Synthetic life has just been created priming us for a bold new future, leading us to believe that science and technology will find answers to all our woes. It may be, however, that such a notion may lead us in the wrong direction. Take shipping, for instance, and the turbulent course it is on in its quest to cut down on carbon emission. We’re all for reducing our carbon footprints and shipping goods across the oceans of the world leaves big ones. As it turns out the hopeful sign in reducing our footprints lies in a very old fashioned method, sailing, or the use of the wind instead of fossil fuels. It wouldn’t be sailing the way Columbus and others did it. Our present knowledge would enable sailing in a safer and easier way, with less hazards and problems. It all hasn’t yet been worked out, but in that old fashioned and tested way lies a hope for our future.