I agree but I am also sympathetic to arguments against pushing down stuff like climate action to the individual level. The whole heuristic that Everything Should Be An Individual Consumer Choice is one of several failed Reagan era conservative Big Ideas that still flourishes in spite of its irrefutable track record of failure. Let’s take every opportunity to keep shouting down people that advocate for it.
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Totally disagree. And consumer choices have been very impactful. And I’m going to keep shouting down people who say their individual choices don’t matter.
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And individuals conserving energy was Carter’s thing, not Reagans. I don’t recall Reagan saying anything like that or about consumer choices to do good for anything other than Make America Great Again.
I’m not saying consumer choices don’t matter, I’m saying that policy makers have an important role to play in shaping the conditions in which consumers make choices. Deregulation was a core pillar of Reagonomics and it continues to plague policy choices today.
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If consumer choice was going to matter it would have mattered already. This is a macro problem that requires macro solutions. There are no micro solutions on hand.
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I just talked to a friend/work associate who just started working for Rivian.
It’s gonna be a couple years until it’s widely available, but he’s pretty excited about it.
yeah it looks cool
This one will be available in Europe next year absconding the US in 2023. range is going to be close to 400 miles if you get it with the biggest battery according to the article.
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Sorry to necro this post but I’m not optimistic for the same reason every kid who tries alcohol out ends up puking their guts. Human beings are great to react when there’s immediate cause and effect but like alcohol you’ve got to stop before you’ve felt like you’re drunk too much, by then it’s too late.
Purple is the CO2 level. Levels are nowhere near where they have been in Earth’s history. That doesn’t mean everything is peachy keen. Sea levels were at least a couple hundred meters higher.
But it also doesn’t mean the planet turns to Venus.
The speed of change now is very quick but not unprecedented. Periods like the little ice age occurred very rapidly.
The difference is us. We have built a civilization not very resilient to climate change which is sort of ironic given our technological sophistication.
We can’t simple move wholesale as coastline shrink or tree lines shift. The size and complexity of our social structures is what makes us so susceptible to climate change.
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Manufacture of a Tesla causes about a ton more CO2 emissions than a gas powered car, but after 13500 miles, with the current US energy mix of sources, it’s the same as a Toyota Corolla.
And that’s a luxury sports car vs an economy car.
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Neither is being alive doing anything really. Environmentally it’s a pretty clear choice though and obviously all recreational travel is discretionary/wasteful. But, I think you’re talking more about the social costs. I had a friend in college who wouldn’t travel in a car period. I think the closest I can come to describing the reason is “because others couldn’t afford to”. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re talking about or not.
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Doesn’t make sense to me at all. Of course there are no bright lines. It’s always a complicated decision between how much harm you’re willing to do for your own personal reasons. And car-less travel is not necessarily a lower footprint than mass transit - but you could always walk - or not travel. But, just because the calculation is complicated (it’s not that hard to do a rough estimate) doesn’t mean it’s irrational to weigh competing factors and make decisions.
And what is generally the alternative in practice is bad. It’s “this is too complicated or irrational (it isn’t) or my effect is literally zero (it isn’t) so why bother?”.
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I should probably feel terrible because I specifically bought a gas car recently because I assumed this will be my last one, I’ve driven economy cars forever due to my circumstances, and I wanted something fun, fast, and a little loud before moving on to electric vehicles 6 to 10 years from now. All totally selfish reasons, as an electric car would completely meet my practical needs now that I work from home.
Is anyone else going to miss the growling engines of muscle cars once we are full time electric?
Yeah, I don’t agree with that at all. Having fun is pretty important, if not the most important reason to live period. But to me “I’m going to have fun, but do less harm doing it” is perfectly reasonable.
Also, I think it’s reasonable to look at the best estimate you can find, see that you get about 3 tons of CO2 emission per person for sustainability and then take your share and use it how you please. It’s better to put 10000 solar panels on roofs with your own two hands, but it’s still pretty good to just not pollute more than your share for a sustainable atmosphere.
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No. I don’t like the noise.
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Hippy!
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And, I think I posted this: I eat food and use products made by slaves because I’m selfish and greedy. Maybe these lines are about who is bad and who isn’t, but all I’m saying is that these are things to consider and one might alter their choices somewhat or at least be honest about it, not that people have to be pure to not be bad.
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