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 threadBread and CircusesMay 3, 2023

I like this quote:

“The problem is that electric cars are popular with politicians precisely because they provide an excuse to avoid doing harder things, like rebuilding our cities, or changing the habits of lifetimes. Persuading people to switch from their old gasoline car to a shiny Tesla is much easier than persuading them that they can live without a car. Hence governments are pushing electric cars, often with incentives that make no sense.” - Daniel Knowles, author of Carmageddon

Show threadRunoratsuJul 10, 2023

@breadandcircuses Even persuading them they can live w/o a car is not the solution—*providing an actually working alternative* is. And not just in the cities, but EVERYWHERE, and covering ALL usecases for a car.

That means frequent, cheap or free, comfortable and not overcrowded local and long distance public transportation, including services to handle larger amounts of luggage, transportation services for goods where needed, etc.

It’s a HUGE undertaking.

Show threadRunoratsu

@breadandcircuses Not that I think this isn’t worth it—quite the opposite. But currently, we’re always putting the cart before the horse. We’re asking ppl to get rid of their cars *w/o* providing a good alternative. And wondering why there’s a lot of pushback & resistance.

Ppl wouldn’t spend 1 year’s income or more on a car, plus running costs, if it didn’t *significantly* improve their lives. If you want them to change that, you’ll have to provide an alternative ALREADY.

Jul 10, 2023 at 8:44amWeb
Show threadRunoratsuJul 10, 2023
@breadandcircuses And not just any alternative like “I don’t care, I made it work for me, you can make it work for you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”, but one that they’ll WANT to use.
Make it cheaper than their car. More comfortable. Less of a hassle. Then ppl will come. Just like ppl will take a plane for longer journeys they could do by car as well—the plane makes the journey less of a hassle so people choose it voluntarily.
We must make public transport just as attractive—for all journeys.
Show threadLady Lus, Inflate-a-BouJul 11, 2023

@Runoratsu THIS. My 18 minute commute becomes over 2h by transit. 4h/day both ways. Seeing friends & relatives on the other side of the city is >3h each way by transit, and I'm limited to what I can reasonably carry in two hands.

Grocery situation gets a bit dicey as well, unless I become dependent on a delivery service where I pay added costs and lose the ability to browse the store myself. And healthcare becomes even harder to access when it's a multi-hour round trip on an unfamiliar route, while unwell.

Every plan I've heard for eliminating cars from the low/medium-density places like mine where millions live and work is... either some kind of unproven technical wizardry, or phenomenally expensive and will require many years to implement.

Getting people into more efficient vehicles is something that can be done *now*, while figuring out how to retrofit light rail into a city with no existing system or rights-of-way and steering future construction towards higher development.

Show threadRunoratsuJul 11, 2023
@lusrangifer it kinda works in urban areas in Europe. When I was living in Munich for uni, I didn‘t have a car, but busses and subway trains were so frequent and a lot of big shops so close by it was manageable. For some bigger errands we still needed to borrow a car (or someone with a car) from time to time, but not too often. Nowadays, in the countryside however? No chance! No trains, infrequent busses, and almost everything’s 10+ km away, so taking a bike is often no real option.