?

India's Tata Motors is about to do what car manufacturers said couldn't be done. It's about to release the Nano, a $2,500 car. The Nano, which is 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, has 4 doors, can accommodate 4 adults and is expected to get 47 miles per gallon. The company's chairman compares the start-up production of 250,000 Nanos with the invention of the airplane and the moon landing. Considering the present gridlock on India's roads, other comparisons come to mind – like the sinking of the Titanic and the crash of the Hindenburg – and thinking of those took only a – Nanosecond.

Before the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Chinese officials announced they'd use top-secret, weather-modification technology if any Olympic events were threatened by bad weather. A spokesperson for China's Meteorological Administration said they might not be able to stop a raging thunderstorm, but they could clear up a light rain. Rain during several Olympic events proved that couldn't be done. Because it doesn't rain when I carry an umbrella, maybe all 15 million Beijingers should have carried umbrellas during the Olympics.

Something they're trying to do in France is fight childhood obesity. Because it's been on the rise for 2 decades, French officials introduced healthy school lunch programs. Dominique Valadier, chef at a public high school, uses all fresh ingredients in the lunches he prepares for 800 students. By buying his ingredients locally he's able to keep the cost of lunch to $3 – less than the cost of the fast food served in many French high schools. One of Chef Valadier's recent lunches was stuffed turkey with a squash au gratin casserole. This could be done in American schools too – as soon as all the turkeys are off school boards.

Rock Port is a small, American town – population 1,300 – in northwestern Missouri. Rock Port is the first town in the U.S. to be completely powered by wind. The town's four turbines were the idea of one of the residents. After Eric Chamberlain saw wind turbines in Iowa, he made a strong case to investors. As a result, the John Deere tractor company leased land and partnered with the St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group. Now Rock Port has extra energy to export. Although the Department of Energy wants 20% of the country's electricity to come from wind power, the "Show Me" state has shown it can be done now.