When it comes to energy, wind and solar are the only sensible bet. Nuclear and CCS just aren’t going to cut it, and the evidence is substantial. We need the simple options that work WITH our environment, not the complex & expensive technologies that reflect the same extractive/exploitative attitudes as fossil fuels. There’s a huge amount of helpful information in this IPCC graphic (full version here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/figures/summary-for-policymakers/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FigureSPM7.png , Guardian article here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/20/down-to-earth-ipcc-emissions?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other ). #energy #climate
@helenczerski I sincerely want to endorse what you are saying. However, IMO, there is a very serious caveat. We must curtail energy usage or all that renewable effort simply becomes another extractive/exploitative canard.
@Alienated53 @helenczerski Except even environmentalist policies, like the switch to electric vehicles, just increase the load.
@LouisIngenthron @Alienated53 We know that there must be far fewer cars, but those that there are must be electric. Switching to electric vehicles isn’t about a like-for-like replacement. It’s about a better technology to replace the combustion engine, but that we must then use sparingly. I’m optimistic that as car sharing becomes easier and cheaper, and public transport improves (because it HAS to), people will see that cars are incredibly limiting most of the time.
@helenczerski @Alienated53 None of that sounds remotely plausible, though:
(1) Ride sharing is suffering with the rest of the gig economy as the drivers realize how badly they're getting screwed over.
(2) Improving public transport in most locations would require redesigning/rebuilding the entire city, and it's useless in rural areas.
(3) At least in America, cars have been signs of freedom for as long as they've existed (and horses before them); I don't see that changing any time soon.
We need solutions that don't rely on half the population having a sudden change of heart, because those are *doomed to fail*.
@LouisIngenthron @helenczerski First, I live in rural US. For most of 16 yrs I took the local buses to work. With a bit more investment pub trans can work in rural areas. All your other arguments are simply we cannot do it because its hard. It is too bad people from WWII and depression era are not around to tell of the huge changes they made in their lives to fight the war.
@LouisIngenthron @helenczerski Your lack of imagination and vision is astounding and is essentially self-fulfilling twaddle.
@helenczerski @LouisIngenthron But the plans that I have seen form such as the Biden Admin give short shrift to curtailing EV usage and transforming to Pub Trans. It is not that the science/IPCC does not show the way, but the seeming disconnect of the currently endorsed public policy/funding.
@Alienated53 @LouisIngenthron Well, as the US sees other countries do this and starts to feel left behind, maybe that will change. Everyone thinks that the Netherlands just happen to be awesome at public transport and bikes etc, but 30 years ago they were just as bad as any other city. They made a decision, and they changed themselves. Also see Paris in the last few years. The US obsession with big cars is a problem, but generational attitudes really are shifting.
@helenczerski @LouisIngenthron The current configuration of our auto-centric cities is not some giant accident of history, These were conscious policy choices promugated/powered by the auto and FF cos. I see not reason to think the public will sui sponte choose to forego the personal vehicle. Gov policy must act with carrot and stick or the changes, if they happen will be too little, too late. That we have not already made pub trans the very highest priority is quite frankly disastrous.
@LouisIngenthron @helenczerski Yes, total folly to try to replace the astronomical number of IC personal autos with EVs. But you will not hear such critiques in the MSM, at least I don't. The #CorporateOligarchy controls the discussion, and they are greedy pathological motherfuckers.