this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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!

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] PostmodernPythia@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Most people making those complaints at this point are bad-faith conservatives.

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

EV cars are just a way to keep the "happy motoring" society going with a veneer of environmentalism.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Not a veneer. EVs powered by renewable energy contribute almost nothing to GHG emissions.

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

OK we don’t make nearly enough renewable energy to meet the demand of American motorists, and likely never will.

You've been reading too much propaganda.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-opinion-renewables-will-power-future-of-us-energy/

Most of the energy is expended moving the weight of the vehicle and batteries.

Yes this is literally how a vehicle works

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cool, well, enjoy your fantastic future. Happy motoring!

[–] CaptainAniki@lemmy.flight-crew.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

propaganda

links bloomberg...

might wanna rethink your angle here friend.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's funny, I can't tell if you're a left wing "the media are all liars" nutjob or a right wing "the media are all liars" nutjob.

Horseshoe theory in action, I guess

[–] CaptainAniki@lemmy.flight-crew.org -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Maybe you should understand that the media are a bunch of liars that sell advertising not the truth.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/26/mike-bloomberg-social-media-strategy

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Still can't say for sure, but I'm going to tentatively guess left wing nutjob

[–] PostmodernPythia@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Their parts get made. They get manufactured. Pretty sure that involves fairly substantial emissions, just not compared to what we have now.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] CaptainAniki@lemmy.flight-crew.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not to mention the raw materials needed use diesel engines for extraction. the people designing, making, and distributing all use GHG. The robots that make them all run on GHG. The distribution networks that support them all use GHG. Even the power that goes into the charge stations are coal and oil powered. Nothing about EV is Green except the marketing.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

the people designing, making, and distributing all use GHG. The robots that make them all run on GHG. The distribution networks that support them all use GHG. Even the power that goes into the charge stations are coal and oil powered.

That's a myth, and fossil fuel propaganda.

Much of the entire supply chain, and most of the energy mix that powers them, are already renewable and that fraction is increasing all the time.

For example, in California the power mix is roughly 50% renewable. In San Francisco it's almost 100%. So if I purchase a Tesla, there's very little fossil fuels in the post manufacturing cycle.

The whole point of EVs is to decouple transportation with fossil fuels. As our grid gets greener, so do our vehicles.

[–] CaptainAniki@lemmy.flight-crew.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's just patently untrue. Just because nothing comes out of a tailpipe doesn't magically erase the environmental impact they have.

You can't capitalism your way out of climate change.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

You can regulated-capitalism your way out though.

Just because nothing comes out of a tailpipe doesn’t magically erase the environmental impact they have.

It does erase something like 80-90% of the environmental impact they have. Not magically, just because EVs are designed to be better for the environment.