I don’t think many environmentalists are like, “My dream is a car-dominated society but electric.” It’s an improvement, to be sure, but I feel like every (realistic) environmentalist would prefer trains and trolleys to planes and cars.
This seems like one of those situations where every leftist is like, “I think about unions, transportation, and housing.” and the media somehow decides the left is hellbent on forcing people to attend sensitivity training in Smart Cars.
This reminded me of a person online talking about how they didn’t understand why tree-huggers appreciated wind power despite the bird strike numbers - well because climate change itself is a much bigger fish!
Or also because of the bird strike numbers. I believe they are quite low.
Many such complaints were based on an old wind farm in Altamont Pass that did have a serious problem. However it was a mountain pass on a migratory bird route and the towers were open framework with plenty of spots for roosting. Once we stopped those two things, bird losses dropped precipitously.
I believe people making those complaints have also lost perspective. My support for anything to further reduce the remaining bird losses is not inconsistent with the belief that we already well into a better spot.
People making those complaints also seem unable to expand their minds to the huge bird loss from the polluted air pr if we didn’t
Most people making those complaints at this point are bad-faith conservatives.
EV cars are just a way to keep the "happy motoring" society going with a veneer of environmentalism.
Not a veneer. EVs powered by renewable energy contribute almost nothing to GHG emissions.
Their parts get made. They get manufactured. Pretty sure that involves fairly substantial emissions, just not compared to what we have now.
Sure, everything involves emissions, but when we're talking about a 80%-90% reduction over what we have now, you can't just handwave that away. That's a tiny fraction of our current position.
And if we're going to consider that, let's consider the ghg emissions of laying new bike trails and railroads? Of building new buses and trains?
Manufacturing emits GHGs for anything but it's a small fraction of the life cycle GHGs of a vehicle, especially if the electricity used in manufacturing is also renewable.
OK we don't make nearly enough renewable energy to meet the demand of American motorists, and likely never will. We use millions of barrels of oil each day. How many wind turbines will match that?
Are they "greener" than gasoline vehicles? Sure, but it's still tremendously wasteful of energy. Most of the energy is expended moving the weight of the vehicle and batteries. Not only this but cars dictate how we build and design urban areas. we will continue building and expanding cities and towns to accommodate cars and their sense of distance. We'll also need to continue wasting space for parked vehicles. This is all tremendously wasteful. We will also continue relying on a massive network of paved roads that require constant maintenence and are themselves made out of oil.
There's also the issue of tires. They shed rubber and it goes into our environment, affecting humans and wildlife. It's not a small thing.
In short, nothing about cars can be truly green. We'd be much better off investing in networks of highspeed rail, light rail, cycle lanes, and electric busses. These would have much bigger impacts, and much sooner. But instead we are committed to happy motoring and the drive-thru lifestyle
OK we don’t make nearly enough renewable energy to meet the demand of American motorists, and likely never will.
I don’t think many environmentalists are like, “My dream is a car-dominated society but electric.” It’s an improvement, to be sure, but I feel like every (realistic) environmentalist would prefer trains and trolleys to planes and cars.
This seems like one of those situations where every leftist is like, “I think about unions, transportation, and housing.” and the media somehow decides the left is hellbent on forcing people to attend sensitivity training in Smart Cars.
This reminded me of a person online talking about how they didn’t understand why tree-huggers appreciated wind power despite the bird strike numbers - well because climate change itself is a much bigger fish!
Or also because of the bird strike numbers. I believe they are quite low.
Many such complaints were based on an old wind farm in Altamont Pass that did have a serious problem. However it was a mountain pass on a migratory bird route and the towers were open framework with plenty of spots for roosting. Once we stopped those two things, bird losses dropped precipitously.
I believe people making those complaints have also lost perspective. My support for anything to further reduce the remaining bird losses is not inconsistent with the belief that we already well into a better spot.
People making those complaints also seem unable to expand their minds to the huge bird loss from the polluted air pr if we didn’t
Most people making those complaints at this point are bad-faith conservatives.
EV cars are just a way to keep the "happy motoring" society going with a veneer of environmentalism.
Not a veneer. EVs powered by renewable energy contribute almost nothing to GHG emissions.
Their parts get made. They get manufactured. Pretty sure that involves fairly substantial emissions, just not compared to what we have now.
Sure, everything involves emissions, but when we're talking about a 80%-90% reduction over what we have now, you can't just handwave that away. That's a tiny fraction of our current position.
And if we're going to consider that, let's consider the ghg emissions of laying new bike trails and railroads? Of building new buses and trains?
Manufacturing emits GHGs for anything but it's a small fraction of the life cycle GHGs of a vehicle, especially if the electricity used in manufacturing is also renewable.
OK we don't make nearly enough renewable energy to meet the demand of American motorists, and likely never will. We use millions of barrels of oil each day. How many wind turbines will match that?
Are they "greener" than gasoline vehicles? Sure, but it's still tremendously wasteful of energy. Most of the energy is expended moving the weight of the vehicle and batteries. Not only this but cars dictate how we build and design urban areas. we will continue building and expanding cities and towns to accommodate cars and their sense of distance. We'll also need to continue wasting space for parked vehicles. This is all tremendously wasteful. We will also continue relying on a massive network of paved roads that require constant maintenence and are themselves made out of oil.
There's also the issue of tires. They shed rubber and it goes into our environment, affecting humans and wildlife. It's not a small thing.
In short, nothing about cars can be truly green. We'd be much better off investing in networks of highspeed rail, light rail, cycle lanes, and electric busses. These would have much bigger impacts, and much sooner. But instead we are committed to happy motoring and the drive-thru lifestyle
You've been reading too much propaganda.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-opinion-renewables-will-power-future-of-us-energy/
Yes this is literally how a vehicle works
Cool, well, enjoy your fantastic future. Happy motoring!
Thanks!