david robertsJan 25, 2023

I find this so frustrating. America's ignorance & neglect toward public transit long predate the push for EVs, so how on earth could the push for EVs be *responsible* for it?

RT @[email protected]

The push for zero-emission cars has frustrated public transportation advocates, who say that the US needs to focus on greener alternatives to driving https://trib.al/gOKhAka

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/CityLab/status/1618326552655044610

Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
I've seen this basic dynamic so many times over the years: advocates blaming other advocates with a different focus for their lack of success. You see nuke advocates blaming renewables advocates (& vice versa). Carbon tax advocates blaming RPS advocates. Etc. Etc.
Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
I've struggled to understand why & I've come around to a pretty simple explanation: you engage with people who care about what you think. There are legions out there who don't support transit *or* EVs, who don't give a shit at all, but they won't argue with you.
Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
It's the people who are pushing for similar goals in different ways who are most likely to give a damn about your opinion. They *care* if you criticize them. They engage. So you get these ludicrous factional wars -- carbon tax vs. cap&dividend! -- that ignore the larger context.
Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
So I say yet again: whatever it is you're advocating or fighting for, it is almost certain that other people fighting for the same things a different way are NOT your main obstacle. They just seem salient to you because of their proximity in ideological space.
Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
Whatever progress you seek, in whatever area, your main obstacle is almost certainly the vast body of people who don't give a shit at all, who know very little about any of it, who are fine with the status quo, who know nothing about your talmudic online intra-factional disputes.
Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
Anyhoo: quite obviously we need BOTH a shift to electric vehicles AND reductions in car-dependent land use. Neither is happening big/fast enough, not because they're stealing focus from one another, but because reducing transportation emissions *in general* is neglected.
Show threaddavid robertsJan 25, 2023
And more generally, the biggest barrier to solving climate change is not some set of climate advocates or other Doing It Wrong, it's the vast bulk of people who don't care much at all & politicians happy to serve carbon-intensive incumbents.
Show threaddavid roberts
And finally, my deepest apologies for the subject-verb agreement problems in the first tweet. I have no excuse.
Jan 25, 2023 at 7:42pmWeb
Show threadAlex ChaffeeJan 25, 2023
@drvolts nah, I think “America’s ignorance and neglect” qualifies as a singular subject, like “Hall and Oates [is a great band]” or “waste, fraud, and abuse [is not as big a problem as conservatives think]” 😛