Bread and CircusesMay 2, 2023

It can be argued that electric vehicles are an improvement when replacing ICE vehicles.

But that misses a much bigger point — which is that the very best car is *not* an electric car. The very best car is no car at all!

Building electric cars requires massive use of fossil fuels, including petrochemicals for the manufacture of plastics. In addition, mining of lithium for batteries as well as trawling for other minerals in the deep ocean is environmentally disastrous, killing biodiversity while polluting our water, soil, and air.

LITHIUM EXTRACTION — https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/02/01/south-america-s-lithium-fields-reveal-the-dark-side-of-our-electric-future

DEEP-SEA MINING — https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/109814016209990908

The kind of “Green Growth” championed by capitalists and politicians, which features more electric cars, a bit of solar, and a few wind farms — along with continued use of fossil fuels — is not a good answer. It does not solve any of our problems, and in fact only makes them worse.

Say NO to more cars, of any kind. Push instead for active transportation and for improved public transit.

Continued economic growth is unsustainable. Period. The only logical choice for us and for the biosphere is de-growth.

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Degrowth #WarOnCars #BanCars

South America's 'lithium fields' reveal the dark side of electric cars

Demand for lithium-ion batteries is unprecedented - but is mining the chemical harmful to the environment?

euronews
Show threadOld Hippie ⓋMay 2, 2023
@breadandcircuses I'm all for manufacturing less cars and putting emphasis on public transportation. Unfortunately this doesn't solve the issue for the millions of us that live in rural areas. We need EVs and massive incentives to help rural folks get around and afford the change. Of course there could be other solutions I'm not seeing.
Show threadLillian VioletMay 3, 2023
@old_hippie
Okay? Then we solve the issue without cars for the majority of people who live or want to live in cities, which frees up huge amount of space and infrastructure funds to create public transport and roads to rural areas. It's all part of the same solution, having cities be car centric is extremely harmful to rural areas as well, and serving a minority should be quite a lot simpler. The few people that do *need* accessible personal vehicles will not be disallowed them when cars are not centralised, if anything their commutes will be shorter and simpler without much other traffic.
@breadandcircuses
Show threadDash

@GLaDTheresCake @old_hippie @breadandcircuses Yes.

In the UK, IIRC about 5-6% of the population lives outside towns and cities. The problem is not allowing those people access to personal transportation, it's

a) the other 95%, and

b) defining that "personal transportation" as an electric monster truck that is replaced every three years (because that's where max profit lies for the auto manufacturers).

Jul 8, 2023 at 8:36amWeb
Show threadDashJul 8, 2023

@GLaDTheresCake @old_hippie @breadandcircuses Have just looked at your (@old_hippie) profile and noted you are in the US, where the rural proportion seems to be somewhat higher.

I think the point still stands though.

Show threadOld Hippie ⓋJul 8, 2023
@dash @GLaDTheresCake @breadandcircuses I agree but I was just pointing out a few issues with rural living.