I mean, while we still have so much car centric infrastructure in the states, they can be a useful transition.
I say this as someone who primarily commutes by bicycle btw. Public transit in my area is piss poor. Unpredictable buses, no light rail. Hell there aren’t even sidewalks everywhere.
My wife recently got a fully electric car, and I support that move. She is not ready to go car free. But at least we are not necessarily burning fossil fuels to power trips to the grocery store. I think the closest power plants to us are nuclear and hydroelectric. Im sure there’s a coal plant in the mix too tho.
Would never give elon a cent of our money though
I can’t buy a metro line for my city, I can make sure my next car is electric. Buying an electric car is morally superior to buying a gas car.
You wouldn’t download a metro line. Or would you?
The car industry didn’t want EVs. Much of it still doesn’t
They prefer EVs over public transport.
No company in the world supports neither EV nor anything eco-friendly and if there ever is it won’t last because of corporate greed
The Chinese are creating a bunch of affordable EVs which could move the dial on climate but the west is generally blocking them via tarrifs
To paraphrase Alan Fisher, electric cars fail to solve the biggest problem with cars: The fact that they’re still cars.
Honestly moral superiority needs to get taken out of climate change as a whole. It’s a global issue that needs political solutions. Nobody’s individual actions are gonna change their nation’s heating systems from gas, grids energy make up to solar, or billionaires to climate activists.
@houseofleft @ByteOnBikes political solutions in democracies occur when the consensus flips from one view to another: the individual action needed is to reduce your own #carbonfootprint as best you can, discuss your views sensitively with family and friends and vote. Societal attitudes change quite quickly, eg acceptance of same-sex marriages, so there is no reason why attitudes towards the #climatecatastrophe may not shift favourably and drive political change
so says br***sh petroleum anyways, straight up complete ahistorical bullshit, actually learn some history just once just fucking once, acid rain didnt get fucking fixed because “CoNsUmErS dEcIdEd To Be ReSpOnSiBlE aNd StOoPeD bUyInG tHiNgS wHiCh ReSuLtEd In SuLfUr PoLlUtIoN” it got fixed because governments around the world pushed by organized demands from working people lead by scientists made it illegal to not use filters that would capture the sulfur, the ozone hole, remember that? u know how it got fixed it fucking wasnt because “CoNsUmErS dEcIdEd To Be ReSpOnSiBlE aNd StOoPeD bUyInG tHiNgS wItH oZoNe EaTiNg ReFrIgErAnTs In ThEm” it was solved because governments were forced by the people to issue policy that banned the use of such refrigerant. And the story is the same with water, and air pollution, and with basically everything else.
But now when it comes to the most important fight for our survival and the preservation of our environment were are supposed each individually do our bit and buy the right thing, FUCK OFF with ur fossil fuel propaganda, we will NEVER win this fight if we are reduce to mere “CoNsUmErS”.
@linkhidalgogato it seems I stand corrected…
It’s better to transition private cars now because that’s going to take years in and of itself and it’s relatively easy and fast to swap out the centralized power plants for greener options later. Swap out one dirty power plant for a green plant and everything electric connected to it is instantly greener in turn.
Even if the US went all in on public infrastructure today, it would still take decades
Not giving any money to Musk though, there are other options.
@cm0002 @ByteOnBikes yes, but the idea that EV’s solve things makes people think it is okay to not be all in on PT.
And it’s not okay.
Can you point at one person who thinks that?
Or is this whole thing just about making up arguments and then attacking them to sow division between people who would otherwise be united against fossil fuels?
@bstix Elon Musk
Even he is pro-fossil despite his ownership of one of the largest EV manufacturers. I really don’t think his motives are entirely clear. Looking at the Cybertruck I would argue that he’s actually trying to destroy EVs, just as he caused distraction from public transport with his Boring company project. In my opinion, he definitely belongs to the second group, who is arguing and even doing things in bad faith.
The main attractor to me is that with an electric car, you could theoretically be energy independent. Same goes with an ebike.
Eg, Solar -> battery -> EV/ebike
No need to be relying on rotten dinosaurs dug up out of wherever, with a million middle men and taxes.
I agree with you in spirit, but the reality is you would not actually be energy independent. The parts that you’re talking about, for the car and the batteries and repairing the car, those are going to be produced somehow. So even if your fuel is produced by solar panels, there are still fossil fuels involved in the manufacture of everything. That’s still a massive improvement over burning gas while you drive.
This is basically the philosophy of the Amish. I’ll pass.
Not everyone runs on moral superiority.
